EL CAJON — James Davis spent the better part of Wednesday morning in urgent care.He spent most of the day in pain.
Kidney stones will do that to a person.
Win or lose, the Granite Hills High School baseball coach was headed to the hospital after his team’s Open Division first-round playoff game with Del Norte in the double-elimination bracket.
“I’m still hurting, but I feel a whole lot better now,” Davis said after top-seeded Granite Hills rallied for an improbable 8-6 win.
The Eagles (21-0-2) fell behind 4-0 in the first inning with Aiden Sun driving in one run and Cole Hoffman belting a long, three-run homer to right off Brenden Lewis, Granite Hills’ No. 1 starter.
The No. 8-seeded Nighthawks (17-11-0) made it 5-0 in the third on Liam O’Day’s homer to left, his sixth homer of the season.
The Nighthawks were in control 6-1 in the sixth with Grey Gusich pitching a gem. The big right-hander had retired 11 in a row, and Granite Hills had two outs, no one on and two strikes on Trevor Smith before he singled.
Gusich had two strikes on Tommy Entrekin before he singled.
The next five Eagles reached base as Granite Hills scored four times to draw within a run at 6-5.
Entrekin pitched a clean seventh for the Eagles, giving them a chance in the bottom of the seventh.
Lewis, who is also the team’s best hitter, led off and tied the game with a homer to left.With one on, Entrekin drew a walk. With two outs, it was up to Eurijah Schutza.
And he delivered big time with a homer to left, setting off a mass celebration at home plate.
“No. Never had a bigger hit than that, Schutza said. “I was just trying to hit a ball in the gap. I was sitting fastball and got one.”
Granite Hills had blown through league play, outscoring its opponents 125-10.
The Eagles hadn’t been tested since coming back from four runs down against San Marcos in the Lions Tournament to earn a 4-4 tie in a game called on of darkness.
“We just kept fighting,” Schutza said. “We never gave up. Their first guy (Gusich) did a really good job. He mixed up his pitches. Had us off balance. But we finally broke through. By far, this was the biggest win of the season.”
Granite Hills will now host St. Augustine on Friday in a Winner’s Bracket game.
”Give Granite credit,” said Del Norte coach Rielly Embrey. “We had ’em. They hadn’t been behind too many times, but we left too many guys on (two in the fifth and three in the sixth). You can’t do that against a team as good as Granite Hills. But we’ll be OK.”
The Nighthawks will play at Carlsbad on Friday in a Loser’s Bracket game.
“We were in shock mode early in the game,” Davis said. “By far that was our biggest comeback of the season. We haven’t been under pressure for a while now, but this is the Open Division. Del Norte is a really good team. And it won’t get any easier from here on out. There are no softies in the Open Division.”Winning makes me feel a little better, but I’m still going to the hospital and see what they can do to ease this pain.”
