High School Baseball : Defending Champion Mt. Carmel Again Finding Different Ways to Win

Championship baseball teams can beat you several different ways.

Mt. Carmel High School proved that a year ago when it won the section 3-A title with a team that mixed good power and speed with good pitching and defense.

Now, only four games into the 1988 season, it looks as if another diverse Mt. Carmel team is on the rise.

The Sundevils beat Granite Hills, 3-0, Tuesday afternoon in a round-robin game of the Hilltop-Moose tournament at Mt. Carmel. And the keys were, well, a little bit of everything.

There were the two runs Mt. Carmel manufactured in the second inning without getting the ball out of the infield. For power, there was John Tejcek’s 400-foot opposite-field home run good for a run in the third.

Pitching? There was left-hander Joey Brownholtz, who threw five innings, allowed only two infield hits and struck out six.

Brownholtz improved to 2-0 and was in control until the first two Granite Hills batters reached base in the sixth. Then, right-hander Byron Klemanski came in and retired all six batters he faced, striking out three, for the save.

All of this was enough to please Coach Sam Blalock, who despite having only three starters back from last season, is off to a 3-1 start.

“Right now, we’re just trying a lot of new things,” Blalock said. “If they keep working, we’ll keep doing them.”

Ed Olander began the second inning with a walk, and Mark Chamberlain was asked to sacrifice. Granite Hills pitcher Mike Raskind fielded Chamberlain’s bunt but threw too late to get Olander at second. A throwing error by catcher Pete Staley allowed the runners to move to second and third.

Danny Warnock got one run home on a groundout, and Mark King got another home when he beat out a grounder to short. Then, in the third, Tejcek hit his first home run of the year to make it 3-0.

“It’s early yet,” Blalock said. “We’re still trying to find this team an identity.”