1972 Baseball: Uni Waded Through Section’s Top Teams To Title

Strong teams abounded but it was University of San Diego High, third in the Western League and only 12-10 overall, that emerged in the Class AA playoffs.

Dick Serrano coached the Dons to their first CIF championship and followed with titles in 1978, ’80, and ’81, figurative mileposts for the 1961 Uni graduate who coached and taught at the school for 48 years, 1966-2014.

When Serrano walked off the field after coaching his final varsity game in 30 seasons in 2000,  he had led his team to 549 victories, against 294 losses for a .691 winning percentage.  Serrano sent several players to universities and professional baseball, including future major leaguers Barry Zito, Mark Prior, and Carlos Quentin.

CIF bosses, once critical and myopic of long seasons and extended play, increased the playoff pool to 16 teams this season.  Serrano and Uni took advantage.

5/1/72

Aces Rick Tronerud and Dwayne Steele were unavailable, forcing Hoover coach Jerry Bartow to send seven pitchers to the mound and the result was a 17-hit, 19-4 Morse victory on the Cardinals’ diamond.

—Ray Smith’s double in the eighth inning gave Lincoln a 4-3 win over visiting Patrick Henry.

—Chuck Lopez (8-0) kept Vista in the Avocado League lead with a 3-2 win over Escondido, wrapped by Paddy Fagan’s sixth-inning single that scored John Pangrace.

5/2/72

Point Loma swept Madison, 1-0, and 1-0 in a doubleheader that began on March 21, seven weeks to the day earlier.

The chronology:

—Point Loma’s Mark Connors had not given up a hit through 11 innings when he gave way to Mark Mulvany, who pitched a hitless bottom of the 12^th inning.

—The teams were tied, 0-0, but there would be no 13^th inning because darkness was closing in on the Madison diamond.

–Since it was a league game and standings would be affected, the game needed to be completed.

—Forty-two days later, Mark Mulvany took the mound again for coach Dick Huddleston’s Pointers.

Mulvany and gave up a hit in the 13^th and three more before Point Loma’s Steve Grimes tripled in the 15^th inning and scored on Jose Rodriquez’ single for a 1-0 victory.

–Mulvaney took the ball again several minutes later for the regularly scheduled contest.

–Point Loma won again, 1-0, as Mulvany (7-3) singled and scored in the fourth inning, gave up two hits, and headed home with two victories in one day.

Point Loma (9-6) was battling Kearny and University for second place.  Clairemont clinched a tie for the championship with a 5-2 win over Mission Bay.

5/5/72

Helix clinched the Grossmont League championship, 2-1 in an eight-inning battle with Monte Vista, matching the Scots’ 1962 and ’68 championship squads.

Helix scored a run to tie in the seventh inning and another in the eighth, winning when  Don French walked, was sacrificed to second base, took third on  a wild pitch, and scored on Danny Hiben’s single.

—Mark Briscoe’s three-run home run in the seventh inning was the difference in St. Augustine’s 5-4 victory over San Diego and moved the Saints (9-6) into a tie for first in the Eastern League with Hoover.

—Clairemont, behind the two-hit pitching of Craig Skoglund and Mike Rector, clinched the Western League title, 8-0, over La Jolla.

—Talk about putting out the fire, Crawford’s Guy Beaghler came on in the seventh inning with the Colts leading Patrick Henry, 3-2, and flames raging everywhere.

–Beaghler faced a situation in which Henry had loaded the bases with none out. The batter had a 3-0 count. Beaghler battled from behind to earn a strikeout,  then coaxed the next  Patriot to hit into a double play and send the Colts home happy.

5/8/72

Clairemont, winner of 12 in a row, 15-2 in the Western League, and 20-3 overall, continued its ride to the playoffs, 3-1 win over University, the last team to beat the Chieftains 33 days before.

–Rene Quinones improved his record to 9-3 and pitched Mar Vista (11-4) to a step closer to the Metropolitan League title, 4-3 over Chula Vista in 11 innings.

5/10/72

Tom Merritt’s three-hit pitching boosted St. Augustine into a tie for the Eastern League championship.

The 2-0 victory at Patrick Henry gave the Saints (11-6) a one-game lead over Hoover and Crawford, but the Saints still had to face Crawford in the regular-season finale.

5/12/72

Hoover’s Dwayne Steele “booted” the Cardinals into second place in the final Eastern League standings.

St. Augustine defeated Crawford, 9-3, to clinch the championship; Hoover topped Patrick Henry, 5-4, with Crawford third and Henry fourth, all destined to make the playoffs.

Let’s try Dwayne Steele’s so-called boot again:

—Hoover trailed Henry, 4-3, with two out and the bases loaded in the last of the seventh inning.

—The Cardinals’ Rick Tronerud drove a low liner to the right side of the infield.  Steele, running from first, apparently was struck in the ankle by the ball.

