HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP : Grossmont Pitcher No-Hits Monte Vista

In Jeff Meredith’s four-year coaching career at Grossmont High, only a handful of Foothillers have pitched a complete game.

On Monday, Jason Eskridge saw to it to become the first this season.

Eskridge pitched a no-hitter and shut out Monte Vista, 11-0, in a Grossmont 3-A League game in Spring Valley.

In command throughout, Eskridge struck out eight, walked two and improved to 6-0 for No. 1 Grossmont (13-1-1, 3-0).

Monte Vista (13-9-1, 2-2) hit only four balls out of the infield, and only one Monarch was close to getting a hit. Frank Lagler was safe on a slow roller to second in the third inning that was bobbled and dropped by Mike Landers and ruled an error.

For good measure, Eskridge also went two for three with a two-run home run and two runs.

Adding a twist to Eskridge’s first no-hitter and second career complete game was the fact that little used senior Matt Villaescusa started at catcher for only the second time in his career.

Villaescusa went two for three with two RBIs and is four for seven on the season.

Mike Spears had five complete games for Grossmont last year, including a perfect game, but there had been only five complete games in Meredith’s first two years. John Tatum had two in 1990. In ‘89, Mark Gapski had two and Danny Lennon one.

In another Grossmont 3-A game:

Helix 6, Granite Hills 2--Bobby Miller went three for four, including two doubles, for 10th-ranked Helix (12-7, 2-1). Winner Ryan Smith (5-2) struck out eight.

Grossmont 2-A League

West Hills 7, Santana 6--After winning only six games in its first two years of existence, West Hills improved to 8-8-1, 2-1. H.K. Caldwell (4-1) went the distance, and Steve Gotowala and Gil Campana each went two for three. Santana fell to 12-8-1, 1-3.

El Cajon 9, El Capitan 8--Three home runs weren’t enough for No. 6 El Capitan to hold off El Cajon (8-9, 2-1) or its three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh, where El Cajon’s Ryan Baker singled with one out to score the tying and winning runs.

City Central League

Madison 6, Lincoln 3--Madison’s Brad Tade and Robert Gross had two hits and two RBIs apiece for Madison. For Lincoln (7-12, 1-3), Tobias Price struck out 15 in the loss, giving him 74 for the season.

Crawford 11, Hoover 5--Crawford’s Brent Norris snared a pair of hits and scored as many runs and Robbie Wadas was three for four and scored twice for Crawford (8-7, 4-0). Hoover fell to 3-13, 0-4.

City Eastern League

Serra 6, Patrick Henry 4--Danny Moreno’s double drove in Justin Wible for the go-ahead run in the sixth. Moreno was effective on defense, too. With Serra (7-11, 2-2) protecting a two-run lead, he made a diving catch in center. Wible was three for four and teammate J.T. Hooks two for three with two RBIs.

Mira Mesa 5, Morse 1--Karl Goins and Brendan Hause hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth to power No. 3 Mira Mesa (15-4, 4-0). Morse fell to 7-7, 1-3.

City Western League

La Jolla 8, University City 3--The tying and go-ahead runs came in before La Jolla’s Chris Duncan iced it with a two-out, full-count, bases-loaded, ground-rule double. Winner David Mullin gave up four hits and no earned runs. James Billingsley was three for four with two RBIs for UC (5-12, 1-3). La Jolla is 10-8, 1-3.

City Harbor League

St. Augustine 14, Christian 6--The seventh-ranked Saints banged out 17 hits on the way to their 14th consecutive victory. Eric Miranda was four for four with two triples and two RBIs, teammates John Mozerka went two for three with three runs batted in and Javier Pamus doubled twice and knocked in two runs for St. Augustine.

Marian 8, Clairemont 6--Hector Concepcion and Juan Bujuazan were three for four and scored twice for Marian (2-14, 2-2). Clairemont fell to 6-11-1, 1-3.

SOFTBALL

Grossmont 3-A League

Monte Vista 2, Grossmont 0--Casey Gregg pitched a no-hitter and tripled and Kelly Howard had a solo home run as Monte Vista (14-5-1, 4-0) won this key league game. Grossmont fell to 17-4, 3-1.