scoreless relief

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.

No. 1-ranked UCLA, known for its powerful batting order from one to nine, turned to its pitching staff on Friday in New Jersey to pull out a 4-1 victory over Rutgers in 14 innings. It was UCLA’s 25th consecutive win. The Bruins are 31-2 and 16-0 in the Big Ten.

Starting pitcher Logan Reddemann tied a UCLA record with 18 strikeouts in eight innings. Four UCLA pitchers combined to strike out 30 batters, one shy of an NCAA record. Zach Strickland came through with three innings of scoreless relief, striking out seven. Easton Hawk got the save by striking out the side in the bottom of the 14th.

UCLA had left 16 runners on base until finally breaking through in the top of the 14th. The Bruins loaded the bases with one out, then broke the 1-1 tie on a fielder’s choice. Aidan Espinoza followed with a two-run pinch-hit single.

Corona baseball is receiving some competition in Big VIII League play this season. Norco is supposed to be the Panthers’ primary competition, but it was Corona Santiago handing the Panthers their first defeat Monday.

Troy Randall had three hits and threw three innings of scoreless relief in a 6-2 home victory. The teams play again Wednesday at Corona, with ace Striker Pence on the mound for Santiago.

Santiago (10-2) took advantage of rare wildness by Corona starting pitcher Mason Sims, who walked four in two innings. Randall and starting pitcher Ben Lewis held Corona’s top four batters hitless with eight strikeouts.

Cleveland 6, Chatsworth 2: The Cavaliers continued their march toward third place in the West Valley League. Max Salazar had three hits. Joshua Pearlstein threw a complete game with five strikeouts.

Taft 9, Granada Hills 7: The Toreadors scored three runs in the ninth inning for a West Valley League win. Nathan Swinson had a home run and Julian Antolin recorded three hits and three RBIs. Max Szczech had four hits, including a home run, for Granada Hills.

Garfield 10, Huntington Park 0: Omar Martinez had two hits and two RBIs and Michael Agredano struck out six in 3⅔ innings for Garfield.

South Hills 4, San Dimas 1: Marc Morales threw three scoreless innings of relief for South Hills.

Loyola 12, Paramount 2: Jack Murray contributed three hits for the Cubs.

Etiwanda 19, Los Osos 5: Angel Mejia finished with three hits and seven RBIs, including a grand slam.