orange lutheran baseball

Orange Lutheran (12-3) is the midseason No. 1 team in Southern California high school baseball.

The Lancers completed a four-game sweep at the Boras Classic South on Friday night, winning the championship game 4-1 over Norco.

Orange Lutheran’s pitching depth was impressive all week.

Ricardo Hurtado had a single and a home run and Brady Murrietta added two hits. Starting pitcher Blake Killinger was able to contain hot-hitting Norco (15-2), giving up five hits and one run in 5⅓ innings. Jacob Melendez hit his fourth home run for Norco since becoming eligible on March 27.

Orange Lutheran has won two prestigious tournaments in the same year — the Boras Classic South and the National High School Invitational in North Carolina. Perhaps the Southern Section’s computer rankings will reflect that feat after the Lancers were ranked No. 51 in this week’s Southern Section power rankings.

Orange Lutheran will face Northern California champion, St. Mary’s, next Saturday in the Boras Classic championship game at Santa Clara University.

Corona 7, Newport Harbor 5: A five-run fourth powered the Panthers. Joseph Flores Jr. had a two-run home run and Anthony Murphy added two hits and two RBIs for the Panthers.

Los Osos 4, JSerra 3: A four-run seventh helped Los Osos overcome a 3-0 deficit. The big hit was a three-run home run by Dominic Rodriguez.

St. John Bosco 2, Fountain Valley 1: James Clark had two hits, including an RBI single.

Ayala 6, Gahr 4: Easton Sarmiento contributed two hits, including a home run. Luke Payne threw 3⅔ innings of scoreless relief.

Mater Dei 6, Aquinas 5: The Monarchs opened a 6-0 lead and hung on. Ezekiel Lara had a three-run home run.

San Diego Patrick Henry 4, Huntington Beach 3: Ely Mason had two hits and two RBIs for Huntington Beach.

Arcadia 5, Corona Centennial 0: Andrew Cooper threw the shutout, giving up three hits. Jordan Vogel had a triple and single.

Royal 5, Moorpark 1: Dustin Dunwoody struck out 12 in 6⅔ innings.

Banning 9, San Pedro 2: AJ Herrera threw a three-hit complete game. He also had three hits.

El Camino Real 13, Cleveland 1: JJ Saffie had three hits and three RBIs and Jackson Sellz added three hits and two RBIs. Hudson December gave up one run in five innings.

Birmingham 4, Taft 3: The Patriots scored three runs in the sixth and one in the seventh to win a West Valley League game. Carlos Acuna hit the tie-breaking home run in the seventh. Aidan Martinez hit a three-run home run in the sixth and also struck out four in 1⅓ innings of relief. Nate Swinson had a two-run home run for Taft.

Granada Hills 6, Chatsworth 2: Max Szczech had a three-run double for the Highlanders.

Bell 4, South Gate 3: Gustavo Ramirez finished with three hits in an Eastern League win.

Garfield 6, Legacy 3: Doubles by Omar Martinez and Nathan Gaytan in the third sparked the Bulldogs.

Sierra Canyon 6, Sylmar 3: Carl McMullan contributed two hits and two RBIs for Sierra Canyon. Matthew Torres homered for Sylmar.

La Mirada 5, Servite 3: Ian Aguayo hit a two-run home run for La Mirada.

Etiwanda 19, Warren 9: Adam Ornales must have been a little tired after scoring six runs and getting three hits in Etiwanda’s win.

La Habra 2, Cypress 1: Bobby Brooks threw a complete game for La Habra.

Villa Park 12, El Dorado 2: Dominic Gutierrez hit a grand slam and Justin Lopez had four hits for Villa Park. Xavi Cadena contributed three hits for El Dorado.

Calabasas 10, Agoura 9: The Coyotes scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh, with Trevor Chang winning it on an RBI single.

Loyola 6, Providence 1: Jack Murray had a two-run home run for Loyola.

Softball

Orange Lutheran 11, Huntington Beach 0: Rylee Silver contributed three hits and also struck out six in five scoreless innings.

Norco 8, Eastvale Roosevelt 5: Coral Williams finished with 15 strikeouts for Norco.

The Boras Classic has seen lots of upsets this week. No. 1 St. John Bosco, No. 4 Corona and No. 6 Huntington Beach were all beaten in first-round games. On Wednesday, No. 2 Orange Lutheran was taken into the eighth inning by Gahr until a walk-off single by CJ Weinstein delivered a 2-1 victory and sent the Lancers into Thursday’s 6 p.m. semifinal at JSerra.

Weinstein finished with two hits and two RBIs. Angel Gonzalez started the bottom of the eighth with a double and moved to third on a sacrifice. Then came consecutive walks to load the bases before Weinstein ended the game. Jake Ourique struck out six with no walks in seven innings for Gahr.

Norco 14, Los Osos 0: The Cougars (14-1) advanced to the Boras Classic semifinals with a five-inning mercy-rule win. Codey Brown had three hits and three RBIs and Jacob Melendez added four RBIs. Dylan Seward and Jordan Ayala each hit home runs. Ayala struck out nine and gave up three hits. Norco will play at Mater Dei at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

Huntington Beach 4, St. John Bosco 2: Ely Mason had three hits and Jared Grindlinger recorded eight strikeouts in 4⅓ innings to hand St. John Bosco its third consecutive defeat.

