Boys of Spring -- Part 3

Ok so this is the final part of my Boys of Spring story. Hope you enjoyed (Here is part 1 and part 2, if you missed it)

Part three

Head coach Steve Afenir shows off Escondido’s Valley League championship patch during the team’s banquet.

From no-hit to history

Cougars face uphill battle for league championship

Story by Emily Werchadlo

Photos by Sean DuFrene

The long and winding trip to Ramona High on the first of May has Escondido baseball coach Steve Afenir feeling queasy, and it’s not just his motion sickness.

The Cougars are traveling up the hill to play for first place in the Valley League, something the team desperately needs to have any chance of making it to the playoffs.

The players are energetic on the bus ride. They show no fear or worry about beating Ramona on its field, a feat the Cougars haven’t accomplished in several years.

The Bulldogs are 6-2 in league and the favorites to claim the championship. They have already beaten Escondido once this season and are looking to make it a series sweep. With Ramona ace Alex Muren (1.64 ERA coming into the game) on the mound, it figures to be a close game.

It isn’t.

On a cold, foggy day, the Cougars score four runs in the first inning on a three-run home run by red-hot junior Jarrett Sisler and a solo shot by catcher Doug Peters. Doug adds another home run in the second, this time a three-run shot, as Escondido cruises to a 10-5 win.

“We’re right there, guys. We have league in our own hands. It’s in our destiny,” Afenir says, proving he’s not quite out of Vince Lombardi speeches.

The manner of the win comes as a bit of a surprise to Afenir. Watching the Cougars’ competitiveness gives the coach renewed energy and respect for his team.

“In all honesty, I thought
we were going to lose that game, 5-3, 5-2. But we went up there and didn’t even make it a game,” Afenir says. “We had Petey (Doug Peters) getting hot at the right time, stepping up and saying, ‘I can do it,’ and doing it.”

With the win over Ramona, the Cougars find themselves in a new position: first place.

******

The victory in Ramona sparks another important shift: Escondido is playing as a team.

After countless lineup changes in the first two months of the season, it seems as if the Cougars have found the winning combination.

In the beginning half of the year, the Cougars stumbled against teams they perceived as “better” than them. Now they’re embracing their underdog status.

“We’re not known as one of the top programs,” says pitcher Troy Williams. “Every year people say, ‘Watch out for Rancho Bernardo and Poway.’ We’re the underdogs in every game, and we’d be intimidated. With the start of league, we’re starting to feel like we can do this.”

Besides playing better on the field, the team has found a sense of selflessness that has boosted morale.

For pitcher Anthony Nutter, no amount of failure in the next four weeks of his high school career will change anything about the future. In four months, he will attend Harvard and join the baseball team. It would seem Escondido has nothing left to offer.

The 17-year-old doesn’t see it that way.

“I’m the kind of person, I got straight A’s my last semester even though it didn’t matter. I was going to Harvard,” Anthony says. “I just really want to win, even though I’m all set (for next year). I just want to win for my team.”


Members of the Escondido High School baseball team watch their game against Whittier during the Lions Tournament at Pete Coscacart Field on April 3.

*****

Seventy days after the season began, it all comes down to this game.

Although Escondido hasn’t relinquished its first-place spot, losses to San Marcos and Mission Hills have made things uncomfortably tight. The good news is if the Cougars beat San Pasqual, they will be the undisputed league champion. But if the Cougars lose, five of the seven Valley League teams will have finished with five losses, putting them all in contention for one playoff berth.

In other words, losing is not an option.

The game is played under the lights at Escondido, and parents and fans show up in throngs to cheer for each side. The atmosphere is tense, reminiscent of the earlier season matchup between the teams, when the bad blood of the rivalry ran deep.

Through six innings it appears neither team is ready to call it a season. Tied 2-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh, coach Afenir knows that starting pitcher Anthony has probably given all he has.

The time to win is now.

Escondido junior outfielder Weston Sailer feels the same. Weston is a prime example of a player who had to make a choice. He could pout over playing time, or he could make the most of every opportunity.

Leading off the bottom of the seventh in a win-or-go-home game, he knows this is his best chance to show the coach and his team that he can be counted on.

But a weak swing and a dribbler to the left of the San Pasqual pitcher doesn’t look like it will be enough.

Fortunately for the Cougars, a lapse in concentration by three charging Eagles fielders, none of whom come up with the ball, allows a hard-running Weston to slide headfirst into first base safely.

One on, no outs.

After the Cougars’ No. 9 hitter fails to get the bunt down and ultimately strikes out, freshman Tim Zier knows it’s up to him to advance pinch runner Jeff Asper. He comes through, slapping a long single into the right center field gap, moving Jeff to third.

First and third, one out.

Now it’s junior second baseman Nick Duran’s turn to be the hero. Striding up to the plate, he knows exactly what he has to do: look for a ball up and get it to the outfield, long enough to score Asper from third.

But Nick, a defensive specialist whose teammates curiously nicknamed “2-Pac-a-lypse,” isn’t exactly a hit-it-to-the-outfield kind of guy. With his speed and slap swing, he’s more likely to leg out an infield single or bloop a ball over an infielder’s head.

