Defending NHSI champ Huntington Beach falls

Early Contender - No. 1 Archbishop McCarthy
See why the Mavericks have been chosen the top team in the nation to start the 2017 season.

The biggest test for Archbishop McCarthy (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), ranked No. 1 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National High School Baseball Rankings, will come this week at the National High School Invitational in Cary (N.C.).

The Mavericks are off to a good start, knocking off Arlington (Tenn.) 3-1 in the first round of the tournament. The win gives Archbishop McCarthy a 12-0 record on the season.

Adan Fernandez highlighted a three-run second inning for the Mavericks with a solo home run. Joey Thompson also had an RBI single in the inning. Fernandez finished the game 2-for-3 to lead Archbishop McCarthy's five-hit attack.

Joe Perez got the win, going three innings and striking out six. Sophomore Yordani Carmona threw the final two innings for the save.

Adan Fernandez receives congratulations from his teammates after hitting a home run Wednesday.

File photo by Alyson Boyer Rode

Other first round games:



Winder-Barrow (Winder, Ga.) 3
Huntington Beach (Calif.) 1

Winder-Barrow scored two runs in the top of the 10th inning to edge defending NHSI champion Huntington Beach 3-1 in the first round.

Beau Hanna singled and scored on Zack Smith's double. Smith then scored on Darrell Woodall's basehit to put Winder-Barrow up 3-1. Woodall then got the side in order to preserve the win.

Huntington Beach, ranked No. 3 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National High School Baseball Rankings, won last year's NHSI with a win over Chaminade (West Hills).

Pat DeMarco and Smith each had a double for Winder-Barrow while Hagen Danner had a double for Huntington Beach.

Trinity Christian Academy (Jacksonville, Fla.) 2
Hough (Cornelius, N.C.) 1

Trinity Christian Academy (Jacksonville, Fla.) made the most of its two hits to beat tournament host Hough 2-1 in the first game of the tournament.

The Conquerors (10-4) broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the seventh when when Dawson Fietsam scored on a hard ground ball by Rob Aldrich that resulted in an error.

American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.) 10
Rocky Mountain (Fort Collins, Colo.) 0

The Patriots have one of the nation's best seniors in Mark Vientos and two of the nation's best juniors in Triston Casas and Cory Acton. All three showed their talent in American Heritage's 10-0 NHSI opener against Rocky Mountain.



Vientos went 4-for-5 with an RBIs, while Acton had a double and a triple and Casas added a double. Acton was 4-for-4 with two RBIs while Casas was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.

Christian Santana went seven innings and gave up no runs on four hits with 11 strikeouts or the win.

Orange Lutheran (Orange, Calif.) 7
Merritt Island (Fla.) 3

The Lancers (9-1) scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to break a 3-3 tie en route to a win over Merritt Island.

Tristan Hanoian went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI to lead Orange Lutheran. Caleb Ricketts added three RBI while Zachary Lew and Zach Busalacchi had two hits apiece.

Canterbury (Fort Myers, Fla.) 7
Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.) 0

Sam Keating went four shutout innings, giving up just two hits while striking out four against Hamilton. Tyler Shuck and Cooper Weiss both had doubles to lead the Canterbury offense with Weiss driving in two runs.

South Hills (West Covina, Calif.) 2
Brother Rice (Chicago) 0

Karlos Morales and Andres Alvarez combined to limit Brother Rice to three hits with Morales getting the win. He went 5.2 innings and gave up two hits while striking out five. Brandon Dieter and Zack Bromstead both went 2-for-3 to lead the offense.

Dana Hills (Dana Point, Calif.) 4
Cullman (Ala.) 3

Hans Crouse went 5.1 innings and gave up three runs on five hits with nine strikeouts to get the win over Cullman (Ala.).



Dana Hills broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the fifth when Jeremy Ciolek doubled home Zach Waters.
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Jacob Heatherly started for Cullman and limited Dana