SAN MARCOS – The Comets controlled the game from start to finish and cruised to a commanding blowout win for their first conference win, defeating Grossmont at home 16-3.
The Comets were able to get a win with a full team effort. The offensive bats start hot, and the defense side makes plays all around the field.
Comets’ pitcher, Ian Mowad, had a lights-out performance, throwing for six innings and striking out seven, but he didn’t want to take all the credit.
“It’s just a huge rivalry that’s kind of built up over the years, so it’s good to start off with a team win and start the conference off the right way,” said Mowad.
The Comet’s offense didn’t hold back and scored eight runs in the first three innings, including an RBI triple from Brendan Shanahan to start the game.
“It feels great to get the game going like that and put our team in a good spot to win the game early is crucial and felt great,” said Shanahan.
Shanahan now has nine RBIs in the season, with four of those in this game against Grossmont. In his 7th inning at bat, he was down in the count with two strikes on him, and coach had a couple words of encouragement for him before the next pitch.
On the next pitch, Shanahan hit a two RBI single right between the third baseman and shortstop to extend the huge lead they already had.
“He came up to me and told me to clear my head, just stay with my approach that we worked on all week, and get the job done,” said Shanahan.
One of the other big plays of the day was by right fielder TK Madera, who had an incredible catch and throw to second base for a double play in the second inning.
“It was a situation where it was an out, where they really needed to put themselves in a chance to score a run and by running into that out, it shut the door on them having a chance to score that inning which was good,” said head coach Ben Adams
A few other key players for today’s game were relief pitcher Jacob Imoto, who pitched three innings and only allowed one hit; center fielder Justin Tucker, who had three hits today with 2 RBIs as the leadoff; and Carter Jorrisen, who had two hits with an RBI and a couple of walks.
Grossmont didn’t score a run until the fourth inning, but by then, it was already looking like a Comet win against their rival.
“We prepared all week, had good games the last couple weeks, and this is what it was for, open up leagues in a good way and start us off with a win,” said Shanahan on how the win feels.
The Comets will enjoy this league win, and they will be preparing for another Grossmont game on Saturday.
“Well, I think the biggest plan would just be to match our energy that we brought today, and make sure that we play aggressive and make them do things and make them play downhill,” coach Adams said.
Palomar’s next game is away against Grossmont at 1:00 p.m.
