Walden Grove scored four early runs to hold off Estrella Foothills 4-2 on Tuesday during pool play action of the Lancer Baseball Classic held at the Reid Park Annex in Tucson. Pool play continues on Wednesday with bracket play following on Thursday.

Walden Grove (7-3 overall and 4-1 in ranking games) lost to Mountain View Marana 9-7 earlier in the day and Estrella Foothills (7-1, 6-0) beat Coconino 13-1.

Andrew Romo starting things off for the Red Wolves with a single in the top of the first inning and Angel Armenta scored him on a double two outs later. The Red Wolves added another run in the second on four straight hits with two outs with Luispablo Navarro bringing in AJ Escarcega from third.

Walden Grove picked up two more runs in the third with Sebastian Gallardo scoring on a wild pitch and Aleck Vasquez sacrificing home Marcus Baray later in the inning. The 4-0 lead held up until the sixth inning with Navarro collecting 10 strikeouts in 4.2 innings of work. Javier Lopez and Alejandro Martinez also saw action on the mound for the Red Wolves.

Jayson Ross singled to lead off the bottom of the sixth and then Brock DeBattista tripled him in to make it 4-1 and then DeBattista scored on a line out for the 4-2 final. The Wolves had two runners in scoring position with two outs in the bottom of the seventh for DeBattista but he was intentionally walked to load the bases and then Martinez induced a ground out for the save.

Romo and Navarro went 2 for 4 and Escarcega went 2 for 3 to lead the Red Wolves and Tanner Medina and Alan Becker threw for Estrella Foothills. Estrella Foothills takes on Mountain View (3-6, 1-1) on Wednesday and Walden Grove will play Coconino (6-4, 3-1).

Former Sunnyside standout Bobby Rosthenhausler replaced former Canyon del Oro and University of Arizona standout Murray Hicks, who retired one year after leading the Red Wolves to the 4A semifinal round. Former McClintock and Texas Tech standout Sean Iverson leads Estrella Foothills.

 

 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13

Cienega vs. Buckeye, 9 a.m.

Bradshaw Mountain vs. Rincon/University, 9 a.m.

Coconino vs. Walden Grove, 9 a.m.

Mica Mountain vs. Yuma, 9 a.m.

Cathedral Catholic vs. Buena, 11:30 a.m.

Yuma Catholic vs. Douglas, 11:30 a.m.

Williams vs. Empire, 11:30 a.m.

Estrella Foothills vs. Mountain View, 11:30 a.m.

Bradshaw Mountain vs. Douglas, 2 p.m.

Sahuarita vs. Flagstaff, 2 p.m.

San Luis vs. Rio Rico, 2 p.m.

Rincon/University vs. Yuma Catholic, 2 p.m.

Mingus Union vs. Benson, 4:30 p.m.

Sahuaro vs. Flagstaff, 4:30 p.m.

Seton Catholic vs. Pueblo, 4:30 p.m.

Vista Grande vs. Tanque Verde, 4:30 p.m.

Canyon View vs. Desert View, 7 p.m.

Cornerstone vs. Salpointe, 7 p.m.

San Luis vs. Seton Catholic, 7 p.m.

Sahuarita vs. Sunnyside, 7 p.m.