Granada Hills Is in Error in 11-4 Loss to San Fernando

Two weeks ago, Junior Gonzalez was just another ineligible baseball player and San Fernando High was just another baseball team chasing Granada Hills, The Times’ top-ranked team in the Valley.

But Thursday at San Fernando, Gonzalez survived a shaky third inning to pitch his team right back into the race for the Mid-Valley League championship with an 11-4 victory over the Highlanders. San Fernando now trails Granada Hills, which is ranked sixth in the nation by Collegiate Baseball magazine, by one game.

After giving up four runs in the third inning, Gonzalez pitched his way out of jams in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings against a Highlander team that Granada Hills Coach Darryl Stroh praises for its hitting.

Gonzalez, who was ineligible for the first 10 weeks of the season due to grades, threw mostly fastballs in the early innings, then switched to his off-speed stuff to shut down the Highlanders.

“Junior had a shaky third inning and then we started mixing up his pitches a little bit better for him, throwing more off-speed pitches and staying off the fastball,” San Fernando Coach Steve Marden said. “If you put enough pressure on any team offensively, if you’re able to score runs, it kind of keeps them from doing the kind of things they like to do.”

Granada starting pitcher Sean Casey yielded to Mark Kessler in the fourth inning after giving up five runs on seven hits. Kessler came in and walked three Tigers before giving up a three-run double to Robert Chavez to cap off a five-run inning that put San Fernando ahead, 9-4.

“I’m not taking anything away from them, but we couldn’t pitch a lick and we didn’t play any defense,” Stroh said. The Highlanders, who have been plagued by inconsistent defense the entire season, committed six errors.

After falling behind, 1-0, Granada rallied for four runs in the top of the third inning. Bob Allen, who entered the game hitting .543, hit a three-run triple to deep center field, then scored on Casey’s single. From there on, it was all San Fernando, as the Highlanders had just three hits the rest of the game.

To add to Granada’s frustration, Greg Fowble, Brett Browning and George DeMarios were ejected from the game in the seventh inning after arguing a call by the home plate umpire.

In their half of the third, the Tigers capitalized on three Granada errors to score three runs. With Chavez at the plate, Casey balked home Josh Bergara to tie the score at four.

“I was real pleased about the way our kids came back,” Marden said. “We had a one-run lead, had the bases loaded the next inning and didn’t score. They scored their big four and we came right back.”

San Fernando’s final two runs came in the sixth. Art Gutierrez singled to left and went to third when the ball rolled between Dean Yoshitani’s legs. Bergara then singled Gutierrez home to make it 10-4. Chavez followed with a single up the middle for his fourth RBI of the game.

San Fernando is 8-2 in league, 10-5 overall. Granada Hills is 9-1, 12-2.

GRANADA HILLS--Casey, Kessler (4) and Olsen.

SAN FERNANDO--Gonzalez and Knox.

WP--Gonzalez (2-0); LP--Casey (7-2).