EL CAJON — After going 26 games without a loss, the Granite Hills High School baseball team finally ran into a team it couldn’t beat.
It took nine innings and several missed opportunities, but the Eagles ran out of magic and fell 5-4 to Villa Park in the first round of the Southern California Regional playoffs.
Granite Hills, which made history by going unbeaten in San Diego through the regular season and playoffs en route to the section’s Open Division championship, finishes the season 24-1-2. The Eagles were the No. 4 seed in Division 1 and ranked No. 7 in the state by MaxPreps.com.
Villa Park (25-7), the No. 5 seed, advances to Thursday’s semifinals.
“It doesn’t really bother me that we lost because we had a great season,” said Granite Hills coach James Davis. “What bothers me is that I won’t have this group of seniors to coach.
“They were a fantastic group of kids. They played hard. They played smart. And what they accomplished is unprecedented.”
The Eagles’ “Big Four” seniors — Brenden Lewis, Trevor Smith, Tommy Entrekin and Parker Vance — all played huge roles throughout the season. Vance did not play Tuesday after breaking his hand a week ago. He played through the injury last week, logging the big hit in a 3-0 win over Patrick Henry in the San Diego Section Open Division title game.
Tuesday, his right hand was in a cast.
“It hurt that Parker couldn’t be out there with us,” Entrekin said.
Villa Park took a 2-0 lead in the first, but the Eagles got one back in the bottom of the inning when Lewis scored on Entrekin’s infield out. Villa Park made it 3-1 in the second inning, but Granite Hills clawed back with a run in the fourth, with Entrekin scoring on Anthony Miotti’s single.
The Eagles took the lead in the fifth on Entrekin’s two-run homer, driving in Lewis.
But Villa Park got a homer to start the seventh and pushed a run across in the ninth inning on a walk, sacrifice and single. Granite Hills went down in order in the bottom of the ninth.
The Eagles had the winning run thrown out at the plate in the bottom of the eighth; Villa Park center fielder Nate Lewis made a strong throw to gun down Brody Vicars, who was trying to score on Jody Macias’ fly ball.
‘We took it down to the wire,” Entrekin said. “Every game in the playoffs was like this. Tight.”
Lewis, who is headed for Arizona State next season, had a pair of singles, scored twice and grounded out sharply twice. He also pitched three innings and was charged with two unearned runs, and was stellar on defense.
“This sucks,” Lewis said. “Not because we lost, but because the seniors are done playing here. We made history here. We went through the season and our playoffs unbeaten.
“We most certainly can hold our heads up. It hurt that Parker Vance couldn’t play. That took a big bat out of our lineup, But we’re the best team in San Diego and we take a lot of pride in that.”
Entrekin scored twice for the Eagles. Eurijah Schutza had a pair of singles.
“We started slow, but managed to find some energy,” Davis said. “I had to juggle things with Vance out. He was our MVP in the playoffs. Still this group, these seniors, can take a lot of pride in what they accomplished.”
