By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
SAN DIEGO – It took a wake-up call, a loss and a lot of running, but Poway’s baseball team responded in a big way on Thursday, winning two games by a combined 18-2 count to easily win the championship of the top division in the nation’s largest and oldest tournament.
Jason Brunansky, son of former major leaguer Tom Brunansky, went 3-for-3 including a three-run double that keyed a seven-run second inning as Poway defeated Montgomery 10-0 in the Mike Morrow Classic Division championship game of the 58th annual Lions Invitational at San Diego University.
The Kansas-bound Brunansky, a 5-foot-9, 185-pound senior outfielder, added two more singles and scored two runs as Poway (9-2) won its second straight Classic Division title in the 108-team, six division tourney. The Titans also took their second straight tournament this season, earlier winning the Hilltop Classic in San Diego.
Poway was coming off a 7-6 loss to defending San Diego Section Division I champion Granite Hills in pool play. Even though it had the same 2-1 record as Granite Hills and Green Valley (Henderson, Nev.), Poway advanced to Thursday’s semifinal based on a tie-breaker for allowing the least amount of runs during pool play.
With new life, the Titans, ranked No. 1 in the San Diego Section by the San Diego Union-Tribune, responded with an 8-2 route of previously unbeaten Grossmont before drilling Montgomery, which defeated Torrey Pines 12-4.
“They say there’s no such thing as a good loss, but yesterday might have been,” said the Kansas-bound Brunansky, who had a key two-run single in the win over Grossmont. “We had to put it to (Grossmont) and show who the real Titans are. We heard they said they were the best team and we had to shut them out the best way we know how – on the scoreboard.”
Said Poway coach Bob Parry: “It wasn’t a good day for us in terms of hitting and pitching and defense, but attitude as well. We were really into from the get-go and didn’t let up all day. I’m proud of how we played.”
Following Wednesday’s loss, Parry lit into his team pretty good. He also demanded a lot of soul searching during the team’s bus ride home. When he heard laughing instead, he made the Titans run sprints for the better part of 30 minutes at dusk.
“I think our point got across,” Parry said.
In the title game, Poway had 11 hits, including two each from Brett Thomas and Alex Dickerson and four pitchers combined on a four-hitter with five strikeouts and four walks. Winning pitcher Trevin Lipe, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound sophomore, won his first game and kept his ERA at 0.00 in nine innings.
He got all the support he needed in the second on six Poway hits, including doubles from Brunansky, Dillon Dooney, Keegan Yuhl and Tommy Simis.
Montgomery was all out of pitching and started a freshman off the junior varsity team. That wasn’t really fair considering Poway’s lineup is lethal.
The Titans are hitting .355 as a team and scoring more than 10 runs per game. Their No. 9 hitter Steven Halcomb, a junior shortstop, was named the Division’s MVP and leads the squad with five home runs and 17 RBI.
“(Poway) can really swing it,” said Montgomery coach Manny Hermosillo, whose team got quite a hitting performance of its own in the opener by Aaron Ayon, who went 3-for-3 with five RBIs, including a double and triple. “Their guys are disciplined and miss few pitches. If that’s not the best team around then they’re right there.”
Poway hasn’t been in the national rankings yet, but just might be after Thursday’s sweep.
More from Parry, Brunansky, Poway’s rise toward the top of California baseball, and much more coverage of the massive Lions Invitational later.
Semifinals
Montgomery 12, Torrey Pines 4
Senior first baseman Aaron Ayon had a single, double, triple and five RBIs as the Aztecs (7-2) scored four runs in the first half inning and never looked back.
Torrey Pines, a San Diego Section Division I semifinalist last year, ran out of pitching and Reegan McCallister, just called up from the junior varsity team, hit five batters and gave up a walk in the frame. Ayon had the only hit of the inning, a two-run single.
He added a double in the second, a two-run triple in the fourth and a sacrifice fly in the fifth.
Montgomery, a SDS Division II semifinalist last, had 12 hits off four Torrey Pines pitchers, including two each from Rolando Sanchez and Kevin Carreon. Torrey Pines had two hits from Joey Denato and a double from Shane Bingham off winning pitcher Javier Gutierrez, who gave up three runs over five innings.
Torrey Pines pitchers hit eight batters and walked five more.
E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.