Tyson Heaton throws a perfect game in Yucaipa’s win over Carter

SAN BERNARDINO — It was a perfect day for baseball Saturday, and that’s what Yucaipa High pitcher Tyson Heaton was — perfect.

The senior ace threw the first perfect game of his high school career, defeating Carter 5-0 at San Manuel Stadium in the County Clash. He struck out nine batters.

Asked when he became aware of the perfecto, Heaton said, “In the late innings. I looked up at the scoreboard and saw all zeroes. My fastball had good movement and my curve and cutter were working well. And I had solid defense behind me.”

Heaton, after retiring 20 consecutive batters, induced Carter’s Steven Nunez to fly out to complete the gem. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound right-hander tossed his glove in the air and then was mobbed by happy teammates who bounced up and down near the pitcher’s mound for several seconds.

“His fastball had tail — a lot of movement and he was able to locate his curve,” Yucaipa catcher Michael Carpentier said. “I call my own game (from behind the plate) and Tyson and I have been playing together a long time, and we work well together.”

Yucaipa shortstop Joe Lomeli helped keep the perfect game intact, fielding a carom off Heaton’s glove in the fifth inning with no outs and throwing Carter’s Alan Garcia out. Next up was Jared Hernandez, who hit a ball into the hole between shortstop and third base. Lomeli ranged to his right, gloved the ball backhanded, then threw a strike to first for the out.

Thunderbird first baseman Danny Garcia also made a nice defensive play, diving for a hard grounder to his right, gloving the ball and then flipping it to Heaton covering first for another tough out.

“We don’t make many errors,” Carpentier said. “And the way we played in the Boras Classic gave us a lot of confidence.”

Yucaipa won three of four games against a loaded Boras Classic field in Orange County last week to take third in the tournament.

Offensively, Yucaipa had 11 hits, including a 3-for-4 effort at the plate by Jordan Andrade. Andrade had a single in Yucaipa’s four-run second inning, to go along with run-scoring triples by Anthony Gibbons and Lomeli and a base hit by Julian Alvarez.

It was an important victory for Yucaipa (13-4 overall, 5-2 Citrus Belt League), which pulled into a tie for first in league with Carter (8-8, 5-2). The teams split a pair of previous CBL games.

“It seemed like he had all his pitches working and he worked ahead in the count,” Carter coach Joe Rosalez said of Heaton. “Our hats are off to him; he was better than our lineup. But we’re still 5-2 and tied for first — you don’t get any extra wins for throwing a perfect game. Our one win at against them at Yucaipa was huge.”Besides Andrade, Keyton Dawson and Lomeli went 2 for 3 for Yucaipa.

Matt Valdez pitched five innings for Carter and yielded eight hits and five runs. The Lions right-hander was also impressed with Yucaipa’s ace.

“He’s a great pitcher,” he said. “He has good control and I can’t wait to see what he does in the future.”Heaton regularly throws a fastball in the 89-to-93 mph range and has signed with BYU. He is now 28-6 for his three-plus years on varsity, including a 12-0 record last season in leading Yucaipa to the CIF-Southern Section Division II championship, and a 6-0 mark this season.

Second-year Yucaipa coach Ralph Grajeda said he’s spoken to some major league scouts and that pro teams are “going to make it hard” for Heaton to keep his BYU commitment.

“He’s a worker and a great pitcher and there’s zero risk in drafting him,” Grajeda said. “His parents did a good job with him and he’s humble and he puts in the work. Sometimes I’ll be leaving school late and there he is in the cages or wherever, constantly working.”

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