Braves

Mater Dei trailed 24-3. The Trinity League title appeared destined to belong to St. John Bosco, another win to cap an undefeated for the consensus No. 1 team in the nation.

Until Chris Henry Jr. emerged for two touchdowns and 214 yards on five receptions.

“He could be a track star,” said Mater Dei coach Raul Lara, referencing Henry’s 70-yard touchdown catch near the end of the second quarter.

Until Kayden Dixon-Wyatt took over alongside his teammate — both Ohio State commits — and turned on the burners for three second-half scores.

“I wish I could be the quarterback,” Lara joked about his senior wide receivers.

Testing the wide receiver corps of Mater Dei — who outpowered the Braves’ impressive trio of Division I-committed receivers — left St. John Bosco hapless on Friday night in Bellflower. Mater Dei (7-2, 4-1) finished on a 33-7 run, Ryan Hopkins tossing five touchdowns in that span to help the Monarchs defeat St. John Bosco 36-31 in comeback fashion.

Mater Dei High’s CJ Lavender Jr. leaps high to make an interception during the game against St. John Bosco on Friday night.

(Craig Weston)

Hopkins finished 13-of-21 passing for 295 yards and the five touchdowns.

All of the doubts over the Monarchs’ regular-season campaign could be close to washed away as the second-half domination confirmed another year when Mater Dei at least owns a share of the Trinity League title.

Since Santa Margarita (7-3, 4-1) also won Friday — defeating JSerra 41-14 — the Eagles, along with Mater Dei and St. John Bosco (9-1, 4-1) earned a share of the Trinity League crown.

Defensive stands set up plays such as Henry’s 70-yard touchdown grab to cut the Braves’ lead to seven with 4:12 remaining in the third quarter. Mater Dei defensive back CJ Lavender Jr. forced and recovered a fumble in the first quarter to set up the Monarchs’ first points: a field goal.

Lavender then intercepted St. John Bosco sophomore quarterback Koa Malau’ulu twice more.

One pick created a silver-platter touchdown for Dixon-Wyatt, who finished with four receptions for 46 yards and three touchdowns, while the other turnover allowed Mater Dei to seal the game on fourth and 10 from its own 10-yard line.

“Anything he threw, I was going to go get it,” said Lavender, who now has a team-high seven interceptions on the season.

Mater Dei receiver Chris Henry Jr. hauls in a pass over his shoulder ahead of two St. John Bosco defenders on Friday night.

(Craig Weston)

Before the final interception — which came with 1:34 remaining in the game — St. John Bosco was driving. An unsportsmanlike penalty even provided the Braves at first and inches from the goal line.

But a bad snap to Malau’ulu pushed the Braves backward to the seven-yard line. A run for a loss brought St. John Bosco to the 10-yard line that then led to an interception.

Henry, who hadn’t played since Oct. 10 against Orange Lutheran, said he was itching to get back out on the field to play St. John Bosco.

“It was really difficult,” Henry said of his time off the field. “But I was ready for a game like this.”

Henry will have plenty more opportunities upcoming in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs, starting next week.

The trio of Trinity League teams likely will see Sierra Canyon (10-0) — which finished its Mission League-winning campaign with a 52-3 victory over Loyola — among the teams they could face off against in the playoffs.

A look at this week’s top high school football games in the Southland.

FRIDAY

Baltimore St. Frances (1-0) at St. John Bosco (2-0), 7 p.m.

Two nationally ranked powerhouses meet to keep their mythical national championship hopes alive. St. John Bosco coach Jason Negro said St. Frances has as much talent as any team in the country. The Braves have an impressive group of six linebackers that willl try to use their speed to deal with St. Frances’ big-play weapons. It’s another opportunity for sophomore quarterback Koa Malau’ulu to get the ball to his prolific group of receivers. The pick: St. John Bosco.

Folsom (2-0) at Mission Viejo (2-0), 7 p.m.

One of Northern California’s top teams is led by Brigham Young-bound quarterback Ryder Lyons. Mission Viejo counters with Ohio State-bound quarterback Luke Fahey. It should be an offensive slugfest. The pick: Mission Viejo.

