The Eastlake High School baseball team is drawing rave reviews at the moment. The Titans posted a runner-up finish in last year’s San Diego Section Division I playoffs, and look to be involved in an elite tier playoff run again this season.
Eastlake improved to 16-3, 2-0 in Metro-Mesa League play, after defeating host Bonita Vista, 8-7, on Thursday. Previously, the Titans topped the Barons, 9-1, in Tuesday’s league opener at EHS.
Eastlake led 8-0 in Thursday’s game before Bonita Vista rallied for seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and placed the potential winning run in scoring position in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Despite the close call on Thursday, Titan head coach Dave Gallegos believes his team has the makings of another championship contender.
“I feel like we have a pretty solid team, though we lost a little cohesiveness at the end of the game,” Gallegos noted after Thursday’s win that kept his team undefeated in league play.
The EHS coach said his squad has won as a team this season, and will continue to do so.
“Hard work,” Gallegos underscored as the top reason for the Titans’ strong charge out of the gate in 2016. “The team chemistry is great – all the kids get along. They work hard in practice.”
This year’s Eastlake squad also remains young. “We have five sophomores on the varsity and four play regularly,” Gallegos explained. “We’re still young. We only have one or two seniors play in each game.”
Sophomore Grant Holman started Thursday’s game. He allowed three hits and struck out eight batters through five innings before tiring in the sixth when the Barons began their comeback.
The visitors went through two relievers – Adrian Hernandez and Mason Thompson – in an attempt to stem the BVHS uprising before eventually calling on junior standout Casey Schmitt, who finally managed to put out the fire with a strikeout, fly out and infield out despite yielding two hits and allowing three runs to score.
Schmitt got two easy outs to start the bottom of the seventh inning before giving up an infield hit, a hit batsman and a wild pitch that placed runners at second and third bases with two out. He ran the count to 3-2 before getting the final Baron out on a strikeout.
Despite the seven late runs by the hosts, Holman still picked up the win to improve to 6-0 on the season.
If Holman’s name is familiar, it should be. He was the big man on Eastlake Little League’s 2013 Little League World Series United States championship squad. Two more former Eastlake Little League stars are on the Titans’ varsity unit this season – left fielder Micah Pietila-Wiggs and catcher Nick Mora.
All were huge contributors to the Eastlake Little League team’s successful run to the 2013 LLWS championship game.
Pietila-Wiggs led all players at the 2013 LLWS in total hits while Mora and Holman both swung big bats and hurled magic on the mound.
Holman has grown four inches since then. He now stands 6-6. He threw a combined no-hitter with junior teammate Thompson in his first varsity game.
“It’s awesome,” Holman said about now representing his high school. “As long as we can continue to play the game we love and have fun doing it, we should be successful.”
“The goal is to one game at a time and win league,” Gallegos said. “There are some tough teams we still have to play – Otay Ranch, Mater Dei Catholic, Olympian. Any of them can beat you – just look at today.”
Schmitt has had a superlative season thus far. He has hit five home runs and is batting close to .600 in Gallegos’ estimation.
“He’s our closer,” the EHS coach noted succinctly.
Schmitt was clocked at 92 mph by a scout present at Thursday’s game.
Gallegos also had high marks for Holman. “You’ve got to tip your hat to him because he’s a sophomore,” the Titan coach said. “He did well, throwing five shutout innings, before he got tired at the end.”
The Barons rapped out 10 hits in Thursday’s game, including two each by Chris Luna, John Beilstein, Spencer Casady and Andres Velasco. Seven different players scored runs in the game.
Beilstein had two RBI while Alex Verdugo, Casady, Gustavo Perez, Joey Hernandez and Velasco each drove in one run.
Mike Bloom started the game for Bonita Vista and allowed six runs on seven hits in three innings on the hill. Beilstein, Nick Montoya and Omar Vega each pitched one inning in relief. Montoya gave up two runs on two hits in the top of the sixth inning.
The visitors slugged 11 hits, scoring twice in the second inning, three times in the third inning and once in the fourth to go up 6-0. Schmitt started off the Titans’ scoring parade with a lead-off home run in the top of the second inning.
Julian Escobedo finished the game two-for-three with two runs scored while Ben Ramirez went two-for-three with three RBI. Schmitt scored twice in the game while Brian Leonhardt (two-for-four) scored once.
Bonita Vista, which advanced to the semifinals of last month’s Lions tournament, dropped to 11-7 on the season, 0-2 in league play.
The Barons graduated 13 players last season and four more the previous season after winning the Division II championship in 2014.
