Smith Throws 3-hit shutout of Laguna Creek

Junior right-hander David Smith threw a complete game three-hit shutout as the Elk Grove Thundering Herd shutout Laguna Creek, 6-0, in a Delta Valley Conference showdown Wednesday.

Smith said he felt good in throwing his first varsity complete game shutout.

"I am always confident when I step out there," Smith said. "I definitely had my curveball working well and throwing a lot of strikes with it. My command was a little better than it has been lately."

EGHS pitcher David Smith

Smith got good backup from Herd bats Wednesday. Andrew Horne and Derek Hill each had RBI singles in the third inning. Elk Grove (3-0 DVC) put icing on the cake with three runs in the sixth inning. Dom Nunez stroked a two-run double and then came home on Rowdy Tellez' triple.

Cardinal coach Josh Lex said his Laguna Creek team (0-3 DVC) just fell short.

"We hit the ball, but we weren't really working our approaches very well," he said. "But, we didn't get our timely hits."

Notes:
Elk Grove plays at home against Davis and ace pitcher Ben Eckles Friday. Laguna Creek will be at Grant. ...

Lex thinks despite the rough start by his squad there's plenty of room for his team to pull things out this season.

"It's a weird league this year," he said. "Anybody can beat anybody. We almost beat Franklin. We were ahead in that game and lost 4-3 in the 8th inning. We led Davis, 3-1, going into the fifth and then gave it to them. Look at what Grant is doing. It is an interesting league. There isn't that one team that has everybody."

"This is definitely an up-for-grabs year." ...

Laguna Creek has been able to fundraise enough money to put in a new press box behind its varsity backstop, plus do some work on the infields on both varsity and junior varsity diamond.

"When I first came here I wanted to upgrade everything and we had a couple pretty successful fundraisers and put it into (the fields)," Lex said. ...

Lex, a former minor leaguer in the Toronto organization, is a day-trader on the stock market when he's not coaching the Cardinals. He played college baseball at Oral Roberts and spent four seasons in the pros until a couple wrist injuries cut short his playing career.