Offense helps Cougars beat Griz

GARDEN VALLEY — Multiple hits and solid pitching gave El Dorado an 8-2 victory over host Golden Sierra Tuesday afternoon in an intra-county high school baseball game.

The Cougars (3-0) banged out 10 hits, three in the first inning to established a 2-0 lead. Leadoff hitter  Zack Culp singled and scored on an RBI single from Matt Smith who scored on a grounder.

Two more runs crossed the plate for El Dorado in the top of the second. James Alvarez reached first base on a Grizzly error — one of five they had in the game — and moved to second when Culp reached base on a fielder’s choice before Smith, 2-for-3 with four RBIs, drove in both with a single as the Cougars doubled their lead.

“We hit the ball hard today,” El Dorado head coach Rusty McDonald said. “We hit the ball hard right at people, but they (Golden Sierra) caught it for the third out and we could’ve had some more runs. Overall, it was a good game.”

Nick Bonniksen pitched 6 1/3 innings for El Dorado, fanning 11 Golden Sierra batters, including four in a row, walked one and gave up three hits. Krishton Kern got the last two outs.

“The last outing he went four innings,” said McDonald. “Today he breezed through six innings. Nick looked today like he did last year.”

Two of Golden Sierra’s hits were in the first inning by Bryson Campbell and Joshua Salmonso but both were stranded.

“We need to do a better job in our at-bats,” Griz coach Greg Thompson said. “We never got down on ourselves; our body language was very positive.”

Golden Sierra scored its first run in the bottom of the fourth inning when first baseman Jeffery Klahn singled and scored on an RBI single by Chris Babbes.

El Dorado added runs in the third and fifth as Garret Scalaro beat out an infield single and scored on an error and Tim Hinrichs walked and scored on a Culp’s sacrifice fly.

The Cougars’ final two runs came in the top of the seventh as Smith smacked his second single to center field to drive in Culp and Owen Mackendrick.

The Grizzlies’ final run came in their last at-bat. Sam Steward walked, moved to second when Nate Anderson was hit by a pitch, went to third on a passed ball and scored on a sacrifice fly by Beau Burgess.

“We still felt we could come back and win the game,” Thompson said.

Contact Mike Bush at 530-344-5079 or mbush@mtdemocrat.net. Follow @MBushMtDemo on Twitter. 

Mike Bush

Mike Bush has been working at the Mountain Democrat since August 2011. Mike is the Sports Writer and Features Writer.

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