The reason Tucson has long been considered a baseball town is because Tucson High School won a remarkable 26 state baseball championships from 1912-1959.
But Tucson Highβs place as a baseball juggernaut then paused as newer schools such as Sahuaro, Rincon, Catalina, Santa Rita and Canyon del Oro became state baseball champions.
The Badgersβ good old baseball days seemed to be gone forever as Tucsonβs population center shifted and competition intensified.
But in 1987, Tucson coach Tom Lundy created not just a flashback to the Badgersβ glory days but triggered one of the most successful four-year periods of high school baseball in Tucson history.
Lundy surrounded himself with one of the leading coaching staffs in the state, often referring to himself as the βcoordinator of the program.β His staff included Tony Gabusi, who would go on to coach Catalina High School to a state championship; Oscar Romero, who would succeed Lundy and win 488 games for the Badgers until he retired in 2018; and one of the Badgersβ top players of the 1960s, Willie Morales Sr.
And then the talent rolled in.
The Badgers won back-to-back state championships in 1987 and 1988 with rosters that included pitcher Craig Bjornson, now the bullpen coach for the New York Mets; Edgar Soto, who became the head baseball coach and athletic director at Pima College; Eric Tatham, who would go on to coach Cienega High School to four state softball championships; and future major-leaguers Wiliie Morales Jr. and Tavo Alvarez.
It has been more than three decades since the β88 Badgers went 28-2, completing the season with a 22-game winning streak to win a second consecutive state championship, but itβs difficult to imagine any team in Tucson history having two more dominant players than Morales and Alvarez.
Morales, a four-year starter at catcher, still owns the career hits record for Tucson prep baseball, with 153, believed to be the second-highest total in Arizona history. He became an All-Pac-10 catcher for Arizona in 1993 before becoming a catcher for the Baltimore Orioles in 2000.
Alvarez went 30-5 as a Tucson High pitcher over three seasons after moving to Tucson from Cuidad Obregon, Mexico. Alvarez, at 6 feet 4 inches, was the Shohei Ohtani of Tucson prep baseball. When not pitching, he hit .502 and .486 with 14 homers in his last two seasons at Tucson High. Alvarez was the 40th overall draft pick of 1990, and reached the Montreal Exposβ pitching rotation in 1995.
It all came together in 1988 as Mike Leon became a shutdown pitcher, posting an 11-1 record with a 2.07 ERA. Leon had incomparable bloodlines. He is the son of the top baseball player in Tucson High history, 1960s shortstop Eddie Leon, a two-time Arizona All-American who played eight years in the major leagues.
Infielder Robert Hernandez hit .401, first baseman Vance Costelow hit .421 and Morales, a sophomore, hit .475. Alvarez was 8-1 as a pitcher, beating Phoenix South Mountain in the state semifinals to set up a championship showdown against Tempe McClintock.
Trailing 4-2 in its final at-bat, Tucson rallied to win 6-4 when Hernandez hit a three-run double and relief pitcher Phillip Bejarano came on in the bottom of the seventh for his 10th save of the season.
βItβs a never-say-die outfit,β said Lundy, who would retire from coaching to become the Badgersβ athletic director a year later. βWhen I get back to Tucson, I think Iβll have to dye my gray hair black.β
Matt Witkowski of Glendale Deer Valley, left, is unable keep Tucson High's Ron Horn from safely stealing second base in the 1988 state quarterfinals.
The 1980s mightβve been the most competitive years of high school baseball in Tucson history. Amphi, Sahuaro, CDO, Santa Rita and Tucson all won state championships at the big-schoolβs level. The coaches, such as Sahuaroβs Hal Eustice, CDOβs Roger Werbylo and Santa Ritaβs Dan Moore were among the top in the state.
But the β88 Badgers were the best of the decade.
With Alvarez and Morales returning for β89 and β90, Tucson appeared to be in position to win four consecutive state titles, but it didnβt happen because the Badgers were unable to deploy a reliable No. 2 pitcher to back up Alvarez.
Tucson High star Willie Morales played for the Baltimore Orioles in 2000, then spent time playing for the top minor-league affiliates of the Rockies, Cardinals and Diamondbacks.
The β89 Badgers went 22-5 with Alvarez was the cityβs player of the year, and the β90 Badgers went 21-5 as Alvarez went 13-1 with 100 strikeouts, while Morales hit .507 with 10 home runs.
The Tavo and Willie Show concluded its three-year run, 1988-90, with a 71-12 record and a state championship, which remains the last of Tucson Highβs 29 state baseball titles.
