San Diego High School Baseball : Granite Hills Has to Share Title

For the second time this week, the Granite Hills High School baseball team was within two outs of wrapping up the Grossmont League title, but Wednesday the Golden Eagles again let it slip away, losing at Valhalla, 6-5.

Leading, 5-4, with one out in the seventh, Granite Hills pitcher George Bishop walked Brandon Sargent. Eric Yetta then hit a two-run home run to win for Valhalla (8-8 in league, 10-12 overall). Granite Hills (12-4, 20-6) had a 5-1 lead in the fourth inning when Valhalla’s Kevin Gallup hit a three-run home run.

After winning of 12 of its first 13 league games, Granite Hills could have clinched the league title last Friday at Grossmont, but the Golden Eagles were shut out by Lance Dickson. Monday, Granite Hills blew a four-run lead in the seventh at El Capitan.

Granite Hills will have to share the league title with Grossmont (12-4, 20-6), which beat El Cajon, 1-0, Wednesday. In that game, Dickson pitched a three-hit shutout and Noel Gillespie hit a solo home run.

Granite Hills and Grossmont will play at a neutral site Friday to determine the league’s top-seeded team in the playoffs.

In other Grossmont League games:

Monte Vista 7, Mount Miguel 6--Dennis Nichols and Kerry Wall each had two hits and two RBIs as host Monte Vista (1-15, 5-17) earned its first league victory in the game against Mount Miguel (7-9, 12-9).

Briefly--Helix 8, El Capitan 2.

CITY WESTERN LEAGUE Mission Bay 2, University of San Diego High School 1--Tony Lennan hit a two-run home run with two outs in the seventh to give host Mission Bay (11-4, 18-7) the victory and the league championship. Sean Rees (4-2) pitched a three-hitter, striking out 10. Rees walked in a run with the bases loaded and no out in the first, but struck out the next three batters to get out of the inning.

Kearny 13, University City 12--Eric Takeshita’s bases-loaded triple with one out in the seventh drove in the winning run at Kearny. Takeshita was 3 for 4 with three RBI, Scot Welish was 3 for 3 with three RBI and Lupe Ford had a double and a two-run home run, with three RBI for Kearny (5-10, 7-14-2), which had had 14 hits. University City is 2-13, 4-18.

CITY CENTRAL LEAGUE San Diego 9, Lincoln 5--In addition to being the winning pitcher, Jose Alejo (2-0) had a single, a double and three RBIs for host San Diego (9-5-1, 17-8-1) as the Cavers beat Lincoln (6-8-1, 12-10-1). Brian Baird also had a single, a double and three RBIs for San Diego.

Briefly--Christian 7, St. Augustine 6.

CITY EASTERN LEAGUE Point Loma 6, Patrick Henry 5--Bill Eves singled in the seventh to drive in the eventual winning run for Point Loma (7-8, 13-11) at Patrick Henry. Eves had three RBIs in the game. Point Loma’s J.J. Northam was 4 for 4 with two runs scored. Patrick Henry (9-6, 14-8-1), loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh but failed to score.

Morse 11, Madison 10--Morse scored four runs in the fifth and winning pitcher Nathan Lunsford (1-2) held Madison scoreless during the final three innings at Morse. David Grigsby was 4 for 4, with 3 RBI including a solo home run for Morse (8-7, 13-11). He also scored four runs and stole two bases. Madison (10-5, 16-9) holds on to first place.

Mira Mesa 6, Serra 1--Karey Humphrey, Ed Salanga and Mike Eicher all homered for host Mira Mesa (8-7, 14-11) in its win over Serra (3-12, 8-17).

METRO CONFERENCE Castle Park 10, Southwest 5--Castle Park (9-3, 19-6) scored all its runs in the first four innings at Southwest (3-9, 7-13) to gain a tie for first in the Metro-South Bay League with Cornonado (9-3, 16-7). Castle Park’s Dominic Quintero, Jose Palos and Mike Vallarelli each had two RBIs and two runs scored. Castle Park will play host to Coronado at 3:30 p.m. today to determine the league champion.

Chula Vista 5, Montgomery 2--John Mercado hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to break a 2-2 tie and clinch the Metro-Mesa League championship for Chula Vista (8-3, 15-7) at Montgomery (5-7, 14-12).

Bonita Vista 4, Sweetwater 2--Jeff Crane struck out 10 to get the win for Bonita Vista (5-7, 9-16) at Sweetwater (3-9, 7-14). David Jocis had two doubles and RBI and two runs scored for Bonita Vista.

Briefly--Coronado 14, Marian 5; Mar Vista 10, Hilltop 7.