As the early spring chill set in on Thursday evening, Golden Valley High baseball was just starting to get warmed up.
The Grizzlies picked up their second win of preleague play at home against Buena High of Ventura, 8-5.
“Wins are wins,” said Golden Valley coach Steve Lombardi. “We take positives away from winning a ball game.”
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The Grizzlies scored in the first inning without a hit after Michael Stephan walked and stole second base, but GV didn’t dent the scoreboard again until a four-run fourth inning.
The frame’s highlight came when Dylan Rightmyer laid down a squeeze bunt to bring in a run.
“The big play was the squeeze,” Lombardi said. “We executed a small thing and it kind of opened the inning for us to put a good number up and give us some breathing room.”
Leon Jackson scored in the fifth inning to put Golden Valley up 6-2 before the Bulldogs launched the comeback effort of three runs between the sixth and seventh innings, with the last two coming off an Angel Antonico hit to center field.
Buena decreased the deficit, but not enough to complete the comeback as the Grizzlies scored twice in the sixth.
“We had to close it out,” said Golden Valley pitcher Captain Kanan, who picked up the win. “We could give them some leeway and give them some hits, but we always have to come back and shut them out.”
Stephan closed the game out on the mound.
Said Lombardi: “(Buena) had a timely hit at the end to make it a little bit close, but I think we pitched well.”
The Grizzlies next play on Saturday in the So Cal Invitational tournament.