ATLANTA — In 2021, Times columnist Bill Plaschke incurred the wrath of Atlanta by blaspheming the entertainment district surrounding the Braves’ ballpark as a “sterile shopping mall.” The district, called The Battery, prefers the grand descriptor of “the South’s preeminent lifestyle destination.”

Let’s take a walk around The Battery, so you can understand why it could become one of the flash points in the coming holy war between owners and players.

If you leave the ballpark through the right-field gates, you are in The Battery. You’ll see a plaza in front of you, and around you places to ride a mechanical bull, go bowling, navigate an escape room or take in a concert.

You can eat, drink, shop, dance, stay in a hotel. You can live here, in apartments above the storefronts. You can work here, in office towers housing corporate giants.

“To create an environment where you can spend eight, nine hours at The Battery and the field, and still feel like you have all the time in the world, I think they’ve done a wonderful job building this place,” Dodgers and former Braves All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman said.

The Braves built all this, not only to lure fans to come early and stay late on game days but to make money from the property 365 days a year rather than 81. On that front, it is a spectacular success: Nine million people come here each year, and the Braves generated $67 million in revenue from The Battery last year.

This, according to major league officials, is the template for the modern team. The Angels had planned a ballpark village twice as large as The Battery. Imagine what the Dodgers could build, and how much revenue they could generate, on property twice as large as the Angel Stadium site.

And, speaking of revenue, Rob Manfred has something he likes to say to players about it. The MLB commissioner spoke at the Braves’ Investor Day last month and said he tells players that their share of the sport’s revenue has dropped from 63% in 2002 to 47% today.

Baseball is the only major sport in America without a salary cap system, in which owners agree to spend a designated percentage of revenue on player salaries.

“If we had made a deal 10 years ago to share 50-50, you would’ve made $2.5 billion more than you made,” Manfred said he has told players, in comments first reported by Sports Business Journal.

The players and their union rolled their collective eyes at those comments. It is no secret that many owners want a salary cap, and the cost certainty that comes with it.

“It’s all tactics,” Dodgers All-Star catcher Will Smith said. “It’s all early negotiating stuff.”

Said Arizona Diamondbacks All-Star outfielder Corbin Carroll: “Owners don’t want to put money in our pockets. For them to emphasize how we need this so much, there’s a reason for that.”

Tony Clark, the union’s executive director, said the revenue numbers the league shares with the union are not consistent with Manfred’s statements. And, when you consider a percentage of revenue, you have to define what counts as revenue: What goes into the pool to be shared with players?

Tony Clark, executive director of the MLB players’ union.

(Brynn Anderson / Associated Press)

So let’s go back to The Battery, and to the revenue opportunities that such ballpark villages create for teams.

A report released in April by Klutch Sports, the Los Angeles-based agency, called such villages “the sports industry’s $100+ billion growth engine,” particularly as media revenue wanes. Within the pitch to team owners: Those villages “generate attractive financial returns that stand outside of league revenue sharing requirements.”

Translation: You can make all these millions without sharing any of it with the players.

The Braves are building here because the team plays here. That is the new issue looming over the next round of collective bargaining: If a team builds around its ballpark, should that revenue be shared with players?

“Oh yeah,” Athletics All-Star designated hitter Brent Rooker said. “Revenue is just any dollar that teams bring in that ultimately could be turned around and used to put a better product on the field. It’s got to include tickets, TV, concessions, all the things around the stadium. It’s got to include all of it.”

Is the money a team makes from renting office space outside the ballpark really relevant to the team?

Here’s what Braves president and chief executive Derek Schiller told ESPN about The Battery: “You’ve got a whole other set of revenues from the real estate development that can then be deployed for the baseball team.”

I asked Clark whether, if negotiations turn to the possibility of revenue sharing along the lines Manfred discussed, the money from ballpark villages needs to be part of the conversation.

“Yes,” Clark said.

He declined to elaborate. Understand this about Clark: He can filibuster a yes or no question into a 45-second monologue without actually answering yes or no. That he would say a clear “yes” and nothing else leaves no doubt about his position.