“We’ve played a good schedule but haven’t been able to beat the teams ahead of us,” explained BVHS head coach Vincent Gervais in relation to the fortunes of this season’s team. “We’ve got talent but not that much experience.
“We’d like to bounce back and win out in league to contend if Eastlake falls later on. We still have some non-league games remaining on our schedule. I’d like to win seven of our last nine games to have a shot at making the playoffs.”
Top performers include Beilstein (.453 hitting average, 14 RBI), Casady (.382 hitting average, 10 runs scored), Velasco (.368 hitting average, 10 RBI), Ricardo Sanchez (.317 hitting average, 17 runs scored), Luna (.310 hitting average, 16 runs scored), Alex Verdugo (3-2 pitching record, 3.06 ERA) and Bloom (4-2 pitching record, 3.50 ERA).
Eastlake next plays a two-game series against Otay Ranch Tuesday (April 26) and Thursday (April 28) while Bonita Vista plays at Scripps Ranch on Tuesday (April 28) and hosts La Jolla Country Day on April 30.
Titans extend league record to 3-0 with 5-2 win at Otay Ranch
Julian Escobedo picked up the win in Tuesday’s 5-2 win at Otay Ranch to improve to 5-0 on the season. He gave up six hits and struck out eight batters in six complete innings before Casey Schmitt came on in relief to post the save.
Schmitt hit a solo home run and scored two runs in Tuesday’s contest while Leonard Jones hit a two-run home run, Brian Leonhardt went two-for-four and Bryan Reyes went two-for-three with one RBI.
The Titans rolled across three runs in the top of the seventh inning to push their lead to 5-1. A double steal by Schmitt and Escobedo plated one run, with Escobedo scoring on a high throw home, followed by Jones’ two-run homer.
Abraham Leyva went two-for-four to lead Otay Ranch (1-2 in league, 9-9 overall). He leads the Mustangs with a .400 hitting average.
Osvaldo Tovalin, who scored Otay Ranch’s first run, is hitting .368 on the season.
Titan Nation
Escobedo remains one of the team’s many top performers. He is hitting .338 with 20 RBI, 23 runs scored, a 1.89 earned-run average with 36 strikeouts in 33 innings pitched. The RBI count leads the team.
Reyes is hitting .409 with one home run, 11 RBI and 10 runs scored while Leonhardt is hitting .394 with 13 RBI, one home run and 11 runs scored. Leonhardt is also 3-2 is relief with 26 strikeouts and a 2.12 ERA.
Ben Ramirez is hitting .364 with 12 RBI and nine runs scored while second baseman Santino Rivera is hitting .356 with 17 RBI and 14 runs scored.
Jones is hitting .348 with two home runs, nine RBI and four runs scored.
Micah Pietila-Wiggs is also having a solid season with a .281 hitting average, three home runs, 11 RBI and 14 runs scored.
Nick Mora has less game time with a .500 hitting average in seven plate appearances.
As a team, Eastlake owns a composite .336 hitting average with 16 home runs and a 2.75 ERA.
On deck
Batter up
Eastlake was scheduled to close out its two-game series against Otay Ranch on Thursday before hosting Central Union in a non-league game on Saturday, April 30. Eastlake then opens a two-game series against Olympian (May 3-5).
Bonita Vista opens a two-game series against Otay Ranch (May 3-5).
Metro Conference
Baseball Standings
(Through April 28)
Metro-Mesa League
League/Overall
Eastlake Titans 4-0, 18-3
Mater Dei Catholic 3-3, 9-15
Olympian 1-1, 12-9
Otay Ranch 1-3, 9-10
Bonita Vista 0-2, 11-8
Thursday, April 28
Eastlake 7, Otay Ranch 3
Olympian 5, Mater Dei Catholic 3
Scripps Ranch 8, Bonita Vista 6
Tuesday, April 26
Eastlake 5, Otay Ranch 2
Mater Dei Catholic 6, Olympian 1
Metro-Pacific League
League/Overall
Sweetwater 0-0, 15-9
Hilltop 0-0, 13-9
Castle Park 0-0, 10-11-1
Chula Vista 0-0, 9-13
Metro-South Bay League
League/Overall
Montgomery 0-0, 10-12
San Ysidro 0-0, 9-12
Southwest 0-0, 3-19
Mar Vista 0-0, 3-19
San Diego Section Rankings
Division I: 6. Eastlake, 17. Bonita Vista
Division II: 7. Montgomery, 16. Otay Ranch, 18, San Ysidro
Division III: 4. Hilltop, 14. Mater Dei Catholic, 15. Olympian
Division IV: 1. Sweetwater, 8. Chula Vista, 15, Mar Vista, 19. Southwest
