ROUNDUP: Granite Hills-El Capitan, Santana

By Bill Dickens
Updated: March 9, 2016

2016 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

By Bill Dickens
© East County Sports.com

LAKESIDE (3-9-16) — In a duel between two of East County’s best pitchers, El Capitan’s Oregon-bound TRISTAN DUNCAN and Granite Hills’ ANDREW BROWN matched pitch-to-pitch in Tuesday’s (Mar. 8) Hilltop/Lolita’s Tournament.

“It was a battle of two guys who can each throw 90 mph,” said El Capitan coach CLAYTON CURO.

Duncan and the Vaqueros came away with a 2-1 victory as El Capitan scored the winning run in the bottom of the 7^th.

“He’d been pounding them for six innings and then went to the off-speed stuff in the 7^th,” added Curo.

The winning rally started when Granite Hills misplayed a ball in right field. El Capitan’s JONATHAN SUMMERS followed with a base hit and stole second. That set the stage for JASON MOORMAN’s game winning base hit.

However, the play did not come without resistance from Granite Hills as it was bang-bang at the plate.

“It was close, but the guy was safe,” said Eagles coach JAMES DAVIS.

Granite Hills took the early lead on a solo home run by DILLAN SHRUM in the 4^th inning.

The Vaqueros fought back to tie the contest in the 6^th inning as VICTOR CARLINO swatted the game-tying double. Carlino accounted for two of the Vaqueros five hits.

Davis noted that his Eagles will play nine of 10 teams in the pre-season rankings.

“We don’t dodge anybody,” he said.

Hilltop/Lolita’s Tournament

VAQUEROS 2, EAGLES 1
Granite Hills 000 100 0 – 1 4 3
El Capitan    000 001 1 – 2 5 1 
(Two outs in the bottom of the 7^th.)
Brown and Fenn. Duncan and Emmerson. WP-Duncan (1-0). LP-Brown (0-1). 
HR-Shrum (GH-1) 4^th, solo.

RANCHO BERNARDO 3, SANTANA 2 (8 inn.) – Opening the season against a Rancho Bernardo team that was ranked No. 1 in San Diego County and No. 10 in the nation, the visiting Santana Sultans more than held their own on Tuesday (Mar. 8) before succumbing to the host Broncos in 8 innings of the Hilltop/Lolita’s Tournament.

The Sultans were definitely coiled for the upset as starting pitcher DAULTON BARRY allowed only 3 hits and 2 unearned runs in six innings. He walked 2 and struck out 6.

Santana erased a 2-0 deficit with runs in the 3^rd and 4^th innings. REECE HERNANDEZ, who was 3-for-3 with 2 doubles slashed a lead double to open the 4^th. He advanced to third on a drag bunt single by TRISTEN SALINAS. AIDAN RASMUSSON banged into a double play, but the Sultans picked up a run in the process.

In the 5^th NOAH NUNEZ ripped a single for the Sultans and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by EMORY ALLEN-FOX.

A balk by Rancho Bernardo starting pitcher Jamison Hill sent Nunez to third. Nunez later scored on a throwing error by the Broncos’ catcher Connor O’Brien.

The bottom line, however, is O’Brien responded in the bottom of the 8^th with a game-winning single.

Games posted by wet fields are as follow:

Hiltop/Lolita’s Tournament
BRONCOS 3, SULTANS 2 (8 inn.)
Santana         000 110 00 - 2 7 2       
Rancho Bernardo 002 000 01 – 3 7 2 
(Winning run scored with nobody out in the 8^th.)
Barry, Salinas (7) and Mora. Hill, Gorman (7) and O’Brien. 
WP-Gorman (1-0). LP-Salinas (0-1).

Hilltop/Lolita’s Tournament
Bonita Vista vs. Valhalla, 4 PPD to 3-11-16

35^th Annual Pirate Baseball Classic
Steele Canyon at Mt. Carmel, 3:15 –PPD

Bully’s East Tournament
Monte Vista at SD-Southwest, 3-PPD
Imperial at Mount Miguel, 3 – PPD