LIVE: Fillmore High plays for CIF-SS Division 7 baseball championship

Staff writer Joe Curley will begin live game coverage from Blair Field in Long Beach at 1 p.m.

FINAL SCORE — Ganesha 7, Fillmore 0

• Ganesha 001 500 1 — 7 12 0

• Fillmore 000 000 0 — 0 3 2

4 p.m. Postgame

Santiago Avila was 2 for 4 at the plate and threw three innings of effective relief, allowing one run, to lead Fillmore. Mathew Magana also had a hit and had an outfield assist. Anthony Chessani drew two walks for Fillmore, which left eight runners on base. Starter Ivan Becerra allowed three earned runs over 3.1 innings. The Flashes (22-14) are looking forward to continuing their season in the CIF-SoCal regionals later this month.

Gavin Moran, Brandon Gutierrez and Jorge Solares combined on the three-hit shutout for Ganesha (22-0), which was led by ninth-hitter Gavin Smith, who was 3 for 4 with four RBIs and two runs scored.

3:20 p.m. Bottom of the Seventh

Munoz grounds out to shortstop. Alcantar grounds out to the pitcher.

Avila singles to pitcher. Matt Magana fouls out to first to end the game.

Ganesha rushes out to the mound to celebrate its first sectional title.

3:09 p.m. Top of the Seventh

Ganesha loads the bases with one out, which knocks Avila out of the game.

Matt Magana comes in from centerfield to take the ball. He's Fillmore's third pitcher of the day.

Gabe Smith singles to left field to drive in his fourth run of the day, but Magana gets a line out and a ground out to get out of the jam.

2:58 p.m. Bottom of the Sixth Inning

Anthony Chessani draws a one-out walk, but is stranded. Fillmore down to its last three outs.

2:55 p.m. Top of the Sixth Inning

Three of the four Ganesha batters get hits, but Fillmore doesn’t allow a run because Avila picked a runner off third and centerfielder Matt Magana threw out a runner at the plate.

Flashes have to make use of their final six outs.

2:45 p.m. Bottom of the Fifth Inning

The Flashes go in order in the fifth.

2:32 p.m. Top of the Fifth Inning

Ganesha loads the bases on Victor Garcia’s leadoff double, Isaiah Andrade single and a walk to pinch hitter Theo Crocker, but Avila escapes the jam unscathed.

2:17 p.m. Bottom of the Fourth Inning

Drew Portugal and Jacob Munoz draw two-out walks, but they are stranded.

2:03 p.m. Top of the Fourth Inning — Ganesha breaks it open

Ganesha loads the bases with one out and proceeds to take control.

Victor Garcia reaches on an infield error, Thomas Giandomenico singles to left-center field and Isaac Andrade is hit by a pitch.

A walk to Adrian Cedeno — the 3-2 pitch looked very close — is followed by a game-breaking three-run triple by Gabe Smith into the left-center field gap.

Ganesha 5, Fillmore 0

That’ll be it for Ivan Becerra, who is replaced at pitcher by shortstop Santi Avila. Becerra moves to catcher. Jathan Magana moves to shortstop.

Adrian Lopez’s double to right-center field plates Smith, pushing the lead to six.

Ganesha 6, Fillmore 0

1:51 p.m. Bottom of the Third Inning

Matt Magana singles to centerfield with one out for Fillmore, but he's stranded.

1:43 p.m. Top of the Third Inning, Ganesha takes the lead

Ganesha breaks through in the top of the third.

Gabe Smith, the ninth hitter, singles up the middle with one out, moves to third when Fillmore can’t field Bryce McAnich’s sacrifice bunt and scores on Adrian Lopez’s sacrifice fly to left field.

Ganesha 1, Fillmore 0

1:36 p.m. Bottom of the Second Inning

Anthony Chessani works the count full and draws a leadoff walk. Jathan Magana bunts him to second. Chessani is balked to third. After a strikeout, Jacob Munoz draws a walk and the Ganesha coach come out to check on his pitcher.

Ray Alcantar, who was 3 for 3 on Tuesday, smashes a 2-2 pitch to third. Ganesha 3B Noah Alvarez backs up to make a nice play, getting Ganesha out of the jump on the 5-3.

1:25 p.m. Top of the Second Inning

Ganesha left fielder Thomas Giandomenico singles to centerfield with two outs in the top of the second. Fillmore second baseman Oscar Nino fields all three outs flawlessly. He already has four assists on the first seven batters. Still scoreless after one and a half.

1:17 p.m. Bottom of the First Inning

Fillmore leadoff hitter Santa Avila singles up the middle to start the bottom of the first. He’s bunted to second by Matt Magana, but Ganesha starter Gabe Gavin Moran strikes out the next two batters to escape the jam.

1:02 p.m. First pitch

Fillmore starter Ivan Becerra delivers the first pitch of the final at 1:02 p.m. The tall senior gets Ganesha in order in the top of the first by fielding a bunt back to the box, inducing a ground out to second and a pop up to third.

12:30 p.m. Lineups

Here's the Fillmore High baseball lineup for today's Division 7 final:

• 6 Santa Avila SS

• 5 Matt Magana CF

• 21 Ivan Becerra P

• 8 Jarod Uridel 1B

• 7 Anthony Chessani LF

• 24 Jathan Magana C

• 6 Drew Portugal DH

• 1 Jacob Munoz 3B

• 30 Ray Alcantara RF

• (3 Oscar Nino 2B)

12:15 p.m. Fillmore getting ready

Fillmore High baseball has taken the field in Long Beach for pregame infield/outfield ahead of the D-7 final

12 p.m. Familiar face

We’re welcomed to Long Beach by former Oxnard High, Oxnard College and San Diego Padres slugger Paul McAnulty, whose banner hangs outside the main concourse at Blair Field.

10 a.m. Fillmore baseball's unlikely postseason run reaches Long Beach

After finishing fourth in the Citrus Coast League, the Fillmore High School baseball team took a rare, winding road to today's CIF-Southern Section Division 7 final at Blair Field in Long Beach.

The Flashes had to win not one, but two wild-card rounds — beating Montrose-St. Monica 6-0 and Covina-Gladstone 5-2 — to join the rest of the 32-team field in the first round.

Yet Fillmore passed four more tests, including Tuesday's semifinal against Cantwell-Sacred Heart, to reach the program's eighth sectional final.

Fillmore's postseason run:

• Wild card: Fillmore 6, St. Monica 0

• Wild card: Fillmore 5, Gladstone 2

• First round: Fillmore 10, St. Genevieve 2 (eight innings)

• Second round: Fillmore 10, Animo Leadership 0

• Quarterfinal: Fillmore 7, Artesia 1

• Semifinal: Fillmore 4, Cantwell-Sacred Heart 1

The Flashes have been boosted by pitching ace Jathan Magana, who is 10-4 with a 1.55 ERA, and the comeback story of three-sport athlete Anthony Chessani. The football star has missed the past three seasons — his junior baseball season, senior football season and senior basketball season — after suffering a devastating knee injury on the basketball court last year against Santa Paula.

Chessani delivered two RBI singles in the 4-1 win over Sacred Heart Tuesday.

Fillmore faces a formidable opponent in the final, which begins at 1 p.m. Undefeated top-seeded Pomona-Ganesha is 17-0 and has outscored opponents 246-14, including postseason wins of 17-0 and 20-0.

Joe Curley is a staff writer for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: LIVE: Fillmore plays for CIF-SS Division 7 baseball title