Peterson drives Highlanders over Wolf Pack

2018 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

Special to EastCountySports.com

SANTEE (3-10-2018) – Buoyed by a trio of run-scoring at-bats by San Jose State-bound outfielder Brandon Peterson, the 6th-ranked Helix Highlanders parlayed three unearned runs in their first trip to the plate into a 12-0 defeat of the host West Hills Wolf Pack.

Peterson finished with four RBI, including the game-winning RBI in the 1st on a sharp single to right field, a 2-run triple down the left field line in the 6th, then a sound sacrifice fly to the opposite field to ice the cake in the 7th to clinch Friday’s (Mar. 9) Foothiller Tournament contest.

“Everyone on this team does their job – we don’t have many holes to fill – so if we keep it up, we can again contend for CIF,” said Peterson, who bats in the 3-hole ahead of Zack Owens, who knocked in six runs in the team’s previous outing.

In other words, the Scotties (3-0) dynamic offense will be difficult to overcome.

This ballgame was over early as the Scotties displayed precision baseball – both on and off the field – as the Pack seemingly rolled over as three Helix pitchers combined on a 2-hit shutout.

“We need to find nine players who are passionate about playing varsity baseball,” noted West Hills coach Mickey Deutschman. “Our effort today will not cut it.”

The victory was the first for Helix coach Cole Holland over Deutschman after playing eight seasons with the San Diego Stars semipro ballclub. Holland was one of the ballclub’s top players, but “Mickey D.” won their first encounter between them in this same event in 2016.

West Hills heavily contributed to its own doom, finishing with four errors, a catcher’s interference violation, while the pitchers hit five Helix batters.

Meanwhile, Helix starting pitcher Thomas Caneday breezed through with four strikeouts, registering 11 of his first 12 outs on K’s or ground balls.

Helix leadoff batter Austin Kretzschmar, the shortstop, displayed hustle for the Scotties with his first swing of the bat, legging out an infield single. An interference call put two runners on for Peterson to register his first RBI.

In the 4th, the bottom four members of the Helix batting order – Emran Kazmi, Griffin Zamora, Jack Sothras and Jordon Thompson – all reached base and scored to make it 7-0.

Conversely, West Hills (1-2) had only three baserunners, with none of them advancing into scoring position.