Barkley comes oh, so close in one-hitter for Cougars

By ECS Staff
Updated: March 18, 2019

2019 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

East County Sport staff report

RANCHO SAN DIEGO (3-18-2019) – The only thing Steele Canyon pitcher Brad Barkley could do was stand there and hope his defense could make the play.

Second baseman Sebastian Granados made a run at a ground ball.

Shortstop Eli Page attempted a half-hearted dive but couldn’t get there either. If either had got to the ball, which eventually rolled into center field, Cougars baseball history would’ve been made.

Instead, Bradley needed to retire the next batter – he did, on a lazy fly ball to center fielder Richard Pedrin – as the senior right-hander settled for a 1-hit shutout of Castle Park in a 7-0 comp. His career-best outing took a mere 70 minutes to complete.

“Insane ending,” Barkley said. “I threw a fastball super high out of the strike zone and he just chopped at it and it squeaked up the middle.”

Bradley only owns two other career victories on the Steele Canyon varsity, yet for any member of the pitching staff, this will be one performance to be remembered.

The senior struck out 5 Trojans batters, getting the majority of his outs on pops and shallow fly balls using his fastball. It was his second win of the season.

“I was getting ahead and throwing good 0-2 pitches,” Barkley said.

Bradley faced just 23 batters — just two over the minimum — on the hit, an error in the 2nd, and a 5th-inning walk, but the runner was later thrown out attempting to steal by catcher Cameron Ewert.

As for the offense, the Cougars tallied twice in the 3rd, then later added four additional markers in the 6th to set-up the dramatic conclusion.

In the 3rd, first baseman Bill Tellous doubled in a run, then scoring when cleanup hitter Carlos Camacho followed with a sharp base hit. In the 5th,

Tellous would add a two-out, solo home run to center for a 3-0 lead, capping a 2-for-3, 2 RBI and 2 runs performance.

The round-tripper was Tellous’ East County-leading fourth on the season

“Working hard and being on varsity for four years helps,” said of his power stroke. “This year, I think Is different because it is my senior year. Along with the basic fact that I want to succeed and work really hard hitting in the cages, I’m taking all the feedback I can.”

The big inning saw Jake Entrekin stroke a lead double, scoring on a single by Pedrin, who later came home on an error. A balk and a wild pitch tacked on a pair of additional runs for Steele Canyon (6-5).

“Our pitcher was working well on the mound but our bats started off slow,” Pedrin said. “We started to rally after our second time through the lineup.

“When Billy Tellous hit the line drive off the top of the fence to start off the hitting, that helped me get a good hit to dead center at the bottom of the fence on a low curveball that was working for Castle Park’s pitcher pretty much the whole game.”

For Castle Park (4-7), catcher Christopher Romero registered the lone hit.

EastCountySports.com