Dan James and El Toro will gun for the Boras Classic SoCal title as play begins Tuesday at JSerra and Mater Dei.
Photo by Shawn Oudt
The schedule doesn't get any easier for the Mater Dei Monarchs. Just days after
winning the National High School Invitational against some of the top teams in the nation, the Monarchs will begin competition in the Boras Classic Southern Regional against some of the top teams in Southern California.
The Monarchs, 10-1, enter the tournament as the favorite thanks to the 10 straight wins and the NHSI crown. However don't hand the Monarchs the tournament trophy just yet. Last year when Mater Dei won the NHSI, it came home and suffered a loss to Cypress in a doubleheader. While Mater Dei players will undoubtedly be battling some jet lag from their trip across the country, there are enough good teams in the tournament to take advantage of just such a weakness.
Choice among those teams are Canyon (Anaheim), which is currently ranked sixth in the
MaxPreps Southern California Baseball Rankings. Another to keep an eye on is El Toro, which is playing extremely well after a rough start.
The winner of the south regional, which will be played starting April 2 at two sites - JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano and Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana - faces Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove), which won the north regional on Thursday with an 11-1 victory over rival Elk Grove.
The championship game is set for April 13 at University of Pacific in Stockton.
El Toro (Lake Forest, Calif.) vs. Chaminade (West Hills, Calif.)
Tuesday, 9 a.m. at JSerra Catholic
Outlook: El Toro (8-4) dropped four of its first six games, but has been solid ever since, posting two shutout wins over Edison (Huntington Beach) and giving up just two runs in its last five games. The Toros have one of the top hitters in the game in senior first baseman
Dan James, who is batting .333 with 13 RBIs and two home runs. Chaminade (9-4) has losses to nationally ranked teams like Granite Hills and Harvard-Westlake, but it has knocked off defending San Diego Section champion Vista.
Kevin Lewallyn has been a force on the mound, striking out 32 batters in just more than 20 innings pitched.
Oaks Christian (Westlake Village, Calif.) vs. Vista Murrieta (Murrieta, Calif.)
Tyler Russell, Vista Murrieta
Photo by Heston Quan
Outlook: Oaks Christian (8-2-1) has posted six straight wins and has one of the state's top pitchers in
Phillip Bickford. He's coming off a recent 11-3 win over Palisades in which he gave up one earned run and struck out eight with no walks. Vista Murrieta (8-3) has one of the state's top pitching prospects as well in
Tyler Russell. He is 5-0 on the season with a 0.71 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 39.1 innings pitched.
Bishop Amat (La Puente, Calif.) vs. West Ranch (Valencia, Calif.)
Tuesday, 3 p.m. at JSerra Catholic
Outlook: Bishop Amat (4-6) is off to a slow start this year but has often played well on the big stage. Winners of the National Classic a few years ago, the Lancers have two of the tournament's top players in outfielders
Scott Hurst and
Adam Alcantara. Hurst is batting .314 with two doubles and a home run while Alcantara is batting .406 with a home run. West Ranch (8-3) is hitting .395 as a team with
JD Krauskopf leading the way with 12 RBIs, three doubles and two home runs. West Ranch has one of the nation's top sophomores in
Jagger Rusconi, who is batting .432.
El Camino Real (Woodland Hills, Calif.) vs. JSerra Catholic (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
Tuesday, 6 p.m. at JSerra Catholic
Outlook: The perennial Los Angeles City Section champions El Camino Real (6-8) are led by all-city players
Luke Laurita and
Owen Perry at pitcher and
Yannick Villanueva in the outfield. JSerra Catholic (5-7) has one of the top freshmen in the nation in
Chase Strumpf.
Canyon (Anaheim, Calif.) vs. Lakewood (Calif.)
Tuesday, 9 a.m. at Mater Dei
Outlook: Currently ranked No. 3 in the Los Angeles Times southland rankings, Canyon (10-1) has only a loss to El Dorado (Placentia) tarnishing its record.
Chris Prescott has been stellar so far, batting better than .500 on the season. Lakewood (8-6) counters with one of the nation's top shortstop prospects in
J.P. Crawford, who ranks No. 4 on the
MaxPreps Top 100 seniors list. He is batting .325 with 13 runs scored on the season.
Great Oak (Temecula, Calif.) vs. Loyola (Los Angeles)
Tuesday, Noon at Mater Dei
Outlook: After a 6-1 start, Great Oak has dropped four in a row to slip to 6-5. The Wolfpack have one of the top players in the nation, however, in
Terrian Arbet, who is batting .344 with two home runs. Loyola (7-6) has a win over Harvard-Westlake and has been getting a strong offensive output from
Quinn Brodey with a .400 batting average and two home runs.
Chatsworth (Calif.) vs. Santiago (Corona, Calif.)
Chris DeVito, Chatsworth
File photo by Terry Jack
Outlook: Regularly one of the teams to beat in the Los Angeles City Section, Chatsworth enters the tournament with a 7-5 record. The Chancellors return
Jason Karkenny and
Chris Devito, both of whom earned All-City honors last year. The Sharks from Santiago have rebounded from a 1-3 start to post a 7-5 record.
Hart (Newhall, Calif.) vs. Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.)
Tuesday, 6 p.m. at Mater Dei
Outlook: Aaron Hamilton has been the ace on the mound for Valencia (6-6) so far, as he is 2-1 with 35 strikeouts in 32 innings pitched. Mater Dei, meanwhile, is coming off a first-place finish at the National High School Invitational with a 4-0 win over Harvard-Westlake.
