Brayden Brown shines on mound, at plate as Calvin Christian wins 5-AA baseball title

After playing three sports for four years at Calvin Christian High School in Escondido, Brayden Brown finally got to clutch a CIF trophy Thursday night at UCSD’s Triton Field.

A 6-foot, 180-pound senior right-hander, Brown tossed a six-hitter with seven strikeouts to lead the top-seeded Crusaders to an 8-4 win over No. 2 Rock Academy in the San Diego Section Division 5-AA baseball championship.

Oh, he also was 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and a run scored. He had a single, double and triple before striking out in Calvin’s final at-bat.

“That’s droppin’-the-mic night,” said Brown, who did not allow an earned run and improved to 8-1 with a 2.30 ERA. “I’ve never been to a CIF final ever. This is crazy … to be my last sports game ever.”

It was the third section baseball title in four attempts for Calvin Christian (22-3), which outscored its opponents 238-81. Rock Academy (16-10) is 0-2 in section finals.

In a wild game that kept the umpires and official scorekeeper on their toes, Brown had the only RBI in the game when it was 4-4 in the fourth inning. Then Jay Paek doubled and Michael Casas singled him home to make it 5-4.

The Crusaders scored two more in the fifth on a balk and an RBI single by Quentin Verhoeven. Tyler Hoff (.489, 33 RBI, 33 runs) had an RBI triple in the sixth. Calvin had four RBI.

Tyler Alvarez had two hits and a run for Rock Academy (16-10), but the Warriors did not have an RBI. In the second, Jack Villanueva scored on a fielder’s choice, Super Atkins scored on a double play, and Max Gimbel scored on an error for a 3-0 lead.

Calvin countered in the bottom of the inning. Cole Souders (.542, 34 RBI, 35 runs) singled and scored on Brown’s triple. Brown (.405, 30 runs) and Paek scored on errors to make it 3-3.

The Warriors went up 4-3 in the third when Villanueva reached on an error and scored on an error.

“My dad gave me a little pep talk and a hug before I went out to pitch every inning,” Brown said. “He gave me a phrase to keep telling myself, ‘Control what I can control.’ I thought of that throughout the game, and it paid off.”

Calvin finished with 10 hits. Hoff was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run. Caleb Lapka was 0-for-4 but scored twice.

“My hats off to Calvin,” Rock coach Christian Benson said. “That is a great team, and they are deserving champions.

“Brown pitched a great game. He stepped up to the task.”

Calvin coach Stephen Johnson blamed championship jitters for his side’s early miscues and praised Brown profusely for his heroics.

“He’s a clutch player,” Johnson said. “Always gets the job done. Gets a clutch hit when we need it. I’m really proud of him.

“I’m proud of all the guys. This is great for the program.”

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune .