East County Sports

Parker produces for Eagles’ offense

2018 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

 

By Dave Dickens

EastCountySports.com

 

CHULA VISTA (3-15-2018) – As mentioned in a season preview of the returning Granite Hills Eagles, or the lack thereof, this team may be young, or as head coach JAMES DAVIS stated before play started, he just really didn’t know how his team would perform.

So far the Eagles have prevailed, and have been a very competitive squad.

The Eagles are 3-2 overall, with the only definitive loss coming against Poway, whom they lost to 6-0 and were narrowly edged by La Costa Canyon, 2-1.

Granite could easily be 4-1 at this early point in the season.

Granite wasted no time striking first on the road against visiting Hilltop in the Hilltop-Lolita’s Tournament, as sophomore MATT BODTKE doubled with a 2-0 count, scoring TK PARKER, who had spanked a line drive single to left earlier in the inning.

The Eagles wanted to make a statement early as sophomore RYAN FENN got a base hit on a fly to second base, knocking in TREVOR HAZELHURST and MATT BODTKE, as Granite scores three heading into the bottom of the Hilltop first.

In the bottom of the first, Granite pitcher ERIC HOGAN gave up two singles and a walk, however, the Eagle defense put together a fantastic double play, limiting damage, as it remained 3-0 Eagles after one complete inning.

A mixture of great pitching and good defense allowed the score to remain 3-0 Granite until the Lancers put together a rally of their own in the bottom of the fourth.

Hogan was having a fantastic game and then the first two Lancer hitters were put on as they were both hit by pitches. The Eagles recorded an out, but Hilltop recorded a base hit, and now bases were loaded for Hilltop.

Two runners scored on the same error in right field, to make it 3-2 Eagles with a runner on second and two outs, as the Eagles made a pitching change.

On came sophomore CLAY FORDHAM, son of former Granite quarterback and pitcher TOM FORDHAM.

Fordham struck out a Hilltop batter to close out the fourth.

“Clay has done a great job for us so far,” Davis said. “We also enjoyed some timely hitting this afternoon.”

The Eagles would retrieve two of those scores back in the top of the fifth.

SEAN MCGREW was hit by a pitch and Parker once again hit a single up the middle, moving McGrew to second,

BRAD HARRIS, always contributing, hit a chopper and reached on an error by the second baseman, as McGrew scored and Parker went to third.

Harris, always making a difference, stole second and Parker stole home, making it Granite 5-2 after 5 complete.

The Eagles scored once more in the top of the seventh to make it 6-2 Eagles.

Fordham pitched lights out for three innings and picked up the save and Hogan gets the win.

Granite is now 3-2, they will face Madison (3-1) on Monday the 19th at 4:00 pm at Granite Hills for the beginning of the GMC/BILL DICKENS CLASSIC.

NOTABLES-ERIC HOGAN got the win, 3.1 IP, allowed 2 runs on 3 hits, 2 strikeouts; CLAY FORDHAM with
the save, 3.2 IP, o runs on 2 hits,1 walk, 2 strikeouts; TK PARKER an amazing 4-for-4 with 3 runs scored.
RYAN FENN, 2-for-3.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *