San Diego High School Baseball : Arnold, Aldridge Lead El Capitan to 4-1 Win

Rob Arnold pitched a seven-hitter and Jerry Aldridge homered in the first inning Thursday to lead El Capitan High School to a 4-1 win over Mount Miguel.

El Capitan (4-0 in league, 8-2 overall) leads Grossmont and Granite Hills by a half-game in the Grossmont League. Grossmont was idle Thursday, and Granite Hills beat Monte Vista. El Capitan and Grossmont will meet Tuesday at Grossmont.

“We knew we would have a good club when we did well in the summer league,” El Capitan Coach Steve Vickery said. “We expected to be contending this season.”

The Vaqueros are hitting .360 as a team and they’re getting better pitching than Vickery expected. Thursday, Arnold was in control most of the way. He struck out eight and walked one.

After Aldridge’s homer, El Capitan added two runs in the third and one in the fourth to open a 4-0 lead. Matt Smith was 2 for 2 with two RBIs to lead the Vaqueros’ seven-hit attack.

In other Grossmont League games:

Granite Hills 9, Monte Vista 1--Jeremy Kay hit a grand slam in the second inning to help Granite Hills (3-0, 6-2) keep its share of second place. Granite Hills’ Mike Raskind, pitching with an 8-0 cushion after two innings, went the distance and allowed just three hits.

Santana 7, Valhalla 1--Mark Sherman pitched a seven-hitter and Bill Reed drove in two runs to lead Santana (2-2, 8-2) past Valhalla (2-2) at Santana. Last year, Santana won the Grossmont League and Valhalla finished second, with Santana going on to win the section 3-A championship.

Helix 6, El Cajon 4--Joe Appolito and Jason Ledford hit home runs in the top of the seventh to snap a 4-4 tie and carry Helix (1-2, 3-5) at El Cajon. Damon Lubin pitched six innings to pick up the win. Danny Tiumalu also had a two-run homer for Helix.