CHULA VISTA – The Grossmont College Griffin baseball team knocked out 15 hits but left 10 runners on base in a 10-7 loss at Southwestern College on Friday, April 21.
Brodie Romero led the hit parade for the Griffins (16-17, 9-12 PCAC) with a 3-for-5 day with a double and an RBI. Five other Griffins would get multiple hits against Jaguar pitching.
Grossmont got the scoring going in the first inning. Ethan Caschetta singled to open the game. A fielding error allowed Caschetta to reach second and Nevan Noonan first safely. Luke Mansy was given a free pass (one of only three walks issued by SWC pitchers) to load the bases up. Luke Denos singled to move everyone up a base, allowing Caschetta to score, giving the Griffins the 1-0 lead. After a strikeout, Skyler Agnew reached on a fielder's choice that forced Mansy out at third, but Noonan scored and a 2-0 Griffin lead. Noah Lane singled and advanced to second on the SWC catcher's throwing error, which pushed Agnew to third and scored Denos. The Griffins ended the top of the first with three runs.
Southwestern (21-15, 15-7 PCAC) is in second place in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference for a reason. They don't give up easily and have the talent to back it up. They scored three runs on three hits and a Griffin error.
The Jags would score another three runs in the third to take a 6-3 lead.
In the top of the fourth, Lane doubled to lead off the inning. Juan Nunez singled to drive in Lane and cut the lead down to 6-4. That would be as close as Grossmont would get.
Southwestern would score two more in the sixth and seventh each.
The Griffins would load the bases with a Mansy single, Denos walk and a Romero single. Agnew would hit a sacrifice fly to left to bring in Mansy.
In the top of the ninth, Mansy would get hit by a pitch and move to second on a Denos ground out. Romero would hit his double to drive in the second baseman Mansy to make it 10-6 Southwestern. Romero would move up to third on a wild pitch and come home on an Agnew double. Southwestern would bring in their closer at this point and he would close out the game.
Grossmont will host Imperial Valley for three games over the course of about 30 hours. A single game on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. Then a doubleheader on Wednesday with the first game scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m.
With the three against Imperial Valley, the Griffins only have four games left in the 2023 season all at Noel Michelsen Field on the campus of Grossmont College. The final game of the season will be the final postponed game against SD Mesa. That will be played on Saturday, April 29.