Lions Tournament 74: Day 2 Highlights

By Nick Pellegrino
Updated: March 26, 2024

2024 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

East County Sports.com

74th annual Lions Tournament
Tue., Mar. 26 – Day 2

Helix 4, Chatsworth 2 – It wasn’t his first career hit, it was his second, yet there were no complains from Helix Highlanders freshman Angel WatKins.

Watkins, a freshman, drilled a 3-run home run to open the wcoring in the second inning, enough runs to alloq the Scotties to double-up on the visiting Chatsworth Chancellors, 4-2, in Tuesday’s (Mar. 26) second round of the Lions Tournament.

Batting near the bottom of the Helix batting order, Watkins pushed the ball through a slight breezed over the barries in left field.

Max Ruiz drove in the remaining run for Helix (5-7 overall).

Meanwhile, Helix saw four pitchers work on a cokposite 1-hitter to help break a three-game losing streak. The longest stint was three innings from Gavin Thompson, while the victory went to Sean Sherrod.

The next Helix tournament game is Wednesday at Coronado, but the Islanders don’t play on campus. Instead, the contest wll be held at Silver Strand Elementay School, which has a unique field wherelayout the foul lines are deeo while deqad-center field is only 320 feet.

El Capitan 12, Canyon Crest 0 – Canyon Crest had the opportunity to gain more wins than the school captured last season (3-25), but the Vaqueros possessed other ideas.

The Vaq Attack came out swinging with six runs in their first at-bats, whupping the Ravens, 12-0, at Hostetler Field.

El Capitan (8-5 overall) snapped a mild twi-game losing streak, but the interesting note shows that when the team wins, they really win, as the last four triumphs were all by shutout.

Canyon Crest (3-8) gave up double-digits ion runs for the fourth time in the first month of the season.

Nathan Brzezinski fired five innings of 2-hit ball to stop the Ravens, striking out right batters for the third time in-a-row.

The offense was led by Andrew Conyers, who posted three hits, including a home run and a double, good for three RBI.

Valhalla 4, Maranatha Christian 2 – The Valhalla Norsemen ended a 1-5 skid by stopping the Maranatha Christian Eagles of 4-S Ranch, 4-2, Tuesday (Mar. 26) at Valhalla.

]However, Orange Nation didn’t secure the lead until their final trip to the plate, scoring three times in the sixth inning.

Julian Jerjees doubled and scored a run for the Norsemen, while sophomores Josh Rivera and Jesse McCormick registered RBI.

Mathew Ibrahim pitched the first six innin gs, striking out five Eagles batters. Jerjees entered in the seventh, stranding two baserunners to gain the save.

West Hills 12, Fallbrook 1 – Eight runs in the fifth inning gave the West Hills Wolf Pack a lead of 10-0 in the whipping of the Fallbrook Warriors, 12-1, Tuersday (Mar. 26) at Wolf Pack Park.

John Lejia doubled and drove in three runs. Nate Hilke doubled and drove in two runs. Shane Stevens registered a pair of basehits.

Jacob Howard was the winning pitcher, as the coaching staff gave hime the oppotuniyty to gain a complete-game shutout. However, he fell two outs short despite striking out 10 Warriors batters for West Hills (5-6).

Monte Vista 10, Poly (Sun Valley, Calif.) 6 – Moments after the Poly Parrots scored five times in the fifth inning, Monte Vista did the same in thr homr-hslf of the grame to maintain the lead for keeps in a 10-6 deicision in Tuesday’s (Mar. 27) second round of the Lions Tournament.

ustyn Stone batted 4-for-5 with a double and a game-best four RBI. Fellow senuor Niko Heidt added two hits and a pair of RBI.

Following a 2-3 start to the season, Monte Vista (8-3-1 overall) is unbeaten in seven straight (6-0-1).

Mount Miguel 8, Mountain Empire 6 – Moments after Mountain Empire collected two runs in the third ining, Mount Miguel answered with a 6-spot to drop the RedHawks, 8-6, in Spring Valley/

The big blow was a 3-run home run by Matt Barton, who finished with four RBI.

Easton Sanchez also drove home three runs, while Junior Ettleman and Jeremiah Castro scored twice.

The Matadors (9-3 overall) also stole five bases. Mountain Empire dropped to 3-2.

Foothills Christian 4, Mountain Empire 2; Foothills Christian 11, Liberty Charter 10 – Due to poor field conditions on Monday, the Knights needed to face two opponents onTuesday, yet completed the sweep.

The victories came in two different fashions. Following a narrow 402 win over Mountain Empire, the bats came out blazing in a wild 11-10 decision over Liberty Charter of Al[pin.

In the opener, the RedHawks held an early 2-0 lead before the Knights ran off four unanswered runs to win.

However, the contest against Liberty was one to remember.

After the Lions scored four times in the sevfenth inning, Foothills Christian answered withsix runs in the home-half of the frame to pull the rabbut out of the hat.

For Liberty Charter, Jaxon Adrain belted two doubles to collect three RBI.

The ballclubs combined for 15 errors.

Compiled by Nick Pellegrino

Elsewhere

Patrick Henry 6,Simi Valley 4 (no PHHS report)
Broomfield (Colo.) 6, Santana 5
Del Norte 3, Grossmont 2 (walk-off)
Montgomery 10, Steele Canyon 4
The Rock 8, ECVHS 6