Bailey stands out in Eastern opener
- Updated: April 4, 2022
2022 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL
By Nick Pellegrino
ECS staff writer
EL CAJON — Christian High pitcher Shane Bailey fired the Patriots’ second straight shuout triumph, whipping visiting Clairemont, 9-0, in Monday’s (Apr. 4) Eastern League opener for both ballclubs.
Bailey ran his personal record to 5-0 with a save, sporting a stellar 0.93 earned-run average. He came out after six innings after allowing just ine hit, then senior Grant Heinrich capped the ballgame with an inning of scoreless relied.
Patriots pitchers have now gone 17.1 innings without yielding a run.
“Shane was really effective on the mound today,” said Christian head coach Mike Mitchell. “And the bottom of our order came through with some big hits as well. Our guys have been doing a great job these last few games of taking good swings on pitches in the zone.:
Bailey recorded strike outs on 10 Chieftains batters.
Meanwhile, the offense pounded out 10 hits, including three by Bailey and two more from shortstop Vaughn Major.
“Vaughn came up with some big hits that got us going,” added Mitchell. “We took advantage of some base-running opportunities throughout the game.”
Christian registered seven stolen bases, including a pair of thefts by both Major and Ashton McCurty, plus one by Bailey.
Christian moves to 9-4 overall and are tied for first place by Coronado (see below). Clairemont dropped to 4-8, while University City had the bye.
Coronado 2, Patrick Henry 1
SILVER STRAND — All pregame opinions pointed toward Patrick Henry senior pitcher Ryan Ellis to dominate host Coronado in Monday’s (Apr. 4) Eastern League opener.
In opposing Ellis, the Islanders changed the traditional strategy of a starting pitcher and utilized three arms that are strictly found in the bullpen. The plans worked.
Tony Miley, J.T. Nelson and Dylan Noble shared in a 5-hitter to lead the Island Boys to a 5-1 decision over the Patriots at Silver Strand Elementary School.
As surprising as the positive results for Coronado, the Oats’ Ellis never got untracked. He walked six batters, so was removed after four innings with an inflated pitch count.
All the scoring came early.
Patrick Henry (8-4 overall) jumped on the scoreboard after just three batters. Lead-off batter Eddy Gomez singled, stole second base, then came home on a one-0out basehit from Ellis.
Coronado (5-6) answered with all of its runs inthe second on four batters.
SSSS Canon took a leadoff walk, Paul Moore registered a one-out single, with both runners advancing on a double-steal.
Miley, the clean-uo batter, followed with a 2-run ground single up the middle which turned out to be the game-winning runs. Otherwise, the Islanders registered just one other hit.
For Henry, sophomore Talin Gardini also had a double.
