East County Sports

Hillers’ playoff run ends in South semis

2022 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

 

By Nick Pellegrino
ECS Satff writer

SHERMAN OAKS — Grossmont High shortstop Anthony Box-Augustine collected a pair of hits, while center fielder River Diaz De Leon recorded an RBI, but the pitching of Oaks Christian proved too tough, taking down the Foothillers, 4-2, in Thursday’s (June 2) semifinals of the CIF Southern California Division 3 regional.

The contest was moved to a morning affair due to graduation schedules and traffic in the greater Los Angeles area.

Lions pitcher Jaden Onaca fired a 4-hitter, but yielded runs almost every time after his team scored to keep the contest close throughout.

After Oaks Christian caught the sleepy Hillers early with two runs in the first, Grossmont bounced back.

Cody Bigley reached on a leadoff error, eventually reached the bag at third on a Joaquin Baez sacrifice bunt, then scoring on a wild pitch.

An inning later when trailing 3-1 on an unearned run, Oaks Christian pitched carefully to the red-hot Barron Zamora, walking the first batter in the third.

Zamora took two bases on a pair of passed Balls, then Diaz De Leon singled him home.

However, the Lions tallied an insurance run in the fiftrh to advance to the Southland championship game.

Still, Grossmont (16-19-1 overall), the No. 6 seed, closed the season on a 9-3 stretch.

For the second-seeded Lions (23-11), Onaca struck out two Hillers batters with both runs coming unearned. In his 4-hitter, the only other Grossmont basehit came off the bat of left fielder Jacob Lanza., who also stole second base following his lead single in the fourth.

NOTES: The Oaks Christian head coach is former MLB shortstop Royce Clayton. His son is Elijah Clayton (also a shortstop), the Lions’ leadoff batter, who went 2-for-4 and scored a run…

Grossmont skipper Jordan Abruzzo now has officially turn in his lineup card, posting a winning percentage of more than 60 percent over his 80year career guiding the Foothillers. His updated statistics:

The Abruzzo File
Career head coaching record of
Jordan Abruzzo at Grossmont HS:
Season 
  Overall   
Pct.
CIFSDS
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
16-19-1
29-7-0
4- 3-0
18-14-0
21-12-1
19-14-0
23-12-0
17-15-0
.458
.806
.571
.563
632
.576
.657
..531
D1/Second
Open/Second

D1/Second
Open/FIRST
D1/FIRST
Open/Second
D1/Ninth
TOTAL
147-96-2
.604

GHL Champions: 2015, 2021.
CIF Champion: 2007-08
CIF Runner-up: 2016, ’19, ’21–’22
CIF SoCal Regional D-3, third, ’22

Loading

Leave a Reply

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