If the players do ask that owners share revenue from such ballpark villages, the response would be predictable: First, we share baseball revenue from baseball operations, and real estate developments are not baseball operations. Second, if you want to share in the revenue, you can share in the risk too, by helping to fund construction of the ballpark village, say, or by assuming some of the losses when a tenant drops its lease and leaves storefronts or office buildings unoccupied.

Said Carroll: “I think that’s a conversation that won’t need to happen, because it won’t get to that point. A salary cap is a nonstarter from the union’s perspective.”

Enjoy the All-Star Game Tuesday, because this summer is one of relative peace. The collective bargaining agreement expires after next season, which means the rhetoric between players and owners ought to be flying this time next year. If the owners insist on pushing a salary cap, a lockout almost certainly would follow.

And, if the owners push revenue sharing, The Battery could provide the push for the players’ pushback.

ATLANTA — There were no tears.

There were no tears when he addressed the crowd in a Fox interview that was played over the Truist Park sound system.

There were no tears when manager Dave Roberts removed him from the game in the top of third inning so the fans could salute him once final time.

Freddie Freeman didn’t cry Tuesday at the All-Star Game.

“I didn’t know how it was going to go,” Freeman said.

This was the kind of setting that could have very easily turned the emotional Freeman into a sobbing mess, and he admitted as much the previous day. He was returning to the market in which he spent the first 12 years of a career to play in the kind of event that is often a source of reflection.

The absence of tears represented how much can change in four years, especially four years as prosperous as the four years Freeman has played for the Dodgers.

“Time,” Freeman said, “heals everything.”

For both sides.

The same fans who watched him transform from a 20-year-old prospect to a future Hall of Famer warmly cheered for him during pregame introductions — just not with the kind of back-of-the-throat screams they once did.

The same fans who used to chant his name chanted his name again — just not as long as they used to, and definitely not as long as the fans at Dodger Stadium now chant his name.

Freeman will never be just another visiting player here. He won an MVP award here. He won a World Series here.

Braves fans appreciate what he did for them. They respect him. But they have moved on to some degree, just as Freeman has.

“You spend 12 years with Atlanta, you pour your heart into it,” Freeman said. “Now I poured my heart into four years with the Dodgers and still got many more hopefully to go.”

Gaining such a perspective required time.

Freeman acknowledged he was wounded by the decision the Braves made after they won the World Series in 2021. They didn’t offer him the six-year contract he wanted and traded for Matt Olson to replace him as their first baseman. Freeman signed a six-year deal with the Dodgers.

“To be honest, I was blindsided,” Freeman said at the time. “I think every emotion came across. I was hurt.”

He carried that hurt with him into his return to Atlanta, which came a couple of months into his first season with the Dodgers. He spent much of the weekend in tears.

Now looking back, Freeman said, “It does feel like a lifetime ago.”

So much so that Freeman said it was “a little weird” to be back this week in the home team’s clubhouse at Truist Park.

“I was sitting with [Braves manager Brian Snitker] in the office and seeing him and talking to him, seeing all the home clubhouse guys and then it kind of just comes all flying back that, like, well, it has been four years,” Freeman said.

Freeman has since returned to Southern California, where he was born and raised. He’s been embraced by an entirely new fan base that supported his family when his now-five-year-old son was temporarily paralyzed last year because of a rare disease. His postseason heroics — particularly his walk-off grand slam in the Game 1 of the World Series last year — has made him one of the most beloved players on a stacked roster.

“Now, everything’s in the past,” he said. “I get to play in front of my family every single day and we won a championship, so everything’s OK.”

His experience in Los Angeles has liberated him from the negative feelings associated with his breakup with the Braves, allowing him to focus on his positive memories with the organization.

Because of that, Freeman was grateful he was offered a chance to speak directly to the fans before the game.

“From the bottom of my heart, thank you,” he told them.

He was also thankful of how Roberts replaced him with Pete Alonso at first base while the American League was batting. The crowd gave Freeman a standing ovation. Freeman saluted the crowd in return.

“I really appreciate the moments,” Freeman said.

