Brown is Eagles’ counterpunch in KO of No. 1 Saints

By Bill Dickens
Updated: April 6, 2016

2016 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

By Bill Dickens
© East County Sports.com
SAN DIEGO (4-6-16) — Even on a day when county batting leader DILLAN SHRUM bats at a .500 clip, Granite Hills (9-5) exhibited its depth as this show belonged to senior ANDREW BROWN.

Not only did Brown (2-1) pitch a complete game 6-hitter with 10 strikeouts, he also drove in 2 runs with a triple and was 2-for-4 at the plate as the Eagles routed No. 1 ranked St. Augustine 7-1 at Hickman Field on Tuesday (Apr. 5) in the Bill Dickens-City East Classic.

The Eagles are dueling Grossmont for a berth in the finals of the East Division of the Bill Dickens-City East championship game at Granite Hills on Saturday (Apr. 9) at 11 a.m. Both teams are 3-1 in the tournament and should they end up tied after pool play, the tie-breaker comes down to fewest runs allowed. Right now Grossmont has allowed three markers fewer than Granite Hills.

So Granite Hills needs to slam the door on Cathedral Catholic in Thursday’s (Apr. 7) final round of pool play, while Grossmont has to do a similar number on visiting La Jolla at 4 p.m.

In the Eagles knockout of St. Augustine, Granite Hills scored 2 runs in the third and 5 in the sixth. In the third TREVOR OMAHEN walked and scored on a double by Shrum. DARIEN COSSIO then reached base on a dropped third strike and SEAN ROSS singled to center, scoring Shrum.

In the breakout inning the key hits were a 2-run triple by Brown, an RBI single by BLAKE ST. CLAIR, a sacrifice fly by JAKE FENN and an RBI single by JOSH VERDON.

St. Augustine ace Jack Dashwood, who is regarded as one of the top pitchers in the county, took a rare beating as he suffered his first loss in five decisions.

EAGLES 7, SAINTS 1
Granite Hills  (9-5) 002 005 0 – 7 13 2
St. Augustine (10-3) 000 010 0 – 1  6 0
Brown and Fenn. Dashwood, Wilson (6) and Gutierrez. 
WP-Brown (2-1). LP-Dashwood (4-1).