GRIFFINS BACK TO HITTING

VICTORVILLE – A day after being no-hit for the first time in over a decade, the Griffins put a nine spot up on the scoreboard and defeat the Victor Valley Rams 9-2 in the High Desert. 

Nevan Noonan paced the Griffin (2-1) offensive attack. The freshman shortstop had two hits in five trips to the plate with a pair of RBI. Second baseman Luke Mansy went 2-for-4 as did catcher Juan Nunez. 

Sophomore Ethan Caschetta (0-2, Run Scored) walked to lead the game off and moved to second when Noah Lane reached on an error by Victor Valley. After an out that moved Caschetta to third, DH Luke Denos had a RBI groundout that moved Lane to second. Weston Clark doubled the Griffins lead with a RBI single. 

It was in the third inning that Noonan got his RBI's on a single that brought home Denos and UCONN signee Zavien Watson (1-5, RBI, SB) to make it 4-0 Grossmont. 

An inning later, Watson reached via an error that allowed Juan Nunez to score making it 5-0. After Zavien stole second and Nicholas Rocha scored it was a 6-0 lead. 

In the bottom of the fourth, the Griffin shutout was dashed when Victor Valley hit an RBI single to make it 6-1. 

With the bases loaded, the Victor Valley pitching staff uncorked a wild pitch allowing Rocha to come screaming down the third baseline and a 7-1 lead. 

The Griffins would strike again in the top of the eighth inning. Denos hit a sacrifice fly to left bringing home pinch hitter Justin Cervantes in for a 8-1 lead. Later in the inning, pinch hitter Demetrrius Wells came home on a balk to close out the Griffin scoring at nine runs. 

The Rams (0-2) scored a run in the bottom of the ninth on a ground out. 

Grossmont will continue the road trip to open the season on Saturday when they travel to the MLB Youth Academy in Compton, California to take on the Compton Tartars. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. The home portion of the season will commence on Thursday, Feb. 9 against LA Mission as the back-end of a home and home with the Eagles.