Warriors win Lions Tournament

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The Lions Tournament is the nation’s largest high school baseball tournament and, for the first time this century, Fallbrook High School’s team won its division.

The Warriors were in the AA Division of this year’s Lions Tournament, which took place April 11-14, and overcame a 3-1 deficit in the April 14 final to defeat Morse.

“To come back and score three to win it shows the resiliency of our team,” said Fallbrook coach Pat Walker. “The kids don’t stop fighting. They never gave up.”

Fallbrook’s pool had five teams including Escondido. Fallbrook and Escondido are both in the Valley League, so they did not play each other in the Lions Tournament. The Warriors preceded Lions Tournament play April 7 at Escondido and defeated the Cougars by a 5-4 score in eight innings.

The Warriors began tournament play April 11 at home against Orange Glen. Fallbrook scored seven runs in the first inning en route to a 13-1 victory.

“We hit the ball well,” Walker said. “It was a good positive start to get the bats going.”

Tanyon Smith had a double and two singles in four at-bats, scored three runs, and drove in three runs. Peyton Van Eik hit the game’s only home run and had a single in his other plate appearance. The large margin of victory allowed Walker to use 16 players against the Patriots. “Just a game where I got to play everybody,” Walker said.

Walker used four pitchers. Jason Goodhart struck out five batters in three innings; Evan Thomas fanned four batters in two hitless innings; Mitchell Baker struck out three batters in his only inning and didn’t allow a hit or walk, and Killian Snyder struck out two of the three Patriots he faced. The Patriots were limited to three hits, and the run they scored was unearned.

University Prep made the trip from Redding for the Lions Tournament, and the Panthers’ April 12 game against Fallbrook was played at Escondido High School. University took a 2-0 lead with runs in the second and third.

“We came back,” Walker said.

Two runs in the bottom of the fifth tied the game. After seven innings, the score was still 2-2 so the game went into extra innings. A run in the bottom of the ninth provided Fallbrook with a 3-2 victory.

“Never gave up, fought hard against a really good team,” Walker said.

Morro Bay entered the Pirates’ April 13 game at Fallbrook with a 14-5 record and improved that mark to 15-5 with a 5-3 win over the Warriors. Morro Bay had a 3-1 lead after two innings; Fallbrook runs in the fourth and fifth tied the game, and the Pirates scored twice in the top of the seventh for the victory. “Lost to a good Morro Bay team,” Walker said. “Just fought hard all game long.”

Three teams had 2-1 records in pool play, and the tiebreaker placed Fallbrook into the championship game April 14 at Poway High School.

At the major league level April 13, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw was removed after seven innings despite not having allowed a baserunner. Removing an effective high school pitcher to save him for a championship game later in the week is less controversial. Walker didn’t need to save top pitchers for the championship match.

“We are so deep. I’ve never had a deeper pitching staff ever in my 25 years of coaching baseball,” Walker said.

Walker started sophomore Jace Cervantes against Morse. “Cervantes hadn’t pitched much at all, and I had no problem pitching him and starting him,” Walker said.

Cervantes threw five innings against Morse. “Did a good job,” Walker said.

Van Eik also pitched against Morse. “I was able to bring him back on Thursday, also,” Walker said. “Van Eik did a tremendous job.”

Fallbrook scored once in the bottom of the first. The score was 1-0 after four innings.

The Tigers scored one run apiece in the fifth, sixth, and seventh. “They had a couple of big hits,” Walker said. “They had a really clutch hit.”

Alex Leyva had three hits, including a triple, for Morse. “He was a big part of their offense,” Walker said.

Morse coach Dallas Booker removed starting pitcher Michael Chapman after six innings even though Chapman hadn’t allowed a hit. Chapman issued five walks, and the run he allowed was unearned.

The three Morse pitchers issued a total of eight walks while Fallbrook only had one hit during the game. “We ended up scoring three to win it. It was a fabulous finish,” Walker said. “It’s just a great win.”

The win over Morse gave Fallbrook an 11-9 season record, including a 2-3 figure in Valley League play.