Garcia powers Foothillers into first
- Updated: May 9, 2018
Grossmont's JESSE GARCIA prepares to hit on Tuesday against visiting El Capitan at Gizoni Field.
2018 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL
EastCountySports.com staff report
LA MESA – Grossmont senior slugger JESSE GARCIA is exploding at the plate.
Garcia’s driving swing produced a pair of home runs for the second-straight contest on Tuesday, giving him a Grossmont Conference-leading eight round-trippers on the season, as the Foothillers moved into sole possession of first place in the Grossmont Hills League with a 14-0 win over visiting El Capitan.
Garcia had an RBI single in the first inning before belting his two-run homer in the second and line solo shot to left fourth inning.
Garcia is batting .388 this season for a Foothillers’ squad this is hitting .315 as a team.
In the first inning, Grossmont’s AUSTIN ODOM doubled for the game’s first run, scoring KEONI VALDEZ, who led off the inning with a double.
Grossmont put up four runs in the second inning, including a two-run single by Odom.
Sophomore GIO GIGANTI and senior JASE RUSSELL both drove in runs with singles in the third.
Senior JOE WILLIAMS, of Grossmont, allowed three hits and no runs over five innings, striking out seven and walking none.
The addition of Williams to the staff adds depth for the final games of the tightly-contested regular season and the upcoming postseason, where their Foothillers – the defending San Diego CIF Division I champions – could end up facing the county’s top teams in the Open Division.
Williams has fought through a serious of injuries which have kept him off both the football field and the baseball diamond this year.
Senior CHRIS GIOVENGO also homered for Grossmont, knocking one out in the fourth inning for a two-run shot. He also had an RBI double in the fifth.
Junior GREG BARRACK added to the Hiller homer parade, hitting a long ball in the fifth inning.
Grossmont senior HAYDEN WHITE threw two scoreless innings of relief, striking out two and walking none.
El Capitan got a pair of hits from seniors ANTONIO OLIVIERI and ANTHONY BENEDETTO.
Twelfth-ranked Grossmont (6-3 GVL, 15-9-1) has a road game at Granite Hills this week, then close out the regular season with a game at Helix and at home against Santana next week.
