Eagles peg down second CIF title in three years

2016 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

 

Great ending to a close game. Congrats pic.twitter.com/501gN536TX

— GHHS Athletics (@GHHS_athletics) June 4, 2016

By Bill Dickens
© East County Sports.com

 

ALCALA PARK (6-4-16) – Without question Granite Hills has one of the strongest pitching staffs in the San Diego Section.

 

And from a hitting standpoint the Eagles are basically smooth operators with the bats.

 

But when the San Diego Section Division I CIF championship was on the line Saturday night (June 3) at USD, the Eagles took their game up a notch and decided the issue with a major league class defensive play to hold off the Vista Panthers in a 4-2 victory.

 

The instant star of the show for Granite Hills was sophomore TREVOR HAZELHURST, who patrolled right field all night.

 

He saved his best work for the final play. With one out and Ian Hodges on first and Ethan Morris on third, Vista’s Alex Medina hammered a blast to right field in the seventh inning.

 

“The ball came right to me,” Hazelhurst said of Medina’s shot. “I was ready for it. I knew I could throw him out if I made the kind of throw I know I can.”

 

“The throw was on the mark,” said Granite Hills’ sophomore catcher JAKE FENN, who stretched for the tag at the plate.

 

When the dust cleared both Medina and Morris were out and the Eagles flooded the field in a giant dogpile, celebrating their victory.

 

“When I saw the ball coming in I knew we had him,” said Fenn of Morris.

 

“That was a helluva throw,” added Granite Hills coach JAMES DAVIS. “You won’t see one like that very often at this level, or at any level for that matter.”

 

Granite Hills took the early lead in the second inning as DARIEN COSSIO doubled, advanced to third on a base hit by BLAKE ST. CLAIR and scored on a sacrifice fly by ANDREW BROWN.

 

The Eagles stretched their lead to 4-1 with 3 markers in the third. TREVOR OMAHEN was hit by a pitch to ignite the third inning. After Omahen moved up on a wild pitch JOSH VERDON singled him in. DILLAN SHRUM followed with a base hit and Cossio was intentionally walked. Sean Ross hoisted a scoring fly ball.

 

Granite Hills pitching was obviously worn out going down the stretch run, but Shrum and Brown combined to pitch a 1-hitter against the Panthers.

 

The Panthers avoided a shutout in the fourth inning as Andre Schweizer scored on a two-out double by Matt Ornelia – the only Vista hit in the game.

 

 

SDCIF Division I – FINALS
Fri., June 3, 2016 
EAGLES 4, PANTHERS 2

Vista          ab r h bi Granite Hills    ab r h bi
Ornelia rf      3 0 1 1  JoVerdon 3b       4 1 2 1
Scalzo ss       3 0 0 0  Shrum p-1b        3 1 1 0
Luna lf         2 1 0 0  Hazelhurst rf     3 0 0 0
Lee c           1 0 0 0  Cossio 2b         2 1 1 0
Nyenhuis 1b     3 0 0 0  BSt.Clair lf      3 0 2 1
Morris dh       2 0 0 0  Ross lf           2 0 1 1
Ramirez         0 0 0 0  ABrown 1b-p       2 0 0 1
Schweizer 2b    2 1 0 0  Fenn c            2 0 0 0
Hodges 3b       1 0 0 0  Omahen ss         2 1 0 0
Tholl pr        1 0 0 0  Reyes cf          0 0 0 0
Palmer ph       0 0 0 0
Medina cf       2 0 0 0
TOTALS         20 2 1 1  TOTALS           23 4 7 4

  Vista          (27-7) 001 100 0 – 2 1 0
  Granite Hills (23-12) 013 000 x – 4 7 1

GWRBI-JoVerdon (3).
E-Cossio. DP-GH 1. LOB-Vista 3, GH 6. 2B-Ornelia, Cossio. 
SB-Ross. S-Hodges. SF-ABrown, Ross.

PITCHING SUMMARY
Vista                 ip  h  r er bb so
 Rishebarger L(9-2)  3.0  5  4  4  1  0
 Geisler             3.0  2  0  0  0  6
Granite Hills
 Shrum  W(8-3)       5.0  1  2  1  3  5
 ABrown Sv(3)          2  0  0  0  2  1
HBP-by Rishebarger (Cossio, Fenn). 
WP-ABrown, Rishebarger 2, Shrum 2.  
PB-Fenn 2.

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