1949 Baseball: Hillers Clobbered Almost All Opponents
Only a team more than 400 hundred miles away and in another state could stop coach Dewey (Mike) Morrow’s powerful San Diego Hillers.
The also named Cavemen dropped three of four games in a home-and-home series with Arizona’s Tucson Badgers but bludgeoned 29 teams from Southern California and won Morrow’s 10th Southern Section championship.
According to Don King’s “Caver Conquest”, Morrow had seven hitters in his lineup who batted at least .400 in a 10-0 Coast League season.
The Hillers averaged 15 runs a game and scored at least 10 runs in 24.
Morrow had coached 10 of San Diego’s Southern California championships since the Montana native came to the Hilltop from the University of California at Berkeley in 1926.
3/1/49
Hoover scored nine runs in the fourth inning and defeated the team from the destroyer tender USS Piedmont, 10-7, at Navy Field.
–Kearny won at La Jolla, 12-11, in a nonleague game between Metropolitan League rivals. Tom Eggert hit a three-run home run for the Komets.
3/4/49
Bill Atkisson gave up two hits and Don Bonatus and Jack MacKay each had two and Hoover defeated Point Loma, 3-1, on the Pointers’ diamond.
–John Doughty and Dick Geraci, limited host Brown Military to two hits in a 10-4 Sweetwater victory.
3/8/49
Bill Guevarra struck out 17 and pitched Oceanside to a 6-3 win at Escondido. Erwin Heald drove in three runs with a double and two singles.
–Don Lenardi and Jack Wilburn each hit grand slam home runs in Grossmont’s 10-8 win over visiting La Jolla.
3/10/49
After opening with wins of 12-2 and 20-5 over La Jolla, San Diego High hooked up with interstate power Tucson, Arizona, for a two-game series in Balboa Stadium.
The Hillers won the opener, 9-6, as Frank Sanfillipo and Tommy Martinez each delivered two-run doubles.
–Terry Shaw had three hits and Luis Bruun clouted a three-run home run in Chula Vista’s 6-3 win at Hoover.
3/11/49
Tucson got a split in the two-game series at San Diego, 2-1.
–Sophomore John Doughty struck out 17 batters and Sweetwater defeated El Centro Central, 10-4, in the desert.
3/16/49
Vern Couts was touched for only two hits and San Diego scored a 7-1 win at Chula Vista.
–Jerry Meyers’ two-run home run in the second inning was the difference in St. Augustine’s 3-1 win at La Jolla.
3/17/49
San Diego High opened the Coast League campaign with an 11-1 victory at Hoover, advancing the Hillers to a 5-1 record.
Jack Smith had four hits and limited the Cardinals to six, with a ninth-inning single by Joe Duke scoring Ed Thile when the ball got past outfielder Chuck Powell (to become better known as Charlie).
3/20/57
The first annual Prep Baseball Carnival at Lane Field was announced to the media, which received a mimeographed, 13-page document.
“The publication, evidently designed to serve the dual role of military field order and publicity booklet, seems to cover everything from the color of pom poms to the size of the leftfielder’s belt buckle,” wrote Jerry Brucker of The Tribune-Sun.
The evernt would start at 6:55 p.m. with bands and pageantry from the seven participating Metropolitan League schools and former member Grossmont from the Coast League.
Pregame activity would conclude with the Star Spangled Banner by the massed bands at 7:50. First pitch was at 8 p.m. Teams would play three innings or to a 25-minute time limit.
3/24/49
Carnival-participating Grossmont and Coach John Hancock faced a busy weekend.
The Foothillers defeated visiting Compton, 9-0, the day before the tournament and also had a 10 a.m. appointment the day of to play Pasadena Muir.
–San Diego blanked Pasadena, 15-0, and Hoover topped Muir, 12-6, in other games with Coast League visitors.
3/25/49
Carnival chairman/Chula Vista principal Joe Rindone and vice-chairman Dick Barber of Kearny weren’t concerned with geography.
La Jolla, Oceanside, Point Loma, and Sweetwater, the “South”, defeated the “North”, Escondido, Kearny, Grossmont and Chula Vista, 8-0.
Kearny’s Jim McMinn singled off La Jolla’s Bud Hemmerly for the North’s only base hit.
The 12-inning program was reduced to a more manageable eight innings but was declared a success with announced attendance of 5,000 persons.
3/28/49
San Diego ran its record to 9-1 with a fourth straight Coast League victory, 12-3, over Grossmont.
Frank Sanfillipo hit a grandslam home run in a five-run sixth inning. Eddie Simpson had four hits and a home run and Jack Smith gave up two hits.
–Jerry Newton was 2 for 3 and Hoover made a run in the fifth inning stand up in a 6-5 win at Chula Vista.
3/31/49
–Kearny was out hit, 8-3, but beat St. Augustine, 9-3, with Dick Bartz earning the victory.
–Metropolitan League play opened with Sweetwater’s John Doughty stopping Oceanside on five hits, 8-3.
