Eagles, Monarchs, Norsemen, Knights have diamond gems
- Updated: March 15, 2017
2017 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL
By Bill Dickens
© EastCountySports.com
CHULA VISTA (3-15-17) — Veteran Granite Hills baseball coach JAMES DAVIS knows talent when he sees it.
Davis is quick to note that the Grossmont Conference is talent laden – especially when it comes to pitching.
Coming off a 5-3 victory over Hilltop on Tuesday (Mar. 14), the Eagles have started to prove their stance of where they will rank in the long run. And they will not stand alone.
“Every team in our league has at least one – or more – solid starting pitcher,” said Davis. “Everybody has an ace.”
The list begins with TREVOR HAZELHURST and JOSH VERDON of Granite Hills, who are as good as there is.
The talent list includes El Capitan’s BLAKE PEYTON, and Monte Vista junior IVAN PLAZOLA can’t be overlooked either.
Santana’s NOAH NUNEZ is a top gun, both as a pitcher and as a hitter.
There have been some other surprise chuckers on the horizon such as the Eagles’ MIKE KING and Santana’s TRISTEN SALINAS.
No team should count out Helix’s CONNOR KONISHI nor Grossmont’s JACKSON HULETT.
The list continues with some of those names, such as Verdon, who earned a win on Tuesday, and others . . .
The Granite Hills Eagles scored 4 runs in the first two innings and held on to the lead over Hilltop.
Offensively the Eagles have been less than striking, but coach Davis’ crew added another run in the 6th inning to open up a 5-3 victory.
With one out in the 1st inning DARIEN COSSIO singled and got out when Hazelhurst hit into a fielder’s choice. Verdon singled and JAKE FENN doubled in both runners.
In the 2nd inning the Eagles scored again as BRADLEY HARRIS singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. He scored on a double by TREVOR OMAHEN. Omahen scored on a sacrifice fly by BRADY JOSLYN.
Granite Hills closed out the scoring in the 6th inning. With two outs Josyln tripled and scored on a double by SEAN ROSS.
MONTE VISTA 2, MAR VISTA 1 – The Monte Vista Monarchs used walk-off heroics to pull off the victory in the bottom of the 7th of Tuesday’s (Mar. 14) Bully’s East Tournament contest.
With two outs ABRAHAM SANCHEZ singled the ball past shortstop.
ZACH MANUEL hit a line drive double to left field and ANDREW GONZALES scored after walking.
IVAN PLAZOLA pitched a 1-hitter and the Monarchs made him a winner.
The game-winner came from Manuel, albeit on an error.
VALHALLA 4, EL CAPITAN 3 – RILEY O’SULLIVAN slugged his 2nd home run of the season in the 5thinning with one on to help vault Valhalla past the Vaqueros in Tuesday’s (Mar. 14) Hilltop/Lolita’s Tournament game.
JONAH ST. CLAIR was 3-for-3 for the Norsemen.
Sophomore AARON BELL was 3-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored for El Capitan.
FOOTHILLS CHRISTIAN 9, HORIZON 0 – Undefeated Foothills Christian overcame Horizon Christian in a Bully’s East Tournament game on Tuesday (Mar. 14) at Barona.
JOE KANG went 2-for-4 with 2 runs for Foothills Christian. JUSTIN EICHER was 1-for-2 with 4 RBI and also hit a double as the Knights rolled their record to 5-0.
JOSH GATES was 2-for-3 with a run.
Gates (2-0) pitched three innings for the Knights, giving up 3 hits and allowed 1 hit.
Knights coach DAVE LEWIS spent the evening watching as Puerto Rico knocked off the Dominican Republic 3-1 for the first time since 2006, ending the Dominicans 11-game winning streak in the World Baseball Classic.
SANTA FE CHRISTIAN 9, STEELE CANYON 2 – Steele Canyon suffered its first loss in four decisions on Tuesday (Mar. 14) in the Pirate Baseball Classic, succumbing to Santa Fe Christian.
SFC scored 9 runs on 11 hits.
BONITA VISTA 4, SANTANA 3 – AIDAN RASMUSSON was 1-for-3 with 3 RBI and a double for the Sultans in Tuesday’s (Mar. 14) Hilltop/Lolita’s Tournament contest as Santana fell to Bonita Vista.
Tue., Mar. 14, 2017 Bully’s East Tournament MONARCHS 2, MARINERS 1 Mar Vista (2-2) 000 100 0 – 1 1 3 Monte Vista (3-1) 000 000 2 – 2 2 6 Plazola and Sandoval. Borst and N/A. WP-Plazola. LP-Borst. KNIGHTS 9, PANTHERS 0 Horizon Christian (1-3) 0 Foothills Christian (5-0) 9 Dolan, Donaldson (6) and Simpson. Gates, Smallwood (4), Lewis (7) and Wurts. WP-Gates (2-0). LP-Dolan (1-2). Hilltop/Lolita’s Tournament EAGLES 5, LANCERS 3 Granite Hills (2-2) 220 001 0 – 5 11 0 Hilltop 001 101 0 – 3 9 0 Verdon, King (6) and Fenn. Tejeda, Marroquin (4) and N/A. WP-Verdon (1-0). LP-Tejeda . Sv-King (1). NORSEMEN 4, VAQUEROS 3 El Capitan (1-4) 000 010 2 – 3 9 4 Valhalla (2-2) 002 020 x – 4 4 2 Peyton, Lindsay (6) and N/A. Howard, Dempsey (2), RO’Sullivan (6) and N/A. WP-Howard (1-0). LP-Peyton (0-1). HR-RO’Sullivan (Val-2) 5th, one on. BARONS 7, SULTANS 6 Bonita Vista 110 200 4 – 7 7 1 Santana (4-1) 000 200 4 – 6 7 1 Olivo, Vega (3) and Vegas. Salinas, Linscott (3), Alesi (6) Tolhurst (6) and Allen-Fox. WP-Vega. LP-Tolhurst. Pirate Baseball Classic EAGLES 9, COUGARS 2 Santa Fe Christian 130 040 1 – 9 11 0 Steele Canyon (3-1) 001 100 0 – 2 4 2 Thorton, Paulson (5), N/A (7) and Hoppen. Luban, Nadeau (3), Schirer (5), Garmo (7) and Arias. WP-Thorton (2-1). LP-Luban (2-1).
