Arroyo Grande shortstop Erik Morrison spent a lot of time circling the bases Thursday.

The senior hit three home runs against St. Joseph starting pitcher Sheldon Lechuga and the Eagles, who have hit multiple home runs in a single game many times before, hit five on the day in a 12-2 victory at Dave Brunell Field in the Central Coast Pre-Season Tournament.

All area baseball games Thursday were CCPT ones.

Arroyo Grande is 4-1. St. Joseph is 0-5. The Knights play at Righetti Saturday in a non-league doubleheader that begins at 11 a.m.

"I was seeing the ball well in (batting practice) and it carried over," Morrison, who has four home runs, said after his big day. "The first at-bat is always key for me.

"I felt real good. I had been kind of struggling at the plate lately, thinking too much."

Morrison/s first at-bat was an omen of good things to come for him. He socked a two-run home run over the center field fence in the first inning. Chris McCall followed that up with a two-run homer of his own in the first.

Lechuga shut down the Eagles until the fourth, but then they scored three times. Morrison slugged a home run over the fence in dead center in the fifth, and then the Eagles struck for back-to-back homers in the sixth.

Catcher Gil Buenrostro hit a three-run home run over the right field fence, then Morrison hit a solo homer over the fence in left center.

"We have good hitting in positions1-9," said Morrison. "If the top guys falter, the 6-7-8 guys will pick them up.

"We thought we would be a good hitting team this year. We were productive hitting last year, and we didn/t lose many guys."

Catcher Josh Meagher/s long two-run home run over the right field fence in the sixth accounted for St. Joseph/s scoring.

Arroyo Grande starting pitcher Josh Gutierrez shut out the Knights on three singles during his five innings of work.

"He/s not overpowering, but he/s got a good variety of pitches," said Arroyo Grande coach Brad Lachemann.

"He has a good changeup, and if you sit on the change he/ll throw the fastball by you."

Besides Gutierrez/s pitching and his team/s defense 7 each squad made an error Thursday 7 Lachemann was, of course, happy with the Eagles/ hitting.

Afterward, first-year St. Joseph coach Bobby Fystro had no complaints.

"They/re a very good team," Fystro said of Arroyo Grande. "They won the PAC-5 last year, and they/re very good again.

"Every non-league game we/ve played has been against PAC-5 schools," said Fystro.

"Absolutely," the Knights will be ready when they begin play in the smaller-school Los Padres League next week, Fystro said.

"The scores have not been indicative," of how his team has competed, said Fystro. "These guys have played hard, they/ve never had their heads down."

SM 1, Atascadero 0

John Robles doubled, went to third on a groundout and then scored on David Cortez/s groundout in the second inning for the only run of the game at Elks Field.

The Saints grabbed their first win this season. They are 1-4.

Bobby Ferrel pitched a complete-game three-hitter to earn the win. The Saints play at San Luis Obispo Saturday in a non-league doubleheader that begins at 11 a.m.

Righetti 1, Nipomo 0

NIPOMO 7 The one hit Righetti starter Andy Lamontagne allowed in his six innings of work "was a dribbler that hit the third base line and we couldn/t make a play on," said Righetti coach Eric Albright.

The Warriors are 4-2.

Lamontagne struck out nine, then Righetti relief pitcher Rawlin Powell struck out the side in the seventh. Jimmy Dodos, David Lohman and Ryan Grossman were all 2-for-3 for Righetti. The Warriors/ next appearance will be in the doubleheader against St. Joseph that they host Saturday.

Lompoc 7, Paso Robles 6

LOMPOC 7 The Braves (2-6) scored the game winner in the seventh.

Ben Ornelas and Nick Davenport tripled for the Braves. Armando Gutierrez and Kyle Sousa doubled.

Santa Ynez 11, Mission Prep 3

SANTA YNEZ 7 Leading 5-2, the Pirates (4-3) broke the game with five runs in the fifth inning.

Santa Ynez starter Jason Lambert pitched six innings, allowing just five hits, striking out nine and walking one.

Zack Steele and Chris Kunkle had two doubles each for the Pirates. Santa Ynez hosts Bishop Diego at 3:30 p.m. today in a non-league game.

Softball

Cabrillo 0, San Marcos 0

GOLETA 7 The teams toiled for 11 innings, and then the non-league game was called because of darkness.

Cabrillo/s Brooke Brockett pitched the distance. She pitched a two-hitter, striking out 14 and walking five.

The Conquistadores host Morro Bay at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in their league opener.

Tennis

SJ 13, Coast Union 5

The Knights ran their record to 4-1 with a non-league win on their courts.

Bobby Merrill and Brandon Kiser swept 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 at No. 1 doubles. Tim Schweigert swept 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 at No.3 singles.

St. Joseph hosts across-the-street rival Righetti at 2:30 p.m. today in a non-league match.

SY 13, SM 5

The Pirates/ doubles teams of Nick Keller and Erik Reif, Adam Stapp and Ben Beder and Steven Sauer and Garrett Gunning swept their doubles matches as the Pirates (3-0, 5-3) won at the Minami Center.

Ricky Chan lost just one game at No.1 singles for the Saints (0-2, 1-4). Jose Garcia earned Santa Maria/s other points with wins at No. 2 singles.

Cabrillo 13, Nipomo 5

VANDENBERG VILLAGE 7 Cabrillo/s top doubles team of Edgar Chavez and Clai Fields swept, as did No. 3 singles player Rishabh Chaudhari as the Conquistadores moved to 1-2, 2-3.

Adam Peterman swept his matches at No. 2 singles for Nipomo, dropping just two games in the process.

Lompoc 10, Templeton 8

LOMPOC 7 The Braves/ No. 2 doubles team of Pao Chang and Steven Hue helped Lompoc (2-0, 5-0) to victory with a sweep in this non-league match.

Golf

MB wins LPL tourney

MORRO BAY 7 Medalist Brian Wiggins led the Pirates to victory with a five-under-par 66 at the Morro Bay Golf Club.

St. Joseph still leads the LPL standings by a point.

Morro Bay shot a 372. St. Joseph was second at 383. For the Knights, Ryan McConnell had a 66, Alex Nicholson came in at 72, Dylan Braden carded a 73, Kelly Cimino came in at 75 and Jason Bates wound up at 86.

Nipomo finished fourth at 501. Ross Silverberg was the top Titan at 76.

Santa Maria was seventh in the seven-team field at 585. Paul Gunn led the Saints with a 102.

Track

SY boys 69, SM 67

SY girls 113.5, SM 18.5

SANTA YNEZ 7 Carlyle Eubank won a distance triple in the 800 (2:04.1), 1,600 (4:43.1) and 3,200 (10:30.8) meters to lead the Pirates past the Saints in a LPL dual meet.

Alma Olmedo won the 3,200 in 12:54 for the Saints/ girls lone win.

Volleyball

SM 3, Paso Robles 1

Joe Holicki smacked a team-high 11 kills and Lenin Espiinboina had eight more as the Saints (1-4) collected their first win this season by defeating the Bearcats 26-24, 17-25, 25-21, 25-23 in a non-league match at home.

AG 3, SJ 1

Charlie Sheaff racked up 10 kills and Matt Segura had nine, but the Knights (2-3) came up short, 23-25, 25-13, 25-17, 25-19 in a non-league match at Hofschulte Gym.

March 19, 2004