–Escondido’s Bob Linares gave up 11 hits, including a double and triple to Bob Schertzer, but defeated Chula Vista, 4-1.
4/1/49
San Diego walked Hoover into submission, 21-3. Three Cardinals pitchers allowed 18 bases on balls, an average of two an inning.
The Hillers, who amassed 11 hits, scored eight runs in the bottom of the first inning.
4/6/49
Neale Henderson tripled and Frank Sanfilippo homered and San Diego beat St. Augustine, 13-4.
4/7/49
Sweetwater’s John Doughty, aided by catcher Dave Brennan, who had four hits in six times at bat—single, two doubles, and triple—kept Escondido in check, 10-4.
–Three ninth-inning errors paved the way for Oceanside to come from behind and win at Point Loma, 4-3.
4/8/49
Nineteen base hits echoed in Balboa Stadium. San Diego scored 13 runs in the fourth inning and went on to a 15-5 win over Compton.
Curt Everett was 4 for 4 at the plate for the Hillers. Neale Henderson had three hits and Bobby Jordan started the fourth-inning avalanche with a three-run triple.
–Bob Fuller was three-for-four but Grossmont sustained a 9-3 loss at Pasadena.
–Kearny, a 1-0 loser to La Jolla in the teams’ two-inning joust in the Metropolitan loop carnival, reversed the score, 14-5.
Jim McMinn, Joe Spano, and pitcher Dick Bartz all had two hits. The Komets scored four runs in each of the second and third innings.
–Hoover defeated visitor St. Augustine, 5-4, with two runs in the bottom of the ninth.
4/9/49
San Diego sluggers’ 14 hits punched out Pasadena Muir, 11-4. Curt Everett had three hits in four at-bats, giving Everett a 7 for 8 week in Coast League play.
–Don Bonatus hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning and singled to start a five-run ninth as Hoover won at Compton, 9-4.
–Chula Vista won a morning-afternoon double header in the desert that started with Larry Blocker’s no-hitter and 7-0 whitewash of Calexico.
The Spartans came back after lunch and Don Jack yielded six hits and hung on for a 7-6 win over El Centro Central.
4/10/49
Seven San Diego teams traveling North at an early hour were scheduled to open play in the 14th annual Pomona 20-30 Club tournament.
Area squads, including San Diego, Point Loma, Coronado, Hoover, Grossmont, La Jolla, and Escondido, were scheduled for first pitches at 11 a.m. Other first-round games started at 9.
4/11/49
San Diego and Point Loma rolled into the quarterfinals.
Point Loma opened with an 18-3 victory over Corona and followed by defeating Santa Barbara, 9-5. San Diego topped Covina, 7-4, and Santa Ana, 16-1.
–La Jolla, beaten by Compton, 5-4, remained alive in the consolation bracket with a 4-2 win over Colton.
4/12/49
San Diego rampaged through the quarterfinals, 21-2 over Huntington Beach. Point Loma made a sixth-inning run hold up and nudged Compton, 5-4. Corona ousted La Jolla, 4-2, in the consolation quarterfinals.
Things became more difficult as the two survivors moved into the semifinals in the afternoon.
Coach Mike Morrow’s Hillers pushed over a run in the ninth to edge Inglewood, 3-2. Frank SanFilippo’s single scored the winning run and Ray McCoy’s four-hit pitching kept the Sentinels at bay.
Coach Hilbert Crosthwaite’s Pointers got past Compton in the quarterfinals and then fell behind after one inning, 5-0, to Pomona
Ed Serrano relieved starter Jim Poole in the first inning and kept the Red Devils from crossing the plate again.
The Pointers swung away at Pomona’s Marty Keogh, tying the game in the third inning and going ahead with a three-run sixth, highlighted by Izzy Lang’s two run homerun.
The 8-5 victory meant Point Loma and San Diego would meet in a City Prep League-versus-Metropolitan loop final.
4/13/49
Curt Everett hit a grand slam home run in a nine-run first inning and added a three-run shot in the second inning as San Diego continued a scorched earth policy in a 19-3 rout of Point Loma for the title.
The Hillers had 20 hits and took advantage of 11 Pointers errors, four in the first inning.
San Diego had scored at least 10 runs in 11 of 16 games and were heading into the second half of the season with a 15-1 record.
4/20/49
Dick Murphy hit two home runs and drove in five in St. Augustine’s 9-5 win over Hoover, whose Ralph Buckingham gave up only three hits but was the victim of seven errors.
4/21/49
Dick Day had three hits and five runs batted in and Larry Blocker hit a three-run home run, and Chula Vista was a 12-5 winner at Oceanside.
4/22/49
Don Bonatus and Ralph Buckingham had three hits and each hit two-run homers as host Hoover defeated Pasadena, 7-3, behind Bert Grigsby’s six-hit pitching and 11 strikeouts.
