Camarillo, Moorpark and Pacifica advance to CIF-Southern Section baseball semifinals

It’s the combination that has worked all season for the Camarillo High baseball team.

Boston Bateman and Victor Tostado combined for a two-hit shutout as Camarillo topped visiting Cerritos, 4-0, in the CIF-Southern Section Division 4 quarterfinals Friday afternoon.

“It’s the best reliever in Camarillo history right there,” Bateman said of Tostado after the duo delivered Camarillo a win for the ninth time this season.

The Scorpions will host Culver City in Tuesday’s semifinals. It is the second semifinal in three seasons for Camarillo.

“It’s a testament to this group,” head coach TJ Foreman said. “We stick to what we do best. Pitchers throwing strikes, making the plays behind them and coming up clutch when we need to.”

Bateman allowed one hit over five shutout innings, striking out nine.

“I got the job done,” Bateman said. “No runs allowed. That’s always the goal.”

Tostado took over in the sixth and allowed one hit in two shutout innings.

Camarillo edged ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the third, when Jordan Gutierrez was hit by the pitch with the bases loaded.

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The Scorpions added three insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Tostado delivered a clutch two-run single after Lucas Miller scored on a wild pitch with two outs.

“Vic came in and kept them off balance with all three of his pitches, and then came through with a clutch knock at the end,” Froeman said.

Moorpark 2, Crean Lutheran 1: Sophomore Carson Cerny threw a complete game, striking out seven, and was also 2 for 3 at the plate to help the Musketeers advance to their first sectional semifinals in more than 50 years.

“It’s foreign territory for us,” said Moorpark first-year coach Aaron Garcia. “I think it’s beyond our expectation. At this point we’re beyond our expectations.”

The Musketeers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, when Michael Leddy hit a two-out single and scored on an error after AJ Mai’s infield single.

They doubled the lead in the fifth, when Taylor Busch drove in Jacob Shannon-Wilkerson with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly.

Crean Lutheran scored its lone unearned run in the top of the sixth on a sacrifice fly, but Cerny stranded the tying run on second base.

Moorpark, which last reached a semifinal in 1968, will host Chino Hills-Ayala in Tuesday’s Division 2 semifinals.

“One pitch at a time,” Garcia said. “One game at a time. The team is responding to a little adversity.”

Pacifica 9, Riverside Prep 1: Playing in their first quarterfinal since 2017, the Tritons gave Alex Villicana all the support he would need in the bottom of the first.

Villicana threw a complete game after Pacifica scored five runs with two outs in the bottom of the first as the Tritons earned the first semifinal berth in program history.

“It was base hit after base hit,” Pacifica coach Bryan Willson said. “Good at-bats struck together.”

Villicana allowed one run and five hits to improve to 6-1.

“Alex Villicana is just a fierce competitor,” Willson said.

Dario Navarro finished 2 for 3 with four RBIs and two runs scored. Devon Wilkes went 2 for 3 with two doubles and two runs scored. Mekaeo Lualemana was 2 for 3 with an RBI and two runs scored. Bobby Ramirez went 2 for 3 with a run scored.

Pacifica (18-11-1) will visit Santa Monica in Tuesday’s Division 5 semifinals.

Arcadia 2, Westlake 1: Dylan Volantis cruised for most of the Division 2 quarterfinal, allowing two hits and striking out 10 in six innings.

But the senior lefty found himself in a bases-loaded one-out jam after hitting three batters in the bottom of the sixth.

Volantis appeared to escape the jam with a strikeout and a ground out to shortstop, but Arcadia scored the tying and leading runs after umpires determined the Westlake first baseman was pulled off the bag.

It was a controversial ending to a promising season for the Marmonte League champions, who finish 26-4.

Westlake took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth, when Noah Stead followed Nolan Johnson’s single with an RBI single. But those were the only two hits the Warriors would muster against Arcadia starter Gabriel Lopez, who struck out 11.

Irvine-Beckman 6, Newbury Park 1: The Panthers were eliminated in the Division 3 quarterfinals.

Newbury Park took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, when Luke Medhurst followed Cade Falsken’s leadoff single with an RBI single to center field.

Newbury Park starter Grayson Paul made that lead stand up until the sixth, by throwing five shutout innings while striking out four.

But Beckman took a 2-1 lead on a two-out, two-run single in the top of the sixth and tacked on four insurance runs in the seventh.

Medhurst was 2 for 3 with an RBI for Newbury Park, which ends its season at 17-13.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Camarillo, Moorpark and Pacifica advance to CIF-SS baseball semifinals