HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP : Castle Park Wins With Gil No-Hitter

It wasn’t a perfect game, but it was nearly a perfect performance.

Benji Gil of Castle Park pitched a no-hitter, struck out 17 and beat Bonita Vista, 9-1, Wednesday in a Metro Conference baseball game.

Gil walked only one batter and hit one. Of the other four outs, three were bouncers to the mound, and the other was a grounder to second.

The Trojan outfield, third baseman and shortstop need not have taken the field.

Gil’s 17 strikeouts are the third highest total in section history for a seven-inning game. Terry O’Dell of Victory Christian holds the record with 21 against Borrego Springs in 1987. Two had 19 and nine others 17.

Gil (6-3) leads the county with 97 strikeouts in 50 1/3 innings, and he lowered his earned run average to 0.70.

After retiring the first six Baron batters, Gil walked Scott Field, then hit Dave Gonzalez in the chest. After a strikeout, Jaime Cabral reached on an error, loading the bases. Joe Morales, the only Baron to avoid striking out, grounded to second, scoring Field.

Gil ended the inning with a strikeout en route to retiring the final 13 Barons.

On offense for eighth-ranked Castle Park (15-6, 6-3), freshman Vidal Valderas was two for three with three RBIs. Kiko Palacios also had three RBIs, and Vico Moreno was two for four.

Gil went hitless for the third game in a row, but he scored two runs, reaching on errors twice and a walk.

In other Metro games:

Chula Vista 3, Montgomery 2--Cesar Martinez (6-1) won the pitchers’ duel with Mike Wazal (5-1) as Chula Vista became the first San Diego County team to defeat No. 1-ranked Montgomery.

Each pitcher allowed only five hits, but it was walks that got Montgomery (17-2-1) in trouble in the top of the seventh. Wazal walked David McVey and allowed a single to David Romero. Pedro Ramirez replaced Wazal and walked the next two batters, forcing in the winning run.

Romero had three hits for second-place Chula Vista (12-8, 7-2), and Mario Ayala added an RBI single. For Montgomery, Luis Contreras was one for one with a sacrifice fly, and pinch-hitter Sergio Aguirre had an RBI single.

Hilltop 9, Southwest 4--Richie Hinzo and Sergio Guzman had two hits apiece, and Jose Silva had a two-run triple to lead Hilltop (9-6-2, 4-5-1). Southwest is 5-10, 3-7.

City Central League

Hoover 7, San Diego 5--Hoover (3-16, 2-6) defeated 10th-ranked San Diego, which lost its second in a row to fall to 13-7-1, 4-3.

Tony Banks went three for three with three RBIs and Jim Morgans of Hoover was two for three with one RBI. Byron Limbrick (1-0) was the winner, and Toby Davis picked up the save.

Madison 4, Lincoln 1--Brian Delgado (1-0) threw a three-hitter to lead first-place Madison (9-8, 5-1). Mike Jones had a two-run triple in the first inning, then scored on a single by Delgado to give the Warhawks a 3-0 lead. Tobias Price (3-5) yielded only four hits but the Hornets (7-13, 2-5) committed three errors behind him.

City Eastern League

Point Loma 7, Serra 5--Tobin Gault went two for two with a homer and three RBIs to pace Point Loma (11-11, 4-3). Nello Marciel had three hits, an RBI and scored twice. Serra (14-9-1, 2-5) got a two-run single from Jason Williams, who scored twice.

Mira Mesa 12, Morse 1--Brendan Hause pitched a one-hitter and struck out 10, and Phillip Henry went three for four with three RBIs to lead fifth-ranked Mira Mesa (19-4-1, 6-1). Morse’s Tony Myrick spoiled the no-hitter with a sixth-inning single.

City Harbor League

St. Augustine 6, Clairemont 0--John Mozerka went two for three with a solo home run and scored twice for St. Augustine (13-8, 5-2). Aaron Goncalves had a two-run triple and Jorge Inzunza (7-1) pitched a four-hitter, struck out 10 and walked one. Clairemont is 9-9-1, 3-4.

City Western League

University City 5, USDHS 1--Jay Parmenter hit a three-run home run in the second inning to give University City (14-5, 6-2) its fourth consecutive victory and sole possession of first in the league. USDHS fell to 14-8, 5-2.

Mike Saipe made the most of three strikeouts and 11 ground balls to improve to 7-1 with a three-hitter. The Dons’ Ian Hamilton (4-2) allowed six hits.

Mission Bay 4, Kearny 1--J.J. Ibarra had three hits, an RBI and scored a run to lead No. 7 Mission Bay (15-6, 5-2) over Kearny (3-15-1, 0-7). Junior left-hander Wyatt Spencer (4-1) pitched a three-hitter.