HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Grossmont Stifles Fallbrook Again

If Grossmont plays Fallbrook again this season, the Foothillers shouldn’t lack any confidence.

Grossmont pitcher Jason Eskridge threw 5 1/3 perfect innings in Saturday’s 7-1 baseball victory in the championship game of the Pirate Classic. With the performance, he extended to 12 1/3 the number of innings that Fallbrook was unable to get a baserunner against Grossmont.

Mike Spears pitched a perfect game Fallbrook earlier this week.

With the victory, No. 3-ranked Grossmont improved to 9-0.

Eskridge struck out eight in 5 1/3 before giving up a walk and a single. He was then lifted in favor of Spears, who induced a double-play grounder from Jimmy Jones to end the threat.

Fallbrook got an unearned run off Spears in the seventh.

Offensively for Grossmont, second baseman Jon Heinrichs went two for four and scored a run. Third baseman Matt Jones went one for three with two RBIs.

Other Pirate Classic games:

Grossmont 14, Oceanside 3--Grossmont collected six fewer hits than runs, but Oceanside pitchers gave up 15 walks in the semifinal. For Grossmont, center fielder Wynter Phoenix knocked in three runs with a home run in the third, and Carl Mathis had a solo shot in the first. Also, second baseman Jon Heinrichs went two for two with three runs scored.

Ryan Wheeler struck out eight Oceanside batters.

San Pasqual 7, El Camino 2--Sophomore Brian Sandland hit a three-run homer in San Pasqual’s five-run third inning to beat El Camino (2-4). Dave Riffle had a two-run double in the third and an RBI single in the sixth for San Pasqual (3-4).

Hilltop-Moose Tournament

Poway 3, Hilltop 1--Brock Marsh hit a two-run homer in third inning to lift No. 2 Poway over No. 6 Hilltop, 3-1, in the championship game.

Marsh, a senior who finished one for three with a sacrifice and two strikeouts, hit his two-out home run after designated hitter Chris Wisdom drew a walk against losing pitcher Henry Mercado (0-1).

Hilltop scored its only run in the bottom of the third inning. Jose Silva singled, went to second on an error and scored on two ground outs.

Silva replaced Mercado as pitcher in the fifth inning. He struck out seven in three innings and allowed just one hit. Poway scored its final run in the seventh. Eddie Thompson walked, advanced to third on an error an scored on a passed ball.

Frank Vaughan (1-0) pitched the first four innings for the victory, and Don Jones pitched the seventh for the save.

Poway is 6-0, Hilltop 4-1-1.

San Marcos 5, Granite Hills 4, 10 innings--Senior Justin Woodard went three for five, and his 380-foot home run in the bottom of the 10th inning gave No. 7 San Marcos (4-2) the victory over eighth-ranked Granite Hills (3-2-1) in the tournament’s third-place game. Woodard’s homer came with one out and was his third extra-base hit of the day.

Teammate Curt Gallego had two hits and two RBIs. The victory went to pitcher Chris Young (1-1), who struck out five, walked one and allowed one hit in four innings of relief. Ryan O’Coyne shut out San Marcos for three innings, but was pulled in the 10th when he reached his allotted 10 innings per week limit.

Helix 5, USDHS 3--Bobby Miller’s two-run double in the third inning lifted Helix (4-2) to the upset of ninth-ranked University of San Diego High (3-3). Miller and teammates Josh Jonte and Jame Frey, who stole two bases that led to a score, had two hits apiece. Winning pitcher Ryan Smith (1-1) pitched a five-hitter but walked nine.

El Capitan 6, Escondido 3--Escondido (1-5) committed all four of its errors in the seventh inning, leading to three unearned runs for El Capitan and making Mike Frank (1-1) a tough-luck loser. Frank, who allowed seven hits, allowed only one in the final inning.

St. Augustine 9, Mission Bay 7--Mission Bay stole 10 bases but gave up seven unearned runs. Both teams are 3-3.

GMC Classic

San Diego 12, Marian 4--San Diego (5-2) pinned the first loss of the year on Marian (5-1-1), the tournament’s top seed, in the championship game. San Diego had 14 hits and Marian committed four errors.

Marian 9, Francis Parker 8--In a semifinal game, a bases-loaded walk tied the game in the bottom of the seventh and Geneacarlo Ruiz won it for Marian with a squeeze to score Frank Ritz, who had singled. Sean Villafranco had three hits and Jamar Brown two, and both scored twice for Marian.

Crawford Tournament

La Jolla 11, West Hills 6--La Jolla scored five runs in the third off five consecutive singles from Sean Murphy, Jeremy Shelton, Bryan Hidalgo, Carl Maggio and Eric Vann to win a semifinal game.

Overall, Maggio went two for four with two runs scored and two RBIs.

Ten of La Jolla’s 11 hits were singles, but many of its runs scored on 10 West Hills errors.

La Jolla improved to 5-1. West Hills fell to 3-3.

Morse 10, University City 2--Chris Nelson hit a home run and struck out seven to pick up the victory for visiting Morse (3-3). Morse pitchers issued 11 walks and hit one batter. Morse is 5-1.

Nonleague

Imperial 5, Palo Verde 3--Mike Charney (1-0) struck out eight and allowed just three hits to pick up the win. All three Palo Verde runs were unearned. Imperial is 3-1.