Freeman grounded out in his only at-bat, which was preceded by respectful applause and a brief chant of his name. Another NL first baseman elicited louder cheers when he stepped into the batter’s box, however. That player was Olson, his successor in Atlanta. Freeman wasn’t the only one who had moved on.

Ray Montgomery is just three weeks into his interim tenure as Angels manager. And as his responsibility grows, he’s well aware that so does the pressure.

“All blame, no credit,” he said Monday as the Angels began a seven-game homestand before the All-Star break. “And I get that. That’s just how it goes.”

Since taking over as manager on June 20 for Ron Washington — who will remain on medical leave until the end of the 2025 season — Montgomery has guided the Angels (44-46) to an 8-8 record entering Tuesday.

They’ve had the good: taking two of three from the Braves in Atlanta last week. And they’ve had the bad: getting swept by the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre over the weekend.

Montgomery said he understands the expectations aren’t what they were a few years ago — when the Angels lost 89 or more games from 2022 to 2024 — and that the Angels aren’t so far away from their first postseason berth since 2014 thanks to their young core having a few seasons under its belt.

“We’re not here to develop, although that’s a piece to what we do,” Montgomery said. “We’re here to win. And for the Angels, it’s important for us to have an opportunity where we are.”

If anything, there’s a case to be made that the Angels could be over .500 if a few plays had gone their way. Since Montgomery took over as manager, the Angels are 2-5 in one-run ball games, including all three games in the Toronto series.

When asked what the Angels need to do or adjust to end up on the other end of those one-run contests — of which they’d been 17-11 across the full season — Montgomery pointed to big swings and specific plays.

“You can point to the big hits, I get it, but you can also point to the execution on smaller plays, too, that prevent runs,” he said. “We made some mistakes in those games.”

The Angels got one of those big plays on Monday night. Nolan Schanuel drew a walk-off walk for a 6-5 victory over the Rangers, wiping away miscues such as a dropped third strike that led to a score-tying RBI double.

Montgomery, in his fifth year with the Angels — fourth as a member of the coaching staff — turned to a decision he made in Atlanta last week as proof that one moment can change the game.

Against the Braves last week, Yusei Kikuchi had been brilliant. The Japanese left-hander was two-thirds into the sixth inning of his then-scoreless outing. Instead of keeping Kikuchi — at 100 pitches — in to try to finish off the side as he worked through the Braves lineup for the third time, Montgomery pulled the left-hander in favor of right-hander Ryan Zeferjahn with two runners on base.

It backfired. Sean Murphy, who struck out twice against Kikuchi earlier in the game, hit a three-run home run to give the Braves a 3-2 lead, an advantage that would turn into an 8-3 loss.

“If I leave Kikuchi in Atlanta, right, and he gets a guy he handled pretty good during the game, we may sweep that series too,” Montgomery said. “[Games are] magnified now — I get it.”

Decisions like those are where Washington and Montgomery’s managerial strategies may differ. Washington, a longtime MLB coach, comes from an era of giving starting pitchers a longer leash (it goes hand in hand with the Angels using just five starting pitchers so far in 2025).

Montgomery, who comes from a scouting background in his post-playing career, may value analytical strategy more — holding pitchers from facing a lineup a third time through the order and playing matchups more.

Angels catcher Travis d’Arnaud, who has played for new-school managers that emphasize analytics such as Kevin Cash, as well as old-school managers such as Terry Collins, says Montgomery toes the line in between both managerial styles.

“He’s got a good feel,” d’Arnaud said. “He trusts the staff, which is really good, and also trusts the bullpen, which is also really good. He has really good communication with every player, lets them know when they’re playing — which is more of a younger thing — and so it’s a mix of both [new- and-old school].”

Strategy could be the difference between Murphy facing Zeferjahn rather than Kikuchi. Strategy may be the difference between a win and a loss — or staying in contention for an American League wild-card spot.

“It’s tough to say,” right-hander Jack Kochanowicz said when asked about the difference between Washington and Montgomery. “You feel like each game is different. It’s hard to really put an identity to either one of them, especially since Ray’s so new to it, too. It’s a small sample size.”

