LA JOLLA — Three years ago, the baseball program at Rock Academy was in disarray.
The Warriors were 2-14 and players were leaving the program.
Thursday afternoon at UC San Diego’s Triton Field, Rock Academy scored three runs in the first inning, six more in the second, then hung on for a 10-7 win over Borrego Springs in the Division 5-AA Championship game.
It’s the first boys CIF San Diego Section championship in any sport for the Warriors. It was also vindication: top-seeded Rock lost 8-4 to Calvin Christian in last season’s inaugural Division 5-AA title game.
“I took over the program three years ago and made the kids a promise that we’d turn things around,” said Rock Academy coach Chris Benson. “We came close last year to winning it all. That was a gut punch. We have a lot of three-sport athletes, kids who also play football and basketball. But we preach diversity at our school. We like the kids to be involved. And now we’ve made history.”
The Warriors led 9-1 before Borrego Springs rallied with a run in the fourth and five in the fifth to make it 9-7.
That’s when Benson made the decision to pull starting pitcher Quentin Uhland and bring catcher Max Gimbel into pitch.
“Sometimes Quentin loses command,” Benson said. “When that happens we know we need to make a change.”
Gimbel worked the final 2 2/3 innings, getting out of trouble in the fifth and retiring the final five Borrego Springs batters to earn the save.
“I’ve been in the program three years,” said Gimbel, a senior transfer from Point Loma. “We weren’t good my first year. We lost in the championship game last season, and that was heartbreaking. We had guys transfer out, guys who didn’t believe we could get it done. We aren’t as talented as we were last year, but we stuck together, worked hard, and got it done.
“We went back to the fundamentals — bunting, stealing bases, playing small ball.”
Uhland said the plan was for him to go as long as he could, knowing that Gimbel was there in relief.
“When I start losing command, it’s hard for me to get it back,” said Gimbel, a sophomore. “But Max was there for us. As a team, we’ve been so calm this season. Even when they started to come back on us – and give them credit for fighting back — it didn’t worry us.”
Uhland, who ran his season record to 6-1, was also the star at the plate, scoring three runs, including an insurance run in the sixth. He also drove in two with a first-inning single and had three hits.
Jace Daldo and Ethan Daldo both scored twice for the Warriors. Ethan Daldo also drove in two with an inside-the-park home run.
Chris Alcaraz scored twice for Borrego Springs while Alexis Uriqidez drove in two in the fifth-inning rally. Borrego Springs finishes the season 16-3. The winner of the Division 5-AA game does not advance to the Southern California Regionals.
“We had to wear that loss in last year’s championship game for an entire season,” Gimbel said. “So to get it done, to bring the first title to our school, is special.”
