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The Grizzlies baseball team has a new varsity staff this year; manager Roberto De La Peña and assistant coach Robert Lamb.

Varsity return pitcher and first baseman Clayton Congdon said, “It’s an advantage to have a coach on campus. De La Peña has done a good job recruiting players for our program.”

Under the beautiful cloudy sky, Granite Hills principal, Jeff Bottoms, threw the first pitch. Even though it was well below fifty degrees, a big crowd braved the cold and was in attendance to watch the season opener.

The Grizzlies started the 2011 season with Congdon on the mound. Congdon started the game with a ground out and two strike outs. Congdon was moved to play first base after the second inning, with 5 strike outs. “I thought all of our pitchers did well. We each pitched two innings and didn’t let the Spartans score,” stated Congdon, who was 0 for 1, with a sacrifice fly, and three stolen bases.

Michael Cruz, the Grizzlies shortstop, led off for the Grizzlies in batting. Cruz was walked on his first and third at bats. “Since I was walked twice, I was fast and aggressive on the bases,”said Cruz. Cruz was 1 for 1, five stolen bases, and scored three times.

Justin Kiluwe was on the mound in the third inning. Kiluwe walked the first batter, but the Grizzles defense picked him up with a beautiful double play when Steven Delgado, the second baseman, picked up the grounder and lobbed it accurately to Michael Cruz, the shortstop, who touched second base and drilled it to first baseman Congdon for the double play. Justin Kiluwe said, “I think it was beautiful, nice and smooth. I felt relieved that my teammates picked me up and took the runners off the base.” Kiluwe was walked twice at bat and had two strike outs.

The Grizzlies pitched well the whole game with 0 ERA. Congdon had five strike outs and allowed one hit. Kiluwe had two strike outs and two ground ball put outs. Delgado started rough but ended the game easily when the next three batters grounded out.

The fifth inning was the Grizzlies strongest. The Grizzlies scored four runs. First, Michael Cruz was walked with the bases loaded to score left fielder Austin Jones. The next at bat, Clayton Congdon hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Justin Kiluwe. Then catcher Blas Roman hit a line-drive single in the gap between center and right field in order to score two runs. Roman said “I knew runners were in scoring position so I hit the ball hard.” Roman ended the game 1 for 3.

The scrimmage was called by the umpires in the sixth inning since it was getting dark. The final score of the game was 6-0 Grizzlies. If the first game is any indication Grizzlies baseball looks to be an exciting way to spend an afternoon outside. GO GRIZZLIES!