Walker believes Warriors could have won CIF baseball championship

Ten of the 17 players on the 2020 Fallbrook High School varsity baseball roster are seniors, and head coach Pat Walker believes that the shortening of the CIF season not only cost those seniors a deserving conclusion to their high school careers but also potentially cost the Warriors a CIF championship.

“This is the best baseball team I’ve coached, and I didn’t get to coach,” head coach Pat Walker said.

The 2018 Warriors reached the semifinals of the CIF Division IV playoffs and had an overall record of 17-16 including a 6-6 Valley League mark worth third place in the five-team standings. Fallbrook was moved to Division III for 2019, and although injuries relegated the Warriors to a 13-15 overall record which wasn't sufficient for the CIF playoffs the 8-7 Valley League statistic gave Fallbrook third place in the league which had six teams.

“This year we had everybody healthy,” Walker said.

Fallbrook had a 2-3 record at the time the season was canceled. The Warriors’ final two scheduled games before the termination of the CIF season were rained out.

Six of the Fallbrook seniors – pitcher and outfielder Zach Allegro, infielder and outfielder Joel Calhoun, pitcher and infielder Grant Knox, catcher Josue Navarro, infielder Dean Olivo and outfielder and infielder Tristen Smith – had been on the varsity for all four seasons.

“These kids have played youth ball with each other since they’ve been five years old,” Walker said.

The 2020 season was the third in the program for pitcher/outfielder Blake Becerra. Two of their seniors were in their second year: pitcher Joel French and catcher Ethan Schmutz. Utility player Miguel Bordoy was an exchange student from Spain.

“It’s a special time and I think they miss that more than anything,” Walker said. “We were really excited about those senior kids and being able to be a part of coaching them.”

The loss of their senior season may adversely impact the players’ opportunities to play baseball at a four-year college.

“We had kids lined up with college scouts to look at them,” Walker said. “The majority of those seniors hadn't committed anywhere, but they were being heavily looked at. They were close to committing.”

Fallbrook opened the season Feb. 25 with a 12-2 win over Santa Fe Christian High School in which Navarro had two doubles, a home run, three runs scored and five runs batted in. He also homered in the 9-2 loss March 3 against Great Oak High School. Navarro had a .412 batting average, a .500 on-base percentage and a .941 slugging percentage in the Warriors’ five games this year.

“He already started out real hot,” Walker said. “He’s grown, gotten really strong. He could have been a potential draft pick, too. There was already talk of that.”

The loss of the remainder of the season also eliminated the ability of the seniors to convey their leadership onto the other members of the team.

“You know who your leaders are,” Walker said. “It’s the loss of the leadership of those kids who were leaving their mark. They’re not going to be able to do that. It’s kind of the mentoring process that’s going to be missing.”

Walker said that all 17 players would receive letters for their participation in the partial season.

“They’ll all earn a varsity letter,” he said.

The Lions Tournament, which is the nation’s largest high school baseball tournament, was canceled. That was the third time the Lions Tournament was canceled in its entirety; rain throughout the week canceled the 1964 and 1991 tournaments.

“It’s a big difference,” Walker said of the cancellation of the entire season compared to rainouts. “The purpose was taken away from the kids.”

Walker, who is also Fallbrook’s athletic director, explained that the seniors had prepared for the 2020 season.

“It’s not just those baseball kids. It’s all those senior athletes,” he said. “We’re going to do our best as a school to honor those seniors. I feel terrible for them. I really do. They’re never going to get that back.”

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].