FULLERTON - In a tournament marked with high scores and home runs by the dozens, Mater Dei battled El Toro in a good old-fashioned pitching duel in the championship game of the Anderson Bat National Classic on Thursday at Cal-State Fullerton.
Mater Dei’s Ruben Orosco and closer Matt Blanchard combined to limit hot-hitting El Toro to just one run on four hits in leading the Monarchs to a 2-1 win in the championship game.
Orosco went six innings and gave up one run on three hits with seven strikeouts. He gave up the only run in the second inning on a walk, an infield single and a sacrifice fly.
Blanchard closed out his second straight game, throwing a scoreless seventh inning while giving up one hit and striking out one.
Blanchard faced one of the tournament’s hottest hitters in Nolan Arenado. Although the Charger senior, who was named the tournament’s most valuable offensive player, was able bash a double early in the game, his long fly ball in the seventh only got as far as the warning track and landed safely in the mitt of the Monarch right fielder.
Mater Dei got all the runs it needed in the first inning. With two outs, Aaron Northcraft singled to keep the inning alive. Brian Frattali followed by smacking a line drive over the left field fence for a two-run homer.
Frattali, who was 3-for-4 in a semifinal win over Esperanza, was named the tournament’s most valuable player. Northcraft, who picked up a win early in the tournament, was named the tournament’s most valuable pitcher.
The Monarchs, now 16-2, won the National Classic for the first time in school history after twice finishing second. El Toro dropped to 15-3.
Mater Dei takes home the Anderson Bat National Classic Trophy.
Photo by Heston Quan
In the third-place game, Esperanza completed an impressive run through the tournament with a 4-1 win over Palm Beach Central. Dennis Holt had a home run to lead the host team. Esperanza upped its record to 6-10-1 on the season while Palm Beach Central fell to 20-3.
Notre Dame Prep of Scottsdale outdueled Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks for an 11-6 win in the fifth place game. The Saints scored six runs in the fifth inning to break a 5-5 tie. Matt Ozanne had a three-run homer in the rally while an error brought home two more runs and an RBI single by Nick Barber scored the other.
Eric Hopkins and Jordan Luvisi both belted home runs for Notre Dame Prep. Brendan Dohs had a home run and a triple and Kelly Duggan blasted a solo home run, his third home run of the tournament, for the Knights.
Notre Dame Prep completed the tournament with a 20-1 mark while Notre Dame is 13-4.
Norco and De La Salle combined for six home runs in the consolation final with the Cougars using a seven-run fourth inning to pull out a 10-7 win.
Matt Hobgood, Wes Hatton and Jacob Romanski each hit solo home runs for Norco but none of them came during the seven-run rally. Romanski led off the big inning with a double and Drake Zarate and Robert Castillo followed with singles. After a walk to David Jones, Norco got a run on a wild pitch and a balk.
Alfonso Solano singled home the fourth run of the inning while Joseph Lavalle doubled home Solano. Lavalle later scored on Jake Clark’s basehit. Hobgood, who was intentionally walked ahead of Clark, scored on a groundball out for the seventh run of the rally.
De La Salle put up a good fight with solo home runs by Nick Hudson, Bo Walter and Noah Perio.
Norco won three straight after losing its tournament opener to Notre Dame Prep and upped its record to 13-4. The Spartans dropped to 7-8.
Archbishop Mitty got two home runs from Mitch Haniger to defeat El Dorado 13-7 in the seventh place game.
Northview rallied for five runs in the fourth inning and held on for a 7-5 win over Jesuit of Carmichael in the 11th place game.
Arnold Banuelos was 2-for-4 with a double and a triple for the Vikings while Ryan Arnold and Gabriel Jaramillo both had two hits. Ruben Ramirez was 3-for-3 with a double.
Jesuit rallied for four runs in the seventh inning thanks in part to a two-run homer by Brock Simon. The Marauders fell to 12-4 on the season with the loss.
Xavier Martinez, a sophomore, pitched six strong innings for Northview to get the win. The Vikings are 11-5.
Mamaroneck finished 2-2 in the tournament and pushed its season record to 2-3 with a win over Spanish Fork in the 13th place game. No score was reported. Spanish Fork went 1-3 in the tournament to put its record at 12-3.
Don Bosco Prep salvaged an otherwise disappointing week with a win over Aptos in the 15th place game. No score was reported. The Ironmen return to the East Coast with a 5-3 overall record.
All-Tournament Team
Chris Hefner, El Dorado; Billy Hutchinson, El Dorado; Nick Hudson, De La Salle; Noah Perio, De La Salle; Wes Hatton, Norco; Matt Hobgood, Norco; Gary Apelian, Esperanza; Dennis Holt, Esperanza; Justin Viele, Esperanza; Tony Piazza, Notre Dame Prep; Jordan Luvisi, Notre Dame Prep; Casey Ryan, Notre Dame; Josh Goossen-Brown, Notre Dame; James Roberts, Archbishop Mitty; Mitch Haniger, Archbishop Mitty; Kyle Finch, Palm Beach Central; Alex Hernandez, Palm Beach Central; Ruben Ramirez, Northview; RJ Arnold, Northview; Ken O’Donnell, Don Bosco Prep; Anthony Gomez, Don Bosco Prep; Jake O’Gorman, Aptos; Dylan Evans, Aptos; Mike Rosenfeld, Mamaroneck; Sean Hagen, Mamaroneck; Adam Duke, Spanish Fork; Chase Castleberry, Spanish Fork; Matt Blanchard, Mater Dei; Derek Campbell, Mater Dei; Ryan Joyce, El Toro; Aaron Wirsch, El Toro; Chris Manning, El Toro; Jimmy Bosco, Jesuit; Frank McDonald, Jesuit.
