Laine Strikes Out 12; Johnson With 4 RBI in 8-6 Win at Grossmont
Avery Laine pitched a complete game while striking out a career-high 12 batters in Tuesday's 8-6 road win at Grossmont as the Knights earned their first PCAC win of 2023. Quinn Johnson hit his fifth homer and drove in four RBI to help the Knights comeback from a three-run deficit to improve to 11-6 overall and 1-2 in the conference.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
San Diego City
|
0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 3 |
|
Grossmont
|
3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 0 |
Avery Laine pitched a complete game while striking out a career-high 12 batters in Tuesday's 8-6 road win at Grossmont as the Knights earned their first PCAC win of 2023. Quinn Johnson hit his fifth homer and drove in four RBI to help the Knights comeback from a three-run deficit to improve to 11-6 overall and 1-2 in the conference.
Grossmont had a strong start to the game by scoring three runs in the bottom of the first, but the Knights responded with three runs of their own in the top of the third inning. Johnson hit a 2-RBI double down the left field line and then Drew Lazor's sacrifice fly allowed Johnson to come home to tie the game at 3-3.
Laine struck out the side in the fourth inning, but stuggled in the top of the fifth as Grossmont put together another 3-run inning off four hits to regain a 6-3 lead.
The Knights, however, showed their resilience with a big sixth inning. With two out and two runners in scoring postion, Gabe Jones came through with a 2-RBI double to bring the Knights within a run. Johnson came up next and hit a 2-run home run, his fifth of the year, to give the Knights their first lead at 7-6. Johnson leads the team with 22 RBI, which is 25th in the state, and is tied with Julian Nunez for most home runs on the team.
Laine struck out the side once again in the bottom of the sixth and then the Knights added an insurance run in the top of the seventh on CJ Brown's RBI-single that scored Conner Stewart from second base.
After striking out the first batter in the bottom of the seventh, Laine gave up a walk, but then got Grossmont's next batter to hit into a ground ball double play to end the inning. Laine then retired the sides in both the eighth and ninth innings to clinch the win as he improved to 3-1 on the season.
Four Knights stole bases on Tuesday, including Jones (6), Stewart (2), Brown (3), and Randy Lopez-Acosta (3).
The Knights and Grossmont will complete their 2-game series on Thursday at 2 p.m. at Morley Field.