HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP : Midway Baptist Wins, Reaches 1-A Semifinals

Steve Smith struck out seven in four innings to raise his season total to 116 in 68 innings as Midway Baptist beat La Jolla Country Day, 8-5, in the quarterfinals of the San Diego Section 1-A baseball playoffs.

Midway Baptist (20-3), seeded No. 1, twice came through with big hits--Jeff Moore drove in two runs with a two-out single in the first, and Chris Mulkey knocked in two runs with a two-out triple in the third.

David Eichenlaub hit an inside-the-park home run for Midway Baptist in the fifth.

In the sixth, La Jolla Country Day (9-15-1) loaded the bases for Damian Campbell, who hit a shot into right center on which right fielder Craig Foster made an airborne diving catch to keep the Torres from tying.

In other 1-A quarterfinals:

Holtville 5, Bishop’s 1--Holtville advances to the Friday’s semifinals, in which it will play Midway Baptist at Mar Vista at 3:30 p.m. Bishop’s finished at 10-9-1.

Julian 12, Borrego Springs 5--John Hockin, who has batted only three times in Julian’s past eight games, pinch hit in the fifth inning with two out, a man on and Julian (15-8) up by one. He came through with a home run for what turned out to be the game-winning hit.

Borrego Springs finished 8-10-1.

Imperial 10, Mountain Empire 6--Imperial (12-6-3), seeded No. 3, goes on to play Julian, the No. 2 seed, in the semifinals at Ramona High on Friday. Mountain Empire finished at 12-8-1.

Boys’ Tennis

3-A Semifinals

Mt. Carmel 10, Mira Mesa 8--Mt. Carmel’s No. 2 singles player, George Lobb, provided the margin of victory with two close victories. He first won a 7-3 tiebreaker after ending a set with Ryan Connors at 6-6. Later he fell behind Ed Hendrickson, 4-3, before coming back for a 7-5 victory.

Poway 13, Hilltop 5--Poway’s doubles teams--Jeff Marshall-Brian Dulac, Kofi Dartey-Tom Giesen and Blake Helander-David Anet--didn’t lose a set, and in singles, Poway’s Rick Spooner won two of three sets. Poway, seeded first, goes against No. 2 Mt. Carmel today in the finals at Morley Field (3 p.m.).

2-A Semifinals

La Jolla 16, USDHS 2--La Jolla, seeded first, had little trouble advancing to today’s finals. No. 2 and 3 singles players Tim Kreysing and Jim Brown swept, as did the doubles teams of James Conda-Jon Elsberry and Trevor Hess-Kenny Park.

St. Augustine 13, San Pasqual 5--St. Augustine’s singles players, including No. 1 Ignacio Martinez, the defending individual section champion, and German Aragon swept in the upset of the second-seeded team. St. Augustine, seeded third, meets La Jolla in today’s finals at Morley Field (1 p.m.)

Badminton

No. 1 Chris Hansen of University City advanced to the section boys’ singles final by defeating Tho Thai of Crawford, 15-6, 15-5, at Serra.

Hansen will play Somsack Monsavath of San Diego for the title at 2 p.m. today at Serra. Monsavath defeated Steve Hashimoto of Serra, 5-3, 0-5, 15-10.