Both teams — the Eastlake Titans and Hilltop Lancers — carried one-game winning streaks into Tuesday’s Mesa League baseball game at Hilltop High School.
The Titans emerged with a two-game win streak following their 8-1 win.
The Lancers entered the game fresh off a 2-1 victory against the league rival Chula Vista Spartans last Saturday at Petco Park.
Eastlake had gotten back in the win column on Saturday by defeating San Ysidro, 8-0, after dropping a 7-4 decision at Otay Ranch on April 19.
The loss to the Mustangs came after the Titans had won their opening four Mesa League games.
“We bounced back,” EHS head coach Dave Gallegos said. “Sometimes it takes a loss to wake up.”
Tuesday’s victory raised the Titans league record to 6-1, 18-3-1 overall.
Hilltop dropped to 2-3 in league, 7-14 overall.
Otay Ranch improved to 14-6 overall following Monday’s 7-4 non-league win over visiting La Jolla. The Mustangs are 4-2 in league play, second to Eastlake in the standings.
Chula Vista (11-11 overall) is 4-3 in league play, good for third place in the standings.
Brian Leonhardt started Tuesday’s game and picked up the win to improve to 5-0 on the mound this season.
Jake Espinosa went three-for-three at the plate with a single, double and triple to go with one RBI.
Zaine Mendoza went two-for-three with two RBI; Grant Holman went two-for-three with one RBI.
Holman took the loss in last Thursday’s game to fall to 25-1 in his varsity career.
Randy Abshier got the win for the Mustangs to improve to 3-1 on the season.
Kelton Wenger scored Hilltop’s lone run in Tuesday’s game on a base hit by teammate Evan Moreno. The run was charged against Charlie Peterson in relief.
Jack Hay pitched the seventh inning for Eastlake.
Moreno tripled in one run and then scored on the overthrow at third base to account for the game-winning run in Saturday’s game at Petco Park.
Alex Guerrero had been hit by a pitch and scored on Moreno’s triple.
Hilltop improved to 2-0 in games at Petco Park, noted Lancer head coach Kurt Gritts.
“It was a league game,” he said. “The experience was great for the kids. They got to experience playing in a major league park.”
Chula Vista coach Jim Westlund echoed that comment.
“The players had a great time though we lost,” he said. “We had eight hits and left 12 runners on base. We missed a lot of run scoring opportunities. The overall experience was still great.”
