Saint Francis tops JSerra Catholic for Boras Baseball Classic crown

In command for six innings, it looked like nationally-ranked JSerra Catholic (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) was on its way to 2-1 victory over Saint Francis (Mountain View, Calif.) in the finale of the Boras Baseball Classic on Saturday at Cal-State Fullerton.

But the Lancers took advantage of three straight singles to score two runs in the top of the seventh and knock off the Lions, 3-2, for the mythical California state championship.

The loss was a disappointment for JSerra coach Brett Kay, whose team suffered a late-inning loss at the National High School Invitational and finished with a 3-1 record at that event.

"I don't want us to be a good team that has accomplished nothing," Kay told the Orange County Register. "We still have aspirations of winning the Trinity League and hopefully a CIF championship."



See more game photos by MaxPreps photographer Heston Quan

The loss dropped JSerra Catholic to 20-4 on the season while Saint Francis upped its record to 20-5.

The Lions got strong pitching through the first six innings as Ryan Lefner started and gave up one run on four hits with two strikeouts while Collin Quinn got two outs in the fifth inning and Lyle Lin pitched a scoreless sixth to set up the seventh frame.

Jeremy Ydens opened the seventh with a single to left field and Andrew Martinez followed with a bunt single. Robert Morcate added a bunt single to load the bases for Devon Canty.

JSerra switched pitchers, with Kay bringing in Jake Pries to relieve Linn with no outs and the bases loaded. Pries got Canty to hit a ground ball to Chase Strumpf at shortstop and he got the out at second base. However Ydens scored to even the game at 2-2.

With runners at the corners, Johnny Mendoza hit a ground ball to second base, which allowed Martinez to score the go-ahead run. Pries got the next batter to fly out to end the top half of the inning.



Ydens, who went the distance for the win, got the Lions in order to end the seventh, including a strikeout for the final out of the game. Ydens gave up two runs on five hits with five strikeouts.

JSerra Catholic managed only five hits in the game, but was able to gain a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Ryan Pena doubled to open the inning and scored on Christian Molfetta's base hit. Molfetta later scored on Brady Shockey's base hit.

Shockey finished 2-for-3 to lead JSerra Catholic while Martinez was 3-for-4 and Ydens and R.J. Teijeiro each had two hits for Saint Francis.

JSerra Catholic defeated Mater Dei to win the southern portion of the Boras Baseball Classic while Saint Francis defeated Clovis West to win the northern part of the tournament.

Featuring 32 of the best teams in California, the tournament is dubbed on the Boras Classic website as "The Annual Battle of California."