But with a first-pitch fastball heading his way, history doesn’t matter. Nick swings hard, and as the ball leaves the bat, the junior sticks his right index finger into the air. Seconds later, as Eagles center fielder Kalei Ornellas dives unsuccessfully to his left, the game is over.

On the heels of the most satisfying win of the season, Afenir knows much of the credit is due to his senior pitcher Anthony Nutter.

“I like you now!” he jokes as he walks over to shake Anthony’s hand, bringing his up-and-down relationship with the pitcher full circle.

“This team came here to end our season. If we had lost, we would have not made it to the playoffs,” Afenir says to the elated Cougars. “I threw down the gauntlet this season. This is what we talked about at the beginning: winning league. Yesterday, you were boys. Today you are men.”

After the clinching win, naysayers will complain that Escondido won because it was the only Division I team in the Valley League. They’ll say that the Cougars got to play the easiest schedule, with three games against the weakest teams, Orange Glen and San Marcos.

They’ll push that an automatic berth shouldn’t be given to the winners of one of San Diego County’s weakest leagues.

But the naysayers aren’t league champions. The Cougars are.

*****

Members of the Cougar baseball team horse around on the bus as they arrive at Mission Hill High School in San Marcos to face the Grizzlies. The Cougars lost the game, 4-2.

When Afenir hears about his team’s first-round playoff opponent, his queasy feeling returns. It’s Rancho Bernardo, the team that one-hit Escondido earlier in the season, and a team that has never lost to the Cougars. In an early-season prediction, Afenir had declared Escondido unlike “powerhouses like Rancho Bernardo.”

If there were Vegas odds on this match, they wouldn’t favor the Cougars.

On the field, the Broncos look like corn-fed, custom-built ballplayers. They’re intimidating in size and name, and they execute pregame warm-ups with precision and confidence.

Then the game starts, and RB falls apart.

The Broncos are just pawns in the chess game Anthony is conducting on the mound. The senior knows this could be his last start in an Escondido uniform, and he’ll be damned if he’s going to end his high school baseball career with a loss.

Meanwhile, freshman Tim Zier strides up to the plate as if he’s never heard of Rancho Bernardo; as if he knows nothing of the history and lore of the Broncos, who have had more players selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft than any San Diego County school.

It doesn’t matter to Tim, who slams a strategically placed dagger into the chest of his opponent — a lead-off home run to put the Cougars up 1-0.

The game is back and forth. 1-0, Escondido. 1-1. 2-1, Rancho Bernardo. 3-2, Escondido.

As the sixth inning rolls past with a slim 6-4 lead, Afenir has to check on his fatigued pitcher.

“Anthony, can you go one more inning?” he asks the senior in the dugout.

“You know I have the heart,” Anthony replies.

“That’s great,” says the coach. “But how’s your arm?”

If anyone has faith in Anthony’s arm, it’s his catcher, Doug Peters. Just a season ago, the two couldn’t stand each other. Anthony explains that he took many of Doug’s jokes more seriously than he should have, and the two often grated on each other’s nerves. After a full year as battery mates, the two have found common, friendly ground.

“We started building that relationship before the season,” Anthony says. “When I’m out there on the mound, it’s me and Petey. He’s my right-hand man.”

Afenir thinks the friendship will span miles (Anthony at Harvard, Doug at Palomar College) and years.

“I told them, ‘You might not know it right now, but you guys are going to be friends for a long time,’ ” Afenir says.

With the game on the line against Rancho Bernardo, Doug stands on the mound with Anthony. With sweaty, matted hair and eye black streaking down his face, he implores his pitcher to stay in for the seventh inning and close out the win.

Thirteen pitches later, Rancho Bernardo’s season is over. Escondido has its first playoff win in its two years as a Division I school.

“There isn’t anybody outside of this group that expected us to play another game,” Afenir says. “We’re farther than anyone expected.”

*****

Members of the Escondido High School baseball team watchi their game against Whittier during the Lions Tournament at Pete Coscacart Field on April 3.

The win over Rancho Bernardo is all the Cougars have left to give.

They fall to Poway 12-1, and then to Vista 6-2, in the double-elimination CIF tournament to end their season.

Right before the playoffs began, junior Jarrett Sisler was named the Valley League Player of the Year, posting a .440 average in league play. It would have been a hard sell if the playoffs had counted in the voting.

In the first two postseason games, Jarrett was 0-for-6 with four strikeouts, stranding several runners on base. In the last game against Vista, several balls bounce off his glove in center field.

As Jarrett trots toward the dugout after an error, Afenir is waiting for him at first base. After a frustrating year for both player and coach, Afenir knows it’s time to snap his star center fielder out of his funk.

He turns up the volume and the junior responds, going 2-for-3 at the plate.

“I was nervous,” Jarrett explains. “The last game, I realized it’s just baseball. It’s just have fun and do your best.”

Jarrett vows that things will be different next year, his final season in orange and black.

