East County Sports

Eagles earn another shot at Saints

2019 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

GRANITE HILLS 7, LA JOLLA COUNTRY DAY 1

 

East County Sports staff report

EL CAJON (5-18-2019) – Granite Hills starting
pitcher Clay Fordham shrugged off a first-inning
run by firing 6.1 innings of shutout ball, capping
the Eagles comeback past visiting La Jolla Country
Day, 7-1, in Friday’s (May 17) elimination game to
the CIF Division I baseball championship.

“It was just a great game for us,” Fordham said. “We
needed to win and we showed that we aren’t done yet.”

Granite Hills (15-14 overall) will host St. Augustine

in Saturday’s challenger bracket finale, and with the
victory would get the opportunity to knock-off two-time
defending champion Grossmont for a berth in the final.

“We just need to keep the same energy and momentum rolling
into tomorrow,” Fordham said. “We owe Saints.
They’ve gotten us twice. We’re gonna bring everything
we got so we can keep this thing moving.”

Fordham (5-2) shook off the effects of early back-

to-back doubles to limit the Torreys to just four
hits the rest of the way. He finished with seven
strikeouts, one shy of his season high set against
Grossmont.

Meanwhile, Eagles left fielder Dillon Goins drove in
three runs to fuel an 8-hit attack. Included was a 2
-run triple in the sixth, pushing across Art Lopez
and Austin Smith to push the advantage to 6-1. Goins
would later score on a wild pitch.

After the ballclubs exchanged runs in the first,
Granite Hills tallied three times in the second to
hold the lead the rest of the afternoon.

The inning started with four consecutive singles —
by Fordham, Max Bodtke, and Smith — the later
for RBI and a 2-1 lead.  An out later, Dillon
Goins doubled to left field for another run.
For Granite Hills, Goins and T.K. Parker each batted
2-for-3, as did Zach Schwartzberg of the Torreys.

LJCDS (13-18), which fell to top-seeded Grossmont in
the first round, hadn’t played at East County school
in CIF play since dropping a 5-1 decision to Christian
in 1979.

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