For Montgomery, he said he’s not going to dwell on the could-have-beens. Squarely in the chase — and in the zone between the franchise deciding between buying and selling at the trade deadline — he’s just happy the Angels are in the conversation.

“If you told us coming up on the All-Star break, that we were in the mix a couple games above or below .500 — and I’m not ignorant of the fact that we’ve cost ourselves a few games, we should be a little better than we are — I would be happy with where we sit right now,” Montgomery said.

ATLANTA — Zach Neto had three hits, including a homer, Nolan Schanuel added a two-run blast and José Soriano gave up only three hits in seven scoreless innings to lead the Angels to a 5-1 victory over the weak-hitting Atlanta Braves on Thursday night.

The Braves avoided a shutout on Jurickson Profar’s ninth-inning homer off left-hander Brock Burke. It was Profar’s second homer in two games since returning from an 80-game PED suspension.

Soriano (6-5) had seven strikeouts and did not allow a base runner to reach second base. Neto scored three runs.

Bryce Elder (2-6) gave up four runs, eight hits and three walks in five innings. Elder’s third consecutive loss is a disturbing trend for a team that placed right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach on the 15-day injured list with a fractured right elbow on Wednesday.

The rotation previously lost Chris Sale (broken rib), AJ Smith-Shawver (Tommy John surgery) and Reynaldo López (shoulder surgery) to injuries. Manager Brian Snitker said he may use a bullpen game Saturday in the second game of a series against Baltimore.

Key moment

After giving up 10 runs, nine earned and three homers in only two innings in a 13-0 loss to Philadelphia on Friday night, Elder gave up two more homers. Schanuel’s two-run shot in the second drove in Neto, who doubled.

Key stats

Matt Olson’s first-inning single to right field extended his streak of reaching base to 33 games, the majors’ longest active streak. Jo Adell’s first-inning single extended his hitting streak to 14 games, the Angels’ longest this season.

Up next

The Angels open a series at Toronto on Friday night when Kyle Hendricks (5-6, 4.66 ERA) faces Blue Jays Eric Lauer (4-1, 2.60).

ATLANTA — Matt Olson had a grand slam among his three hits, and the Atlanta Braves used a seven-run sixth inning to beat the Angels 8-3 on Wednesday night.

Sean Murphy hit a three-run homer, and Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies each had two hits for the Braves, who received more bad injury news before the game when it was announced right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach was headed to the IL with a broken elbow.

Braves left fielder Jurickson Profar returned from an 80-game PED suspension and went two for four with a home run and two runs scored.

Aaron Bummer (1-1) earned the win, pitching 2 2/3 perfect innings in relief of 20-year-old rookie Didier Fuentes.

Angels center fielder Jo Adell extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a two-run single in the first inning. Jorge Soler hit his 200th home run in the ninth.

The Braves took control of the game with two outs in the sixth inning. Trailing 2-0, Murphy greeted reliever Ryan Zeferjahn with a 406-foot home run to left field that scored Profar and Albies. After Harris singles and walks to Nick Allen and Ronald Acuña Jr., Olson lifted one to right field that landed in the stands in front of the Chop House restaurant for the ninth grand slam of his career.

Angels second baseman Christian Moore left the game with an injured left thumb in the sixth inning. He dove for a Albies’ ground ball that got past him into center field and his hand bent awkwardly when he hit the ground.

Key moment

Olson’s grand slam traveled 358 feet and came on a 97 mph fastball from Zeferjahn. It was the second grand slam for the Braves in four games after Atlanta did not hit one in the first 81 games of the season.

Key stat

Zeferjahn faced six batters in the sixth inning and did not record an out. He gave up two home runs, two singles and two walks. His ERA climbed from 4.78 to 6.19.

Up next

Bryce Elder (2-5, 5.82) of the Braves will face José Soriano (5-5, 3.99) of the Angels in the final game of the three-game series in Atlanta.

ATLANTA — Jo Adell’s run-scoring double in the eighth inning ended a scoreless tie and the Angels beat the Atlanta Braves 4-0 on Tuesday night.

