El Cajon — It wasn't pretty, but the Griffins got a 10-8 victory over the San Diego Mesa Olympians on Tuesday, April 5th at Noel Michelsen Field.
Zavien Watson, Sean McGrew and Skyler Agnew all turned in multi-hit performances for the (tied) first place Griffins (17-10, 10-4 PCAC).
Dylan Vail got the win out of the bullpen and Ethan Caschetta picked up his first save of the year in the victory.
Watson and Noah Lane each hit home runs for the Griffins. Watson's hit the scoreboard in left center, while Lane went to straight away left.
Grossmont didn't waste any time as they got things rolling in the first inning. After a double play, Watson singled to left field. McGrew followed that up with a double down the left field line to score Watson. Luke Denos singled to right to bring in McGrew two pitches later.
In the next frame, Agnew doubled down the left field line to get things rolling. Jake Allen singled to third on a bad-hop single pushing Agnew to third. Both runners advanced when Mesa (5-23, 4-10) released a wild pitch. A pair of flyouts and a ground out would limit the damage for the Olympians.
Mesa began their comeback in the top of the third. They would score on a sacrifice fly to deep center, allowing a run to score.
The Olympians would inch a little closer to Grossmont in the fifth inning as they would get a run on a Griffin wild pitch.
Then the late innings happened. And if you were late to the game, but like offense, you were not disappointed.
Mesa with their small ball type of play, would score another run on a sacrifice fly to tie the game up at three each. In the bottom of the inning, Zavien would lead the inning off with his monster blast to left, giving GC the 4-3 lead.
In the seventh, both teams scored twice giving Grossmont the 6-5 lead.
Mesa said "Enough," and took the lead as they scored three times to take an 8-6 lead.
Grossmont retaliated with four in the bottom of the frame. Lane began the inning with his home run. Agnew doubled again down the left field line. Jake Allen laid down a beautiful sacrifice bunt, with Agnew beating out the throw to third allowing both to be safe. Dante Juliano laid down a great bunt past the pitcher into the hole created by the first baseman covering the base and second baseman covering second, allowing Agnew to score. Both Juliano and Allen advanced to second and third respectively on a balk. That balk led to a pitching change for the Olympians. Caschetta welcomed the new pitcher with a sacrifice fly to center plating Allen. After a strikeout, Watson reached on a fielding error allowing Juliano to score. Another error by the Mesa defense allowed McGrew to reach base. Denos walked to load the bags. Sadly, for the Green and Gold, that is where the rally would end as Lane, the tenth batter of the inning, struck out. But the Griffins were up 10-8 at this point.
Caschetta would move from center field to the mound to attempt to close the game out. It was an adventure as the strike zone kept moving in the eyes of the umpire. A walk was followed by a fly out to center field. Followed by a high pop to the shortstop for the second out. A single through the right side put runners on first and second for SDM. But the Griffin righty would register his first save with a flyout to left center field.
The Griffins travel to San Diego Mesa on Thursday (April 7) for a 2:00 p.m. game before returning to the friendly confines of Noel Michelsen Field to wrap the series up on Saturday with a 1:00 p.m. start.