San Diego Prep Baseball : San Pasqual Gets Win as Adams Outduels Ponio, 3-1

The long and short ends of the San Pasqual High School baseball team led the Eagles to victory Tuesday in a showdown for first place in the Avocado League.

Robbie Adams, San Pasqual’s tallest player at 6-feet 5-inches, threw a four-hitter and struck out 14 batters to beat host San Marcos, 3-1. And Randy Green, the shortest Eagle at 5-feet 8-inches, drove in all three of his team’s runs with a home run and a single.

The victory propelled 10th ranked San Pasqual (8-1, 17-3) to the top of the Avocado standings, while dropping San Marcos (8-2, 15-6) into second place.

Adams, now 8-1, allowed just one hit over the last six innings, retired 14 of the last 15 batters and struck out the final six Knights he faced. San Marcos ace Mike Ponio (8-1) also notched 14 strikeouts, seven on called third strikes, and allowed four hits. The senior suffered the first league loss of his varsity career.

Adams, nicknamed “The Vulture” because of his long, lean appearance, said he thought of little else recently but his showdown with Ponio and San Marcos.

“I’ve been thinking about it since first period of school today,” the senior right-hander said. “Last night, all I did was go over all their batters.”

In retrospect, the first inning largely decided the game’s outcome. San Pasqual’s Greg Bratten led off the game with a walk. Green then hit a Ponio fastball over the left-center field fence to give his side a 2-0 margin.

“On a fastball like that, I guess anyone has power,” said Green of his third homer of the season. “Most of Ponio’s pitches are hard, so you look for the fastball and try to adjust to his curve. He had thrown two curves for balls, so I was expecting a fastball and I got it.”

In the bottom of the first, with two out and two runners on, Ponio tried to score from second base on a single to center by Greg Helm. But San Pasqual center fielder Yale Fowler threw him out at the plate.

San Marcos closed to within 2-1 in the third, when Eric Brio singled in John Rowe. San Pasqual answered in the fifth, when Todd Brose scored from second base on Green’s bad-hop single.