—The rule is that the base runner is automatically out, but the rule also stipulated that an umpire must see the ball strike the runner, wrote Evening Tribune reporter Bill Finley.

—Umpires Bob Russell and Andy Anderson apparently didn’t see what happened.

—The ball caromed into right field.  By the time the ball was fielded Hoover’s runner from third base had crossed the plate and the Cardinals were celebrating.

—Steele, who was on base after being hit by Patrick Henry hurler Andy Bertrem, admitted later that he had been hit by Tronerud’s grounder.

“Either that or I stepped on an arrow,” said Steele.  “It still hurts.”

”That’s the first time I’ve ever been beaten by an umpire and I’ll admit it shook me up,” said Patriots coach Bob Imlay, between a few more chosen words.

FINAL STANDINGS

EASTERN LEAGUE

WESTERN LEAGUE

AVOCADO LEAGUE

*Poway and Orange Glen played tie game in league.

METROPOLITAN LEAGUE

GROSSMONT LEAGUE

SOUTHERN LEAGUE
Coastal Division

Mountain Division

 GBL=Games Behind Leader.

5/16/72

SAN DIEGO SECTION PLAYOFFS

CLASS AA

FIRST ROUND

Santana 6, @St. Augustine (14-9) 1.
Patrick Henry (11-13) 0, @Fallbrook 2.
Fallbrook won in its first playoff experience, three years after not winning a game in the Avocado League.

Monte Vista (11-12) 1, @Mar Vista 2.
Point Loma 4, @Hilltop (15-9) 2.

Crawford (16-10) 1, @Clairemont 2. (9).
Chieftains Sophomore Gary Skogsdill pitched six innings of scoreless relief and improved to 3-0 with seven saves and an 0.95 earned-run average.

University 6, @Helix (19-3-1) 4.

“As long as he could walk, he was going to be our starter against Helix,” said Dons coach Dick Serrano of Jim Whitaker, three weeks removed from a knee injury, and giving the Dons six innings.

Vista (15-10) 2, @Bonita Vista 4.
Oceanside (14-9) 3, @Hoover 9.

5/17/72

QUARTERFINALS

Bonita Vista (17-7) 3, Clairemont 20, @Southwestern College.
Point Loma 4, @Santana (13-12-2) 2 (11).

Mike Mulvany opened the 11^th inning with a single and scored on Paul Contreras triple and then Contreras scored on an error.

Mar Vista (15-10) 4, Fallbrook 18, @San Diego State.

The Warriors had half of their 22 hits in the first inning and took a 10-1 lead.

Hoover (18-8-1), 2, @University 4.

5/19/72

SEMIFINALS

Point Loma 9, vs. Fallbrook (18-7) 3, @San Diego State.

Pointers catcher Paul Contreras had three doubles and a single, and centerfielder Dave Watson had three hits and drove in four runs, including a two-run home run.

Clairemont (22-4)  4, vs. University 5, @Mesa College (13).

Coach Dick Serrano’s Dons, third in the Western League, five games behind Clairemont, scored three runs in the seventh inning and won with an unearned run in the 13^th.

Three walks, an error, and a single by Kevin Buchanan had drawn Uni even with the No. 1-seed Chieftains.

Bill Nally, who hadn’t pitched a varsity inning all season, relieved Jim Whitaker in the 11^th.  “It was a gamble,” said Serrano, but he throws strikes and our luck had been so good, I thought maybe he would get ‘em out.”

Nally gave up one hit in three innings and got the victory when Don Hogan singled, went to third on a throwing error and scored the winning run on Charlie Tuttle’s sacrifice fly.

“I’ve known all year we had a good ball club, but until this week we just weren’t doing the job,” Serrano told Bill Finley of the Evening Tribune.  “Not only were we playing poorly, but we got the toughest draw in the tournament.”

5/20/72

AA CHAMPIONSHIP

University (16-10) 4, Point Loma (16-9-1), 1, @San Diego State.

About 1,500 persons watched University complete a remarkable stretch run with a 4-1 victory, becoming the first to finish third in the league season and win a title in the Section’s 13-season history.

Uni defeated the County’s top-ranked teams, Clairemont (1), Helix (2), Point Loma (4), and Hoover (5).

Bill Nally pitched three more innings in relief of starter Mike Dunning and the two, despite giving up 11 hits, stranded 11 Pointers base runners.

”We played well and the breaks that were going against us bounced our way for a change,” said Dons coach Dick Serrano.  “These guys could have rolled over, but they sucked it and went after ‘em this week.”

Clairemont scored on a home run by Vic Damico.  Its second run was unearned and the third and fourth because a Pointer didn’t tag first base on an apparent double play.

5/18/72

CLASS A

CHAMPIONSHIP

Ramona (16-10) 5, @Army-Navy (9-7) 0 (5).

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