High School Baseball : Mt. Carmel Pitcher Up to Speed, Hands Torrey Pines 1st Loss

DEL MAR —  The second time they cut Joe Brownholtz from Mt. Carmel High School’s baseball team, they gave him some advice.

Come back, pitching coach Ed O’Connor told Joe, when you can throw harder than 72 mph.

So last winter, Brownholtz went in search of a fastball. He spent 12 weeks lifting weights, throwing light baseballs (to enhance arm speed) and footballs (to establish mechanics). Lo and behold, Brownholtz returned throwing 82 miles per hour.

It was that fastball that Brownholtz used to beat host Torrey Pines, 1-0, in a Palomar League game Friday.

Big victory?

Consider:

- It was the first loss of the season for No 1-ranked Torrey Pines (14-1, 1-1) and only its second in the last 26 games.

- Mt. Carmel was sliding. The No. 4-ranked Sundevils (11-9, 1-1), who have won six league titles in eight years, were a bust in Las Vegas, where the lost five of six in a tournament last week, and opened league play Wednesday with a 7-4 loss to rival Poway.

- No one had beaten Torrey Pines’ Aaron Mirandon, now 5-1.

Like Brownholtz, Mirandon allowed only two hits. He struck out six batters and walked one. Brownholtz (4-1) struck out four and walked two--and his ground-out brought in batterymate Chris Beeman with the run in the fifth.

Brownholtz, a 5-foot 10-inch left-hander, said it was the best game he’s pitched.

“I just felt good,” he said. “I had a good fastball, and I stayed it most of the way.”

The game hinged on three breakdowns by Torrey Pines.

Beeman reached on an error with one out in the fifth. Then Joe Shootman topped a high one-hopper to shortstop John Lynch.

“It was up there awhile, and (after catching the ball) I looked at second,” Lynch said. Instead of throwing to second, where Beeman had arrived, Lynch overthrew first baseman Roger Carson.

“When I looked back over, I lost sight of first. It wasn’t an error, but it was an error,” said Lynch, whose potent hitting helped key Torrey Pine’s school-record start.

The overthrow put Beeman on third, and he scored on Brownholtz’s chopper to Lynch.

“I was just trying to make contact,” Brownholtz said. “(Mirandon) is the best pitcher I’ve seen in a long time.”

The bottom of the inning, Mirandon reached third after a walk, a passed ball and Matt Livingston’s sacrifice bunt. Roger Carson then hit a one-out, one-hopper to third baseman Mark Van Aelstyn, who threw out Carson as Mirandon broke homeward. First baseman Chris Lofthus’ throw home easily beat Mirandon, who was trapped in a rundown. It was the closest Torrey Pines came to a run. It was also one of four stellar defense plays by Mt. Carmel.

“They made the defensive plays, and we booted the ball around--what can you say?” said Frank Chambliss, Torrey Pines’ coach.