East County bullpens suffer very long day

By Nick Pellegrino
Updated: March 23, 2026

MORE TO COME

2026 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

Eaat County Sports.com

EL CAJON — According to CIF rules, all pitchers in baseball re-start their weekly allotment on the number of pitches they may throw ech Monday.

Thus, fresh arms should’ve resulted to a superior results than what might occur later in the week.

Not on this Monday, as Grossmont survived a nightmare inning to gain a victory, while Christian a complete collapse to salvage a draw with El Capitan.

Let’s not talk about the others.

Grossmont 11, Mission Bay 10
At Fletcher Hills: The Grossmont Foothillers fumbled away a 10-4 lead when visiting Mission Bay rallied for six runs in the sixth inning. However, the Hillers got one ru back in the inning’s home-half to bounce the Buccaneers at Gizona Field.

Fortunately for the Hillers, senior Reid Barnett entered from the bullpen to end the final out of the sixth, then retired Mission Bay in order in the seventh, finishing with 1.1 frames of no-hit ball to garner the victory.

The Bucs’ own pitching woes heavy contributed to Logan Struck (lead walk) scoring the tie-breaking run.

Struck advance, station-by-station, around the diamond on an error, a sacrifice bunt by pinch hitter Myles Cata,

Anthony Carreon, who was recently calledup from the junior varsity was hit by a pitch. Mission Bay then registered an out and was about to escape with runners on the corners.

However, with a new Mission Bay pitcher on the mound, an 0-1 pitch sailed to the backstop, with Struck scoring on thr wild pitch.

For Grossmont (4-5), senior Max Tufugafale posted his second consecutive 4-RBI performance.Tufugafale slugged a pair of doubles, giving him hits in 7-of-8 contests.

In addition, Dominic Guerra posted two hits and scored three times.

Christian 7, at El Capitan 7, tie (8 inn., darkness)
At Lakeside: Capped by a grand slam by grand slam by Caleb Brierley, the first six Christian batters all scored, eventually mounting a 7-0 cushion in the second inning.

But when the Patriots went to the reserves in the late innings, El apitan scored six times in the seventh against the CHS underclassman, leaving the ballclubs with a satisfying draw in 8 innings at Hostetler Field.

A changing point may have occured moments after Christian took its lead of a touchdown. El Capitan ended the inning on a double play,then Pats would go the final 5.2 inning of regulation without a hit.

Meanwhile, El Capitan took advantage f several young arms to pull even.

The romp seemed to be on when Benji Molina opened with a booming line double, scoring moments later on a basehit from Maximus Villalva.

A walk and a basehit loaded the bases, then the third pase on balls in the frame, this time to Roman Gustin for an RBI.

Brierley then started his 5-RBI outing with his shot over the El Capitan marque on the right-field fence, the ball landing on Ashwood Street.

With the huge lead, Patriots starting pitcher Landan Rook was pulled following four innings of 1-hit ball. Despite finishing by strikeout four El Cap batters, “L.J.” finished with a no-decision for Christian (5-3-1),

At press time, El Capitan 3-6-1) did not reports its statistics.

— Nick Pellegrino

Other scores

Ramona 8,Escondido 2
Eastlake 3, at Patrick Henry 1
La Jolla 8, at Santana 1
Lincoln3,at West Hills 2
Mirs Mesa 20, at Valhalla 5
Point Loma 7.Granite Hills 2
Scripps Ranch 9, at Steele Canyon 6
St. Augustine 11, Helix 5