HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Chula Vista Lets Sweetwater Through

Chula Vista’s Cesar Martinez said he had a bad game. He said he wasn’t sharp and was getting behind on batters.

Don’t believe him entirely.

The fact was, Martinez did a better job of protecting his teammates while talking after the game Tuesday at Chula Vista than his teammates did of protecting him during a 7-2 loss to Sweetwater.

Four errors and at least a half-dozen bleeders got through the defense that was--in body only--behind Martinez.

The result was a victory in the Metro Conference opener for Sweetwater, which improved to 8-2. Chula Vista, whose problem has been consistency, fell to 3-6.

The top of the first inning set the tone. After Martinez (1-1) retired the first two Sweetwater batters on groundouts to second, Chula Vista committed two errors, allowed a double steal and two runs before Sweetwater got its first hit--a soft flare to right by Juan Lopez that drove in a third run.

By the fourth, Sweetwater had six runs on eight hits--all singles--and four Chula Vista errors.

“I feel sorry for Martinez,” Chula Vista Coach Dick Barcus said. “They got some banjo hits, and we made a couple of errors.”

Meanwhile, Chula Vista had just one run on four hits, and winning pitcher Lorenzo Inzunza (2-0) was just starting to crank it up. Over the next three innings, Inzunza yielded just an unearned run and struck out six to give him nine for the game.

“Ever since Pony (League), I’ve always gotten stronger toward the end of the game,” Inzunza said.

That wasn’t too long ago. Inzunza is just a sophomore--the only one, in fact, on a senior-based team that figures to challenge for the section 3-A title this season. The Red Devils have lost just one county game, to Vista. The other loss came last week during a trip to Hawaii.

“We might have won that game,” Sweetwater Coach Gene Alim said. “But we spent too much time in the sun and the water.”

Sweetwater third baseman Raul Sanchez went three for four to lift his average to .607 and scored three runs.