Harvard-Westlake, Orange Lutheran, Corona and Huntington Beach advance to semifinals
After four months of high school baseball, the teams that were ranked among the best from the beginning have made it to the final four in Southern Section Division 1.
Tuesday's playoff semifinals will have No. 1 Corona hosting Huntington Beach and No. 2 Harvard-Westlake playing No. 3 Orange Lutheran at Hart Park. Both games will be rematches.
On Friday, Harvard-Westlake advanced with a 5-4 win over San Dimas. Duncan Marsten delivered a key two-run single in the fourth inning and also threw his first complete game in high school after coming back from Tommy John surgery. Bryce Rainer had a single and RBI double, giving him 48 hits and a .522 batting average this season.
Billy Carlson hit two home runs, including a three-run blast in the first inning, and finished with three hits, four RBIs and earned the save in Corona's 6-4 win over Aquinas. Ethan Schiefelbein, who was ill, threw five innings for the win.
Trevor Goldenetz came through with a two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift Huntington Beach past Santa Margarita 3-2. Pitchers Cade Townsend of Santa Margarita and Nathan Aceves of Huntington Beach each struck out nine in a pitching duel.
Orange Lutheran defeated La Mirada 9-4. Josiah Hartshorn had a three-run home run and finished with five RBIs. Maverek Russell finished with three hits, including a home run, for La Mirada.
Harvard-Westlake was trailing 1-0 entering the fourth inning, with all nine batters retired by Jude Favela. But Rainer hit a leadoff single and Cade Goldstein and Jack Laffitte drew walks on 3-and-2 counts to load the bases for Marsten.
Pitching coach Joe Guntz had said before the game, "Most guys don't hit better when they pitch. He does. I don't know why."
Said Marsten: "On pitching days, I'm so focused it takes away thoughts in the box."
Marsten came through with a single up the middle to get the Wolverines' offense going. They had a 5-2 lead into the seventh when San Dimas made the Wolverines sweat, getting a home run from Favela, an RBI single from Vaughn Coleman and having the tying run on base.
"Credit those guys. There was no quit in them," Harvard-Westlake coach Jared Halpert said of the Saints.
Now Harvard-Westlake and Orange Lutheran will face off for a fourth time this season. The Lancers have won twice. Huntington Beach and Corona will play for a third time. Corona is 2-0 and will have Seth Hernandez ready to pitch Tuesday.
Hart 3, Arlington 0: Troy Cooper struck out 10 in 6 1/3 innings and Ian Edwards earned the save to help the Indians advance to the Division 2 semifinals.
Arcadia 2, Westlake 1: The Apaches scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on a controversial play to win the Division 2 semifinal. Dylan Volantis of Westlake loaded the bases on three hit batters. He appeared to get out of the jam with a two-out ground ball to the shortstop, but the batter was called safe at first when the first baseman was ruled to have come off the bag on the catch, allowing two runs to score. Gabe Lopez struck out 11 in a complete game for Arcadia. Volantis finished with 10 strikeouts.
Ayala 7, Anaheim Canyon 4: Freshman Brody Gomez had two hits and three RBIs for Ayala in a Division 2 quarterfinal.
Moorpark 2, Crean Lutheran 1: Carson Cerny threw a complete game, striking out seven, walking one and giving up three hits in the Division 2 win.
St. John Bosco 8, El Segundo 2: Julian Garcia struck out seven with no walks and threw a complete game to lead the Braves into the Division 3 semifinals.
St. Francis 4, Paraclete 1: Aaron Hernandez threw four innings of shutout relief and Jordan Lewallen and Holden Deitch each had two hits to help St. Francis advance to the Division 4 semifinals.
Beckman 6, Newbury Park 1: Zach Ireland struck out nine and walked none in a dominant pitching performance for Beckman.
Camarillo 4, Cerritos 0: Boston Bateman struck out nine and gave up one hit in five innings and Victor Tostado picked up the save for Camarillo, seeded No. 1 in Division 4.
Santa Monica 5, Adelanto 2: Brady Satinover and Isaac Liberman each had two hits and Tony Ponce got the save in Division 5.
Sylmar 9, Marshall 1: The Spartans finished the regular season 22-5 behind Matt Benzor, who struck out nine in a complete game.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