–Muir’s Mustangs, the Pasadena Bullpups’ neighbors, topped Grossmont, 2-1, and La Jolla knocked Sweetwater from the Metropolitan League’s unbeaten ranks, 8-2.
4/26/49
Jay Harris’ three-run homer in the eighth inning sent Grossmont to a 12-8 victory over Hoover. Ralph Fuller also homered with two on for the Foothillers.
4/29/49
Dick Day’s single scored Frank Castro with the winning run in an 11-inning, 4-3 win over La Jolla.
–Point Loma won in 10 innings at Escondido, 3-2, Frank Leinmeister scoring when the Cougars made two errors.
5/6/49
Eight Sweetwater errors and a four-hit day by Tony Roe were more than enough for Kearny to win, 14-3.
–Ed Serrano struck out 15 and Point Loma edged Chula Vista, 4-2.
5/8/49
Jack Lutz gave up four hits while his San Diego teammates manufactured 19 and mowed down Pasadena, 12-1, for the Hillers’ ninth straight CPL victory.
5/10/49
Curt Everett hit two home runs and a double and San Diego topped Point Loma, 12-3.
5/13/49
Point Loma stunned the Metro loop’s undefeated Kearny and ace pitcher Dick Bartz, 13-4. The Pointers erupted for eight runs in the eighth inning.
Manny Vargas had four hits and a three-run home run off Bartz in the big inning. Calvin Burns and Izzy Lang also homered.
–The Southern Prep League opener at Julian was called in the fifth inning because of fog. The Eagles and Army-Navy were deadlocked 8-8.
5/19/49
Hal Conrad and Joe Haas were the hitting stars in Brown Military’s 14-9 win at San Dieguito. Conrad had a home run and Haas three hits.
5/20/49
Jerry Rees and Dick Bartz took their places in Kearny High history, leading the Komets to a 2-1 victory at Chula Vista for the Metropolitan League championship.
The win marked Kearny’s first varsity title in any sport since the school began playing upper level competition with its first senior class in 1944 after opening as a junior high in 1941.
Jerry Rees singled in what proved the winning run in the fifth inning and Bartz set down the Spartans on two hits.
Kearny completed the one-round pennant race with a 5-1 record. Point Loma was 4-2. Oceanside, La Jolla, and Chula Vista were 3-3, Sweetwater 1-4, and Escondido 1-5.
–Eddie Serrano struck out 15 in Point Loma’s 7-2 win over Sweetwater and Oceanside beat La Jolla, 4-3, in 15 innings on Jack Troupe’s single that scored Erwin Heald.
5/21/49
Paul Lockridge, with brother Frank catching, and two other Fallbrook pitchers allowed two hits as the Warriors made it three out of four in the Southern Prep with an 11-2 win at Ramona.
5/22/49
Charlie Powell’s three-run home run in the 12th inning ended a San Diego warmup for its Southern California playoff against Orange, 10-8 at Naval Training Center.
5/24/49
Don Hartridge struck out 20 batters and pitched Vista to a 7-4 victory at Brown Military.
–Future NFL game referee Fred Swearingen homered in Fallbrook’s 8-3 win over San Dieguito.
5/25/49
Idle from prep play for almost two weeks, guest San Diego continued to batter the opposition, routing Orange, 15-1, in a Southern Section quarterfinals round playoff.
Tommy Martinez, Curt Everett, and Neale Henderson sprayed nine of the Hillers’ 20 hits around the Panthers’ ball park.
Martinez had four singles in five times at bat, Henderson two singles, and Everett doubled and added two singles.
5/27/49
A crowd of 3,000 in Pomona came to watch the high-powered team from the border town and they witnessed another explosive San Diego attack.
Coach Mike Morrow’s Hillers struck for 15 hits in a 13-5 win over the Red Devils, sending San Diego into the Southern California finals against Santa Barbara, 11-2 winner over Long Beach Wilson.
Frank SanFilippo, Tommy Martinez, and Curt Everett had three hits each and Clyde Thomas tripled twice.
6/3/49
Vista added the Southern Prep League championship to titles won in football, basketball, and tennis by defeating Fallbrook, 8-4, behind Don Hartridge’s five-hit pitching.
6/4/49
With a championship on the line, some teams appeared intimidated or struck with a case of jitters facing San Diego.
As Point Loma felt in the Pomona Tournament, Santa Barbara, beaten only by the Pointers in Pomona, was similarly affected.
The Golden Tornado, 14-1, coming into the Southern Section final, committed 10 errors and San Diego won its 15th championship, 8-2.
The San Diego Padres gifted the teams with the use of Lane Field and 1,000 persons were on hand.
Jack Smith limited the visitors to seven hits, including a home run by future major league slugger Eddie Mathews, who drove a ball over the 358-foot sign in right field onto Pacific Highway.
Mathews also almost got into a dustup with the Hillers’ Neale Henderson after Henderson’s hard tag at second base. Cooler heads prevailed.
Tommy Martinez led the Hillers with two hits, two runs batted in and two runs scored.