Granite Hills again stops Grossmont

2022 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

 

By Nick Pellegrino
ECS staff writer

FLETCHER HILLS — Questions regarding the depth of the Granite Hills Eagles were answered Monday (Apr. 4) afternoon.

The bottom of the Eagles batting order — Cody Macias and Hudson Beamon — knocked in half of the ballclub’s runs, leading to a 4-1 victory over Grossmont for their third straight triumph over the defending Grossmont Hills League champions.

Macias did most of his damage in the fifth inning, when the Eagles doubled their advantage to 4-0 at Gizoni Field.

Following a lead double by Brenden Lewis, Macias also sent a double to left field for an RBI. Moments later. Macias came home on a Beamon basehit to center.

Granite Hills opened the scoring on a Spencer.Davis’ two-out single in the third, scoring Beamon in the third.

“That was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I wanted to make the most of it,” Davis mused. “I felt very comfortable and just got the job done.”

“Seeing the ball was a little difficult with all of the shadows, but once the jitters went away, it was just another game.”

An inning later, Grossmont was about to escape a minor jam by turning a double play. However, an ensuing error allowed Brenden Lewis (lead single) to score from third.

“It felt great and in the environment we were playing in, I knew my team needed me the most and I had to do the best to my ability to win,” noted Lewis. “Props to Grossmont who played a heck of a game, but my teammates had my back and the energy was there and we knew we wanted this game more than them.

Because the Grossmont District is taking two weeks off for spring break, finding out-of-area opponents was difficult, thus, the coaches agreed to meet each other.

Thus, Granite Hills, in order to keep fresh arms on the pitching staff, utilized five pitchers in preparation for next week’s 71st annual Lion Tournament, an event where pool winners could play games over four consecutive days.

And the Eagles’ arms dominated, combining for a 1-hit shutout through six frames before the Hillers finally broke through to avoid the shutout.

“I think this is really big not only to our standings but as a team as well because this shows us no matter what stage we are at as a team, we can win at any moment,” Lewis added.

Since starting pitcher Tanner Vielguth only went two innings (facing just seven batters), the victory was awarded to Will Smale. The save went to Brenden Lewis in tossing the final two frames.

The Foothillers, known for their series of walk-off rallies in recent years, did give it a go once again after Mason Dirkes stroked a leadoff double in the seventh.

A two-out Jacob Lanza basehit prevented the shutout, then the potential game-tying run came to the plater followed by a single by Anthony Box-Augustine, and a walk to Joaquin Baez.

However, Lewis escaped with a game-ending strikeout.

Granite Hills (12-2 overall, 5-0 GHL) opens a 1-game lead over second-place Santana (11-3, 3-0 GHL). The Sultans were idle.

Grossmont (6-8-1, 0-4 GHL) also utilized the pitching merry-go-round with six arms, including a pair of shutout innings by starter Skyler Sasena-Ruth.