“It came together a little bit this year,” he says. “It will come together more next year.”

The last postgame huddle is a mixture of the laughing, carefree faces of underclassmen and the red, emotional faces of seniors, some facing their last moments in a baseball uniform.

With the season said and done, Afenir hands out some praise.

“I saw a lot of people change on this baseball field this season,” he says. “I saw Petey (Doug Peters) become a leader. I saw (Anthony) putting people on his back. I saw Tim Zier become a varsity ballplayer. I saw Jarrett Sisler take a tongue-lashing from me and respond with a single and a double.

“You guys should feel good about yourself. You’re not CIF champs, but you’re league champs.”

“We came a long way from El Cap,” captain Brett Hartman pipes in, referencing the 17-4 blowout the Cougars endured earlier in the season.

The emotional faces of the parents in the crowd show that, championships aside, they wanted to see the seniors play in a few more games.

There have been years of practices, weekend trips, summer ball, sweaty uniforms and sticky bats. Through T-ball, Little League, junior varsity and beyond, the parents have shared their time, money, patience, exuberance and disappointment with each of the uniformed teenagers in front of them.

With all that, they’re not ready to let go of baseball, either.

“When it was becoming clear that we weren’t going to win the (Vista) game, a bit of sadness started to set in,” says Dave Peters, father of Doug. “We were thinking about how hard Doug had worked over the last four years, how much we enjoyed him being around the coaches and their program. Also, being with the parents game after game and knowing of the things going on in their lives was like a little family group day after day that was coming to an end.”

*****

A few days after the game, Anthony says goodbye to his storied high school career. Adorned with medals and sashes, he delivers a speech as the Class of 2007 valedictorian, an honor he has been working toward for the past 12 years.

Speaking slowly and deeply, without waver or stutter, he addresses more than 450 fellow graduates.


Cougar pitcher Anthony Nutter, the Class of 2007 valedictorian, addresses his fellow students during the graduation ceremony. Anthony is heading to Harvard in the fall. Crissy Pascual |Union-Tribune

“Each of our own futures lies before us like so many roads leading on to so many places,” he says. “I challenge each of you to take that road before you with confidence, with persistence. Make your own marks upon this world, filling your lives with meaning, and never forget what you learned here.”

Sitting on the Escondido football field at graduation are several of Anthony’s teammates, including senior captains Brett Hartman and Troy Williams.

Brett, who considered colleges all over the country, including small-town Kansas, chose Cuesta College, a community college in San Luis Obispo County. He plans to be a designated hitter his freshman year and play full-time sophomore year before hopefully moving on to a bigger school.

“It will be a good spot,” Brett says. “They have a good program.”

Troy also will head to San Luis Obispo (to Cal Poly), but he has put his baseball career behind him.

“I’ve always thought I could go farther in school than I could in baseball,” Troy says, adding, “I’m kind of smart.”

Sitting on the stage with his other distinguished classmates, Anthony faces a future where he might get the best of both worlds. Still, as he prepares to travel 3,000 miles across the country, he has mixed emotions.

“I’m happy that I’m moving on to bigger, I’m not going to say better, but bigger things,” he says. “But every time I drive down past the (Escondido) baseball field I feel sad. I’ll never be scraping my number 10 on the back of the mound again. Next time it will be another place, another mound.”

*****

As the freshmen and junior varsity teams are celebrated at the three-team banquet June 5, Audie Afenir and Tim Zier sit alone at an empty table. They’re the only freshmen whose high school careers were on fast-forward as they bypassed the first two teams and skipped straight to varsity.

They know they will never be freshmen on varsity again. They know next year, as the nucleus of the team along with junior Jarrett Sisler, they will have the chance to lead.

“Ideally, I don’t like to bring up freshmen unless they’re dominant,” coach Afenir says. “But there was a fire inside of (Audie) I had to get out. I think he had more success then he thought he deserved.

“I never saw Timmy play before the Lions Tournament,” he continues. “I wanted to give him a place on varsity. The thing that impresses me most about him is his drive to succeed. During the season, I didn’t have someone say, ‘I want to lead.’ Timmy pulled me aside and said, ‘I’m going to be that guy for you next year.’ ”

Tim, who will be the starting shortstop on next year’s team, is sticking with that plan.

“I see myself as that guy,” Tim says. “From now on, I have higher expectations.”

The fire in Audie’s bat dimmed toward the second half of the season. After hitting .325 in league, he struggled in the playoffs, going 0-for-7. Dealing with the pressures of impressing his family and teammates, this season taught him a lot.

“I learned more about the game and how to play,” he says. “A lot of the time, I learned about failure. But it was worth it.”

As the banquet nears the late evening hours, it’s time for coach Afenir to say goodbye to his fifth varsity squad. It seems strange that a team that finished 14-16 would leave him feeling this satisfied.

But it does.

“I think this was my most successful season,” Afenir says. “I’m really pleased. You put so much into it, and you get emotionally drained. When we were 3-10, no one thought we were going to win the league. Sometimes you can go through the season and kids just quit on you. This year we left as champions.”