The Anderson Bat National Classic: What We Learned

After 32 games, a ton of home runs and a thrilling championship game, here’s one thing we know following the completion of the Anderson Bat National Classic – Orange County baseball is pretty good.

Perhaps better than pretty good. The four Orange County teams went toe-to-toe with some of the best baseball teams in the country last week and finished first, second, third and eighth as a group with an overall record of 11-5. Three of those losses were to other Orange County teams. Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), El Toro (Lake Forest) and Esperanza (Anaheim) were undefeated against teams outside of Orange County while El Dorado (Placentia) was 1-2.

It’s no wonder that Mater Dei coach Burt Call commented following his team’s semifinal win over Esperanza that Orange County baseball is the best in the nation.

The strong performance by the local schools was just part of an interesting week of baseball in Orange County. Here are some more things we learned from one of the nation’s toughest tournaments.

Northeast teams get off to rough start

Considering that Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) and Mamaroneck (N.Y.) had played just five total games between them heading into the National Classic, it’s no wonder that they both struggled to win games against teams that had been playing for close to two months.

Don Bosco Prep lost three straight games, falling to El Dorado in the opening round, De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) in the second round and Spanish Fork of Utah on the third day. The Ironmen finally got in the win column on Thursday with a victory over Aptos (Calif.) in the 15th place game.

Mamaroneck had a little better luck. After falling to Esperanza 8-7 on the first day, Mamaroneck lost to Northview (Covina, Calif.) 7-3 the second day. The Tigers were able to bounce back and defeat Aptos and Spanish Fork in their next two games to get their first two wins of the season.

The losses will undoubtedly hurt both Don Bosco Prep and Mamaroneck in the national rankings. Both teams were in the top 25 to start the season with Don Bosco coming off a 33-0 season. Although both teams should fare well in their own states, they will likely have to avoid further losses in order to climb back into the national rankings picture.

Matt Hobgood can hit

Coming off a junior season in which he belted 10 home runs and was the Southland player of the year by the Los Angeles Times, Hobgood was expected to be one of the top hitters at the Area Code games last summer. However the Norco senior struggled at the plate and did not get a hit during the weeklong tournament last August in Long Beach.

Hobgood showed that the Area Code games were a distant memory with his performance at the National Classic. He went 4-for-15 with three home runs and a double, seven RBI and seven runs scored. He had an almost effortless home run against De La Salle in the consolation semifinal that rocketed off the bat to the opposite field for his final home run of the tournament. He didn’t get much to hit the rest of the day and was intentionally walked in his next at-bat.

Hobgood also had an outstanding outing the mound against Aptos, striking out 12 with two hits and one walk in a 10-0 win.

Nolan Arenado is the guy you want on your team

The El Toro senior does all of the little things, and the big things, that help a team win. Against both De La Salle and El Dorado, Arenado led off the game with a home run. He batted 8-for-14 in the tournament with three doubles to go with his two home runs. One of the doubles was against Mater Dei and was a simple ground ball to the outfield. However Arenado never stopped running after he go to first base and he slid into second base just ahead of the tag. Arenado also had a heads-up baserunning move against Palm Beach Central when he tagged up from first base on a fly ball to left field and safely reached second base to put himself in scoring position.

Arenado’s most impressive performance of the week, however, was his pitching performance against Palm Beach Central (Wellington, Fla.). Facing one of the top teams in the country (PB Central was 20-1 at the time), Arenado faced just two batters over the minimum and allowed only one run on four hits with eight strikeouts and two walks in a 10-1 win. Even more impressive is that the game was Arenado’s first pitching outing of the season.

Both Esperanza and El Dorado take great pride in their baseball programs

While the championship game and the semifinals were all held at Cal-State Fullerton, most of the other games were played at either Esperanza or El Dorado High School. It was easy to see that these two storied programs take great pride in their teams.

Besides having outstanding fields with first-rate dugouts and landscaping to highlight the field, the two teams also had signs listing all of the league, section, state and national teams the two programs have produced. El Dorado also had names of all of the players ever drafted from the school along with the retired numbers of such Golden Hawk greats as Phil Nevin and Brett Tomko. El Dorado also had one of the best scoreboards you’ll find at a high school facility.