Helix Baseball Team Making Its Case for No. 1

Is the Helix Charter High baseball team the best in the CIF-San Diego Section?

 A 7-0 start—including winning the Aztec-Foothiller Tournament championship–builds a strong case for such a lofty ranking for the Highlanders.

By the same token, 10th-year head coach and Helix alumni Cole Holland doesn’t want to get caught up in that discussion.

“That’s not for me to decide,” Holland said. “We just go out and play the next team on our schedule.”

La Costa Canyon (8-0) can also make a strong claim for the section’s top spot. The North County Mavericks of coach Justin Machado–who belted previously undefeated Torrey Pines 10-4 in the Falcon-Pirate finals and turned back Rancho Bernardo 6-1 on Saturday–certainly can make an argument to rival Holland’s Highlanders.

“Obviously, we like the attention we get through the polls,” Holland said. “But it’s where you rank the first week of June that matters.”

That’s when the section Division II championship will be decided. A year ago, the Highlanders finished 23-10-1, but were knocked out by Grossmont in the section title game 8-0.

The Highlanders avenged that loss to Grossmont in the Aztec-Foothiller Classic finale earlier this month. Nobody on the Helix staff enjoyed the revenge in the 5-1 victory more than right-hander Mauro Olivarria (2-0, 1.27 ERA), who surrendered seven straight hits in a seven-run first inning of the lopsided defeat last spring.

This is a veteran Helix ballclub. Oregon-bound senior pitcher Jake Reed is the kingpin, having posted three wins and two saves in the Highlanders’ first seven games. As a junior, the former Helix quarterback was 6-5 with four saves and a 2.24 ERA. Of course, his record is a bit tainted since he drew the majority of the rugged pitching opponents.

Knocking off El Capitan 3-1 in the Bill Dickens East County Tournament (formerly known as the Grossmont Conference tournament) was a key conquest for the Highlanders.

“That was a huge win for us as a program,” said Reed, whose fastball has been clocked at 91 miles per hour this season. “(El Capitan) began the season as the No. 1-ranked team so it says a lot about us for our ability to beat them.”

The rising star in the Helix offense is junior right fielder Rashad Harlin, who batted a quiet .250 as a sophomore. His stock is definitely on the rise this season. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Harlin is drawing as much attention from the professional baseball scouts as Reed these days.

Seven games into this season Harlin is swinging it at a .688 clip (11-for-16) with five extra-base hits and five RBI.

Of course, middle infielder Romello Carbuccia cannot be overlooked. The junior shortstop is batting at a .563 clip (9-for-16) with 10 RBI.

Leadoff man Kacy Smith is another nugget in Holland’s hand. The junior center fielder, also an impact player in the Highlanders’ football secondary, is batting .400 (10 for 25).

While Diego Reynoso doesn’t rank with East County’s batting elite, Holland rates his junior receiver as the “best defensive catcher in the county.”

Sounds like all the ingredients are there to make the Highlanders worthy of a No. 1 ranking.

Special to Patch.com from East County Sports.com