First CCS bid in history for Alma Heights baseball

Alma Heights held on for a co-championship in the Private School Athletic League North Division this season, sharing the title with Summit Shasta-Daly City. By virtue of sweeping the two-game regular-season series from its fellow co-champ, however, Alma Heights got the division’s lone nod to the CCS Division III tournament.

“We’re really excited being able to go,” Eagles manager Mark Bermudez said. “So we’re looking forward to it.”

After finishing in fourth place last season, Alma Heights turned to the youth movement. With 16 players on the varsity roster, 10 are underclassmen, including Taylor in his first year at the school as a transfer sophomore.

Senior center fielder Luke Philpott is in his fourth varsity season, and admits he didn’t know what to expect entering into 2018. Once he got a look at the talent Taylor and several of the other new editions brought to the diamond, though, he knew the Eagles might be in store for something special.

“I wasn’t sure until I saw the guys who came on to the team,” Philpott said. “Once I saw that, I wasn’t sure if we’d win league, but I definitely knew we’d have a better team and a lot more talent.”

Alma Heights had to survive a fierce three-team race in the PSAL North though. Summit Prep was also in the mix, ultimately finishing in third place with a 7-3 record. It was a dicey scenario for the Eagles after they suffered both their league losses to Summit Prep. But Alma Heights got some help from Summit Shasta’s two-game sweep of Summit Prep in the penultimate week of the regular season, clinching the title for the Eagles.

“We were all pretty thrilled about it,” Philpott said. “So, we were all excited. And now our focus has kind of switched … to prepare for our first game of CCS.”

Philpott has been red-hot down the stretch. Hitting .500 (29 for 58) with three home runs on the year, he has been unstoppable in May. Through five games this month, he is 13 for 18 with five doubles, two triples and a homer. On the mound, he has upped his record to 2-1 through five starts since joining the rotation April 10.

Taylor has been a hot hitter in his own right, going 12 of 20 thus far through May, and is currently enjoying a 10-game hitting streak. Not only does he hit and pitch, he is also the Eagles’ starting catcher when he isn’t on the mound.

“He’s not a big guy at all but he’s been a huge asset as a pitcher on the mound,” Bermudez said. “I’d say he’s our No. 1 pitcher and our No. 1 catcher, as well as our second best hitter behind Luke Philpott.”

This is Taylor’s first year of organized high school baseball, as well as his first year attending high school in the United States. Born in New York, he moved to Kuwait when he was 9, when his mother went work there for the United Nations. Before the big move overseas, though, Taylor said his mother had already identified his baseball talent.

“Before I turned 6, and I still lived in New York, my mom saw me throw a SpongeBob toy at my sister and she said, ‘he’s a baseball player,’” Taylor said.

Since then, Taylor has found a way to play, despite there not being high school baseball in Kuwait. He attended American United School, he said, where they only have soccer and basketball teams. On the weekends, though, he played in a four-team baseball league. And for the past four summers, he returned to the U.S. to play summer baseball.

“It was definitely a big change from playing two times a week to playing five times a week,” Taylor said. “But it was pretty awesome. It’s fun getting a lot of time playing my favorite sport.”

Alma Heights is currently hitting .340 as a team, with plenty of contributions from veterans and rookies alike. Senior Carlos Velis is batting .472 with a team-high 25 RBIs. And freshman Chris Carias has settled into the leadoff spot, batting .391 with an on-base percentage of .562 while striking out just four times in 67 plate appearances.

“He’s solid,” Bermudez said of the addition of Carias. “He’s another smaller kid, that total typical leadoff hitter. He’s a good leadoff bat … good eye at the plate and a good contact bat. He’s a good catalyst to add to the lineup this year.”

Bermudez is a two-sport coach. He also serves as the head coach of the Alma Heights boys’ varsity basketball team, which has run the table through PSAL North Division play for five straight seasons. From 2011-16, he coached three sports, including seven-man football, but Alma Heights did away with its gridiron team due to lack of turnout two years ago.

“I really enjoy doing both,” Bermudez said, who was hired at Alma Heights in 2009 after four years at San Francisco Christian, where coached the varsity girls’ basketball team. He also taught for one year at Highlands Christian in San Bruno.

Alma Heights opens CCS postseason play Saturday at the No. 7 seed in Division III. The Eagles will travel to No. 2 King’s Academy, the champion of the Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division.

Also in CCS Division III: No. 5 Terra Nova opens at No. 4 Palma. Start times for the bracket are yet to be determined.

In the CCS Open Division: PAL Bay Division champion Sacred Heart Prep earned the No. 6 seed and will travel to No. 3 Valley Christian Saturday. Serra earned the final seed in the bracket; the No. 8 Padres will travel to No. 1 Willow Glen. Open Division start times are yet to be determined.

In CCS Division I: No. 5 Carlmont will host No. 12 Everett Alvarez Wednesday at 4 p.m. No. 10 Woodside will travel to No. 7 Wilcox Wednesday at 4 p.m.

In CCS Division II: No. 5 Hillsdale will host No. 12 Christopher Wednesday at 5 p.m. No. 6 Burlingame will host No. 11 Aptos Wednesday at 4 p.m. No. 15 Half Moon Bay will travel to No. 2 St. Francis-Mountain View for a Wednesday 4 p.m. start.