Sultans closing in on Valley League title

ECS staff report

SPRING VALLEY —- One of baseball’s more rare accomplishments saw Santana High’s Davin Burroughs and Jason Gonzalez collect back-to-back triples, helping the Sultans all-but-mathematically end the pennant hopes of second-place Monte Vista in a 16-1 pasting between the top two ballclubs in the Grossmont Valley League standings.

The pair of three-base hits came in the second inning when the Sultans posted five runs to mount a 7-0 cushion. The run of runs expanded to 16 straight markers before Monte Vista finally reached the scoreboard in the sixth.

“When you have a No. 9 hitter like Jason going 3-for-3 with a triple and a double, that says something about the depth in our lineup,” Burroughs said. “Everyone on our team knows their role. We all work hard every day and that’s why we are playing the way we are playing. With our coaches and players, I’m confident that we can keep up with anybody.”

The beneficiary of the run support was pitcher Dean Landers, who struck out four over his six innings, allowing just three hits. The one run was unearned, as Landers lowered his earned-run average to a sparkling 1.05.

“We trust the process and work on every aspect of our game,” Landers said. “Whether on the mound or in the box, we train every day with a championship mentality and know that we have one goal in mind. There is no one guy that carries this team. We take pride in having an electric dugout.”

Catcher Ethan Wright paced the offense by driving in three runs before leaving the contest early. Batting behind the cleanup hitter were left fielders Tyler Begg and Nick Seabrook, who both collected two RBI from the No. 5 slot.

Wright also scored four times, while Cole Contreras came home three times in the rout. Meanwhile, Landers added two hits and a pair of RBI for Santana (17-4 overall, 6-0 GVL).

“Anybody can beat anybody in this sport,” Burroughs added. “Sometimes you get unlucky in a game and you can smoke a lot of balls right at people.

“For example, Elijah Reber smoked a ball to left and (Monte Vista’s Justyn Stone) made a play and robbed him of a triple.

For Monte Vista (11-10, 5-3 league), it now trails the Sultans by two full games in the standings.

The Monarchs scored their lone run on a two-out single by Isaac Anthony, which scored Chris Lybarger.