Historic Sultan staff dominating Valley

SANTEE —- Santana High senior Dean Landers, the Grossmont Valley League leader in earned run average, again dominated an opponent by yielding just two hits over six innings, pacing the Sultans to a 12-0 decision over Mount Miguel on Wednesday (May 12).

Landers struck out eight Matadors batters, then Tyler Glowacki closed the contest in the seventh for the combined 2-hitter. The shutout was the third straight for the staff of Sultans arms, which is starting to reach a historic territory.

“Success starts with a great foundation, and that is what Coach (Rigo) Ledezma is to this team,” Landers said.

Although posting three consecutive blankings is fairly rare — about once every three or four years among Grossmont District schools — a glance viewing of the 21st Century records could only discover one occasion of four straight shutouts.

In 2012, El Capitan posted seven innings of zeroes on Hilltop (2-0), Granite Hills (5-0), Cathedral Catholic (3-0), and Valhalla (6-0). Bookend the string with ballgames against Rancho Bernardo and Helix (also victories), Vaqueros pitchers went more than 30 innings without yielding a run in propelling El Cap, then ranked No. 1 overall, to the CIF-San Diego Section Division II championship.

Could the future hold similar results for Santana, which figures to not be challenged in the GVL this season?

Thus, when Santana returns to the diamond Thursday against El Cajon Valley, someone may need to dig deep into the vault to discover the wood-bat era mark for pitching excellence.

Over the past two decades, the closest any East County school came to five straight shutouts actually came from a non-traditional power.

In 2014, Mount Miguel yielded just nine runs over an 11-game stretch, capped by three straight shutouts. Chula Vista ended the streak, but the Matadors then bounced back to blank Monte Vista.

Game-lights

In defeating Mount Miguel, the Sultans posted three runs in the first inning, then posted a 9-spot in the fifth to welcome the school’s inclusion into the Top Ten of the county media rankings.

Glowacki ignited the offense with a one-out, solo home run, then a pair of errors and a dropped third straight led to the other two runs.

“I hit his curveball and I just saw it up,” said Glowacki, an SDSU commit. “I just tried putting a good swing on it. I believe we prepared well for (Mount Miguel starter Thomas) Ringer and just trusted the process. I believe the whole team contributed to this win like Tyler Begg (2-for-4, run) and Caleb Harris. It was a good team win.”

In the fifth, Ethan Wright slugged a 2-run double. A few batters later, Harris belted a 2-run triple.

“Tyler got us going with that bomb to right field,” Landers said. “That really set the tempo for the rest of the game. Going into the game, I knew that it was gonna be a pitchers’ duel. When it came down to it, Ethan and I were in sync and outperformed them. Proud of how my guys played today.”

Elijah Reber and Cole Contreras also contributed run-scoring doubles for Santana (15-4 overall, 4-0 GVL), which is now alone in first place after El Capitan scored twice in the eighthto walk-off co-leading Monte Vista, 5-4.

Mount Miguel (7-13, 2-3 GVL) received base hits from David Keller (single in the second) and Johnathan Trader (single in the sixth).