Corona 3, Arcadia 2: Anthony Murphy finished with two hits and Trey Ebel had a triple for the Panthers. Matt Manzo had three hits for Arcadia.

Newport Harbor 2, Corona Centennial 0: Ryan Williams had a solo home run and Henry Mann added an RBI double for Newport Harbor.

El Camino Real 9, Cleveland 3: The Royals ended Cleveland’s nine-game winning streak. Jackson Sellz threw a complete game, Shane Bogacz had three hits and three RBIs and Ryan Glassman added two hits and two RBIs.

South Gate 7, Bell 3 The Rams handed a rare Eastern League defeat to Bell (16-2, 2-1). Joe Corona had two hits and three RBIs. Ernesto Brenes threw a complete game. South Gate put together a six-run sixth inning to wipe away a 2-1 deficit.

Granada Hills 12, Chatsworth 1: Caleb Reclusado finished with three hits, including a home run, to lead the Highlanders. Luke Chau struck out five in six innings.

Carson 15, Gardena 4: Kris Sinclair had two hits and three RBIs for the Colts.

Garfield 8, Legacy 1: Nathan Gaytan hit two home runs to help the Bulldogs take over sole possession of first place in the Eastern League.

Villa Park 8, El Dorado 4: Jack McGuire limited El Dorado to two hits and one run in five innings.

Cypress 14, La Habra 3: Freshman Ivan Ortiz had four hits and three RBIs for Cypress.

Sierra Canyon 13, Warren 0: Greyson Gullage and Fletcher Taylor hit home runs and Mikhail Johnson had two hits and two RBIs.

Chaminade 7, Santa Barbara 0: Jackson Schroeder struck out 11 and Isaiah Hearn homered for the Eagles.

Bishop Alemany 12, Nevada Centennial 2: MJ Serrano threw five shutout innings and Brody Thompson and Chase Stevenson each hit home runs. Noah Chan finished with two hits and three RBIs.

St. Francis 4, St. Joseph 2: Daniel Izaguirre had two hits and two RBIs and Donovan Udell threw a complete game.

Determined to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of rival St. John Bosco on Thursday, No. 1-ranked Orange Lutheran turned to Texas-bound catcher Brady Murrietta, who came through with a memorable individual performance in a 5-4 road victory.

Let’s count the ways Murrietta made an impact.

In the top of the first inning, he had a double. In the bottom of the first, he threw out the speedy James Clark trying to steal second. In the fifth, he drove in a run with a sacrifice pop fly. In the top of the sixth, he broke a 3-3 tie by sending a hanging slider from closer Jack Champlin over the fence in left field for a two-run home run. In the bottom of the sixth, he tagged out the potential tying run at the plate.

Pro scouts were out en masse to see Orange Lutheran pitcher Cooper Sides, whose fastball touched 95 mph. He struck out eight in five innings.

Champlin had a two-run triple in the first inning against Sides. Champlin had given up only one earned run all season until Orange Lutheran scored three runs (one earned) in 2⅔ innings of relief. The Lancers were particularly excited because Champlin taunted them after saving Wednesday’s 4-1 win, leading to shoving and pushing after the game. As a precautionary measure, the teams did not shake hands after Thursday’s game.

Orange Lutheran improved to 8-3 and 1-2 in the Trinity League. No. 2 St. John Bosco is 11-3 and 5-1. The teams could meet again next week at the Boras Classic.

Cypress 6, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 2: Tate Belfanti allowed one hit in four innings and struck out four for Cypress, which finished third at the National Classic.

Concord De La Salle 6, Corona Centennial 3: The Spartans won the National Classic. Devin Bishop and Michael Nonis hit home runs for Centennial, which became the first team in four days to score against De La Salle.

Bell 1, Las Vegas Southeast Career Tech 0: The Eagles improved to 16-1 and went 4-0 in San Diego. Manuel Pasillas threw five scoreless innings and AJ Esquivel threw two scoreless innings for the save.

West Ranch 6, Saugus 5: A four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh lifted West Ranch to the Foothill League win. Ty Diaz had two RBIs.

Hart 7, Golden Valley 4: Hayden Rhodes delivered two hits and three RBIs for Hart.

Valencia 9, Castaic 7: Justin Gaisford had a two-run home run for Valencia.

Corona Santiago 3, Aquinas 0: Troy Randall struck out 10 in five innings and Max Eldridge hit a home run to lead Santiago.

Maranatha 4, Granada Hills 0: Bradley Loiacono threw 6⅓ scoreless innings.

Foothill 2, La Habra 1: Caden Lauridsen struck out four with no walks while giving up two hits in a complete-game performance.

Agoura 6, Oak Park 0: Tyler Sterling had three RBIs for the Chargers.

Newbury Park 3, Thousand Oaks 0: Ben Miller and Chase Renzo combined on the shutout and Carson Richter had a three-run home run to lead the Panthers.

Oaks Christian 2, Westlake 1: Luke Puls had a solo home run and Gave Geyer threw three innings of scoreless relief.

Long Beach Millikan 4, Lakewood 0: Daunte Bell struck out eight with no walks in throwing the shutout.

Villa Park 4, Temecula Valley 2: Ezra Ornelas had two hits for Villa Park.

Softball

Norco 9, Corona del Sol 0: Leighton Gray and Isabella Ray hit home runs and Peyton May allowed three hits in a five-inning win at the Michelle Carew Classic.