JSerra, the defending Southern Section Division 1 baseball champions who started the season losing five of six Trinity League games, has apparently solved most of its problems. The surging Lions hit three home runs in the fourth inning Tuesday to win their second Division 1 playoff game of the week, 6-1 over Etiwanda.
Andrew Lamb, Dominic Smaldino and Jonathan Mendez provided the home runs to send JSerra into Friday’s quarterfinals against Sierra Canyon at JSerra.
Ben Reimers struck out seven in 6 1/3 innings with only one walk. Trent Caraway, Mendez and Lou Fujiwara each had two hits.
JSerra was the preseason No. 1 team in high school baseball thanks to 10 players signing letters of intent last November. Now the Lions, who beat Yucaipa on Monday, are starting to play like a No. 1 team.
“Slowly but surely,” coach Brett Kay said. “It’s not like we plan to start off bad.”
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 5, Bonita 3: Erik Puodziunas threw two shutout innings of relief to pick up the save for No. 1 Notre Dame. Levi Sterling had four hits, Kai Gonzaga had three hits and Adam Shlesinger contributed two hits and two RBIs. Right fielder Ryan Limerick saved a potential home run in the seventh with a leaping catch.
Corona 6, San Dimas 5: The Panthers rallied for a run in the seventh to tie the score and won it with a run in the ninth thanks to an RBI double from freshman Anthony Murphy. The Panthers had to overcome a 5-2 deficit. Corona will get to face No. 1 Notre Dame at home in what figures to be one of the most intriguing pitching matchups of the playoffs featuring two UCLA commits: Ethan Schiefelbein and Justin Lee.
Sierra Canyon 2, Cypress 1: Three Sierra Canyon pitchers combined to hold off Cypress.
Villa Park 2, Huntington Beach 1: The Spartans rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh. They got the tying run on a passed ball and the winning run on a single from Nate Pone. Zach Brown threw a complete game. Ralphy Velazquez homered for Huntington Beach.
Orange Lutheran 1, Harvard-Westlake 0: An RBI single by Casey Borba in the first inning was the game’s only run and denied the Lancers to advance in Division 1. Colt Peterson, Nic Peterson and Evan Miranda combined to limit Harvard-Westlake to three hits.
Santa Margarita 8, Long Beach Millikan 0: Sammy Cova threw the shutout and Luke Lavin and Blake Wilson each had two hits and two RBIs for No. 2-seeded Santa Margarita.
Yorba Linda 4, Edison 2: The Chargers fell behind early and couldn’t come back despite strong relief pitching from Brandon Winokur, who struck out six in 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Jayden Flaig had a home run and three RBIs to lead Yorba Linda. JJ Conrad threw a complete game.
La Mirada 3, Torrance 2: Walker Calvo threw a complete game and Aidan Haller had two hits for La Mirada.
Crespi 6, Simi Valley 2: Chris Arce and Isaiah Magdaleno each had two hits and Diego Velazquez threw five innings to lead Crespi.
Corona Santiago 6, Mater Dei 5: Ethan Monroe hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh for Santiago after Mater Dei had tied the score with three runs in the top of the seventh. Brody Connors had two doubles for Mater Dei.
Santa Margarita 8, Long Beach Millikan 0: Sammy Cova threw six innings of shutout ball.
Aliso Niguel 4, Redondo Union 0: Connor Etnire threw the shutout.
Gahr 10, Fullerton 5: Mike Lee had three hits and three RBIs for Gahr, including two home runs. Andres Gonzalez finished with four RBIs.
West Ranch 6, Tesoro 3: Ty DePerno had three hits and Matthew Lloyd had two RBIs for West Ranch.
South Hills 8, Charter Oak 2: Noah Malone had two hits and three RBIs for South Hills.
Calabasas 8, Vista Murrieta 3: Nathan Zimmer had three hits and two RBIs and Phoenix Call added two hits and three RBIs to lead Calabasas.
Westlake 5, San Clemente 2: Nolan Johnson and Will Kaczynski hit home runs for Westlake.
Campbell Hall 14, Los Amigos 0: Max Arzt threw a complete game with five strikeouts for Campbell Hall. Tanner Mahon hit a three-run home run.
El Camino Real 8, Chatsworth 0: Oscar Lopez struck out six in four innings for El Camino Real.
Softball
Garden Grove Pacifica 5, Los Alamitos 1: Brynne Nally struck out 11 and gave up three hits in the Division 1 upset of Los Alamitos.
JSerra 7, Canyon 1: Eva Hurtado threw a no-hitter with six strikeouts.
Sierra Canyon 4, Diamond Ranch 2: Nina Johnson hit a walk-off home run for Sierra Canyon.
Oaks Christian 7, Orange Lutheran 2: Rylee McCoy and Ilove’a Brittingham hit home runs and Emelia Davis threw a complete game for Oaks Christian.
Murrieta Mesa 12, Huntington Beach 11: It was a wild one but Murrieta Mesa held on and will face No. 1 Norco.
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