The San Diego Section’s annual baseball games at Petco Park took place Monday and Tuesday. While the Padres were on the road, local preps took the spotlight.
In Monday’s triple-header, the Monte Vista Monarchs and Mt. Miguel Matadors represented East County in the prime-time nightcap. The Monarchs (14-6-1) won by a score of 9-2 following earlier clashes between Coastal Academy and Vincent Memorial Catholic, an 18-1 win for Coastal Academy, and Lincoln and University, a 6-0 win for UC.
The Matadors, who were the designated home team, struck first with two runs in the bottom of the second inning but the Monarchs responded with four runs of their own in the top of the third inning to double up their crosstown rival by a score of 4-2.
Mt. Miguel (9-11) would not score again, though Monte Vista was not finished in plating runners. The Monarchs roared with four more runs in the top of the fifth inning and tacked on one final run in the top of the seventh inning.
Senior Jacob Schweizer swung the big stick for Monte Vista with two hits, including a triple, and three RBI.
Three other players picked up RBI in the game: senior David Aceron, junior John Rocha and senior Niko Heidt.
Senior Gavin Daley scored twice for the Monarchs while junior Tony McComb also slugged a three-bagger.
Monte Vista scored nine runs on nine hits while Mt. Miguel was held to three hits while charged with five errors.
Daley (7-1) picked up the win on the mound by striking out 11 batters in six innings while allowing three hits and two runs. Schweizer pitched one hitless inning with one strikeout.
Daley is hitting 0.444 on the season with 23 runs scored, 14 RBI and four home runs while Schweizer is hitting 0.373 with 16 RBI and six doubles.
Daley, who also has one save to his credit, has struck out 72 batters in 50.2 innings to go with a 2.71 earned-run average.
Senior Xavier Reyes led Mt. Miguel with a 0.385 hitting average through 11 games. The Matadors’ RBI leaders included junior Alfredo Rodriguez (13), senior Tyler Kelly (12) and senior Alex Sandoval (11). Sandoval was 4-0 on the hills while senior Matt Barton was 3-0 with a 2.46 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 31.1 innings.
Three more games were scheduled to take place at Petco Park on Tuesday: Borrego Springs (9-5) versus Warner (0-8), Calexico (11-7-1) versus Southwest El Centro (16-6) and Eastlake (14-5) versus Montgomery (7-10).
The baseball season is rapidly heading to a close. Monte Vista (2-1 in league) had seven regular season games remaining following Monday’s victory while trailing Valhalla (2-0 in league, 12-6 overall) and West Hills (2-0 in league, 7-11 overall) in the Grossmont Valley League standings.
Following the Monarchs in the league standings were El Capitan (1-1 in league, 12-7 overall), Mt. Miguel (0-3 in league) and El Cajon Valley (0-2 in league, 9-7 overall).
El Capitan senior Andrew Conyers was ripping the cover off the ball with a 0.769 hitting average through seven games while junior Nathan Brzezinski had recorded a 0.444 average in 14 games.
Senior Brody McAuliffe (13) and junior Dominic Jones (13) were the Vaqueros’ RBI leaders through 19 and 18 games, respectively.
Granite Hills (5-1 in league, 14-4 overall), Grossmont (4-1 in league, 10-10 overall) and Helix (3-2 in league, 9-10 overall) appear in a three-way race for the Grossmont Hills League title.
The third-ranked Eagles had six regular season games remaining on their schedule entering the week.
Junior Brenden Lewis keyed Granite Hills with a 0.365 hitting average through 18 games, followed by classmate Phillip Jones at 0.359. Jones paced the team with 16 RBI while senior Kade Gaeir had slugged a team-leading three home runs.
Lewis keyed the Eagles with a 7-1 pitching record, 0.83 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 50.1 innings. Senior Chandler Henry had posted a 1.35 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 20.2 innings to go with a 3-0 record.
Santana (2-3 in league, 4-15 overall) and Steele Canyon (0-7 in league, 4-17 overall) brought up the rear in the Grossmont Hills League standings.
East County teams could be having quite a post-season party this spring.
Granite Hills entered the week ranked third among Division I teams behind No. 1 St. Augustine (16-4) and No. 2 Torrey Pines (15-6).
Valhalla is ranked first among the section’s Division III teams while El Capitan is ranked sixth.
Monte Vista is ranked second among Division IV teams. Mountain Empire (8-2) is ranked first among Division V teams ahead of No. 2 Mt. Miguel and No. 6 El Cajon Valley.
Liberty Charter (5-11) is ranked third among Division V-AA teams while Helix is ranked eighth among Division II teams.