The Angels (42-42) reached .500 for the ninth time this season, while the Braves (38-46) have lost five of six.

Adell’s double down the left-field line off Dylan Lee (1-3) drove in Mike Trout, who doubled. Jorge Soler, who came off the injured list after missing 11 games with lower back inflammation, added a two-run double off Enyel De Los Santos in the four-run inning.

Angels shortstop Zach Neto returned as the leadoff hitter after missing four starts with a jammed right shoulder.

“Having the two guys back makes a huge difference,” interim manager Ray Montgomery said before the game.

The refurbished lineup struggled against Atlanta right-hander Grant Holmes, who gave up only three hits and recorded 10 strikeouts in six innings. Angels left-hander Tyler Anderson also threw six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts.

Rookie right-hander José Fermin (1-0) earned his first win with a scoreless seventh.

Key moment

Michael Harris II ended an 0-for-22 drought with a triple to open the fifth. The Braves couldn’t drive in Harris thanks in part to Ronald Acuña Jr.’s third of four strikeouts in the game.

Key stat

A first-inning single extended Matt Olson’s career-best, on-base streak to 31 games. The longest active streak in the majors of games safely reaching base began May 29.

Up next

Braves rookie right-hander Didier Fuentes, 0-2 with a 10.80 ERA after two starts, was moved back one day to start Wednesday. Outfielder Jurickson Profar is expected to make his return from an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drug use. Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (3-6, 2.79) is the Angels’ starter.

On the day he turned 17, Jack Champlin gave himself his own best birthday present, one he got to share with his teammates.

The junior right-hander needed 27 pitches to retire all seven batters he faced to wrap up St. John Bosch’s 4-0 shutout of San Diego Patrick Henry in the Southern California Regional Division I championship game.

“I’m going to dinner with my family and my girlfriend,” he said when asked what he would do to celebrate. “I’m not sure where yet, but there are a lot of good places around here and we’ll make a decision.”

Champlin pitched in all seven playoff games for the Braves, picking up two wins and five saves, giving up no runs allowed in 11 2/3 innings.

“I don’t really feel the pressure … as a closer you need to have confidence in your stuff and I’m just happy to be put in that position,” said Champlin, who fielded a grounder back to the mound and underhanded a toss to first base for the final out of the season. “We knew our starter [Brayden Krakowski] had pitched earlier in the week and only had 14 outs remaining, so the gameplan was for me to come in after that or before if necessary. As it turned out I was able to finish each playoff game with the ball in my hand every single time.”

Krakowksi allowed three hits and got all the support he needed in the first inning, as James Clark led off the bottom half with a triple and scored on a single by Noah Everly. Miles Clark added a two-out RBI single. In the next inning St. John Bosco doubled its lead when James Clark hit an RBI double and later scored on an infield single by Jaden Jackson.

St. John Bosco closer Jack Champlin struck out three of the seven batters he faced to earn the save Saturday afternoon against Patrick Henry.

St. John Bosco beat eighth-seeded San Diego St. Augustine 2-1 in the first round and No. 5 Villa Park 7-4 in the semifinals in a rematch of the Braves’ 4-3 nine-inning triumph in the Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinals.

Patrick Henry had lost 3-0 to Granite Hills in the San Diego Section Open Division final but after back-to-back victories over two of the best Southern Section teams in Santa Margarita and Crespi, the Patriots (23-11-2) came to Bellflower confident they could upset the No. 1-ranked team in California.

It did not happen. Instead, the Braves notched their 19th consecutive win, 30th in 34 games and capped an historic campaign, which included a 3-2 walk-off victory over Santa Margarita to capture the program’s first Southern Section crown May 30 after losing to Beckman 2-1 in eight innings in the Division 3 title game last season.

“We’ve proven ourselves,” Champlin said in the midst of a celebration on the same field where he and his returning teammates rallied to defeat Bakersfield Christian 5-4 and claim the Division III regional championship last June.

Champlin took the hill with one out in the top of the seventh inning in last year’s regional final, got the final two outs, and was credited with the win when the Braves scored the game-ending run on a balk in the bottom of the inning.

Saturday’s achievement was even sweeter because it was accomplished at the highest level and was a testament to second-year coach Andy Rojo, who held the first-place plaque high and declared “We won the West!” as his players surrounded him.

“It’ll take a lot for any team to match what we’ve done winning by three titles in one year — the Trinity League championship, the Southern Section Division 1 championship and the regional Division I championship,” said Rojo, who got his squad to the top of the mountain despite losing 12 players to graduation — including pitcher Anthony Cosme (Cal Poly Pomona), center fielder Julian Villasenor (Washington State) and first baseman Zach Woodson (Pepperdine). “Tomorrow will be two months since we lost a game (the Braves last suffered defeat on April 8 against Santa Margarita). I couldn’t be more proud.”

Jack Champlin, a junior pitcher for St. John Bosco, surveyed the memorable scene Tuesday afternoon. There were fans standing everywhere — down the lines, around the outfield walls, in the press box. It was the top of the seventh inning, and No. 1 Corona had two runners aboard trying to rally in the Southern Section Division 1 semifinals.

“I love it,” he said. “There’s close to 1,000 people and it’s electric. I didn’t feel any pressure, didn’t feel nervous.”

He got a strikeout and fly ball to save St. John Bosco’s stunning 2-0 victory over Corona and unbeaten pitcher Seth Hernandez, who had never lost in two years of high school baseball.

“Tough day for people who don’t normally have tough days,” said Corona coach Andy Wise, who guided the Panthers to the Division 1 title last season and saw his team’s record drop to 28-3.

The Braves will play Trinity League rival Santa Margarita in Friday’s 7 p.m. Division 1 championship game at Cal State Fullerton.

Everything St. John Bosco needed to do to pull off victory happened. Left-hander Trevor Heishman gave up one hit in 6 1/3 innings with nine strikeouts. He struck out Corona’s hottest hitter, Anthony Murphy, three times.

The Braves refused to be intimidated by the 99-mph fastball of Hernandez, who came in with just four walks and 96 strikeouts in 48 2/3 innings and an 18-0 record in high school baseball. He struck out nine, walked three and gave up a run in the second inning on consecutive singles by Champlin and Macade Maxwell. St. John Bosco scored another run in the fifth on a Hernandez balk.

“He’s just another player like us,” Champlin said of the Braves’ attitude toward Hernandez, one of the top pro prospects in the nation. “We weren’t scared. We came out with confidence we were going to win from the time we stepped on the field.

Second-year coach Andy Rojo has St. John Bosco in the Division 1 final.

(Nick Koza)

In two years as head coach, Andy Rojo has taken the Braves to the Division 3 final (last season) and now the Division 1 final on Friday.

His batters made Hernandez throw 92 pitches in five innings and hit the ball hard when they needed. “The key for us we wanted to put the ball in play,” he said.

St. John Bosco has never won a section baseball title after all the success the football and basketball teams have had. But this 26-4 team won the Trinity League championship for the first time since 2017 and has beaten Santa Margarita two of three times this season.

And they’ve got Champlin ready to be the closer again on Friday.

“I haven’t had a blown save,” he said with the confidence of a true closer.

Santa Margarita 12, Crespi 0: Ben Finnegan had three hits and four RBIs and Brennan Bauer gave up two hits in five scoreless innings to send the Eagles into the Division 1 championship game.

Mater Dei 5, Fountain Valley 4: A three-run sixth inning propelled the Monarchs to the comeback win in the Division 2 semifinals. Lawson Olmstead broke a 4-4 tie with an RBI single. Brandon Thomas picked up the save in the seventh and will pitch in the championship game.

West Ranch 8, Etiwanda 7: Ty Diaz had a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning, culminating in a three-run comeback victory in the Division 2 semifinals. Etiwanda took a 7-5 lead with two runs in the top of the eighth. Diaz finished with three hits and two RBIs.

San Dimas 4, Beckman 1: The Saints advance to the Division 3 championship game. They will face Glendora, a 7-5 winner over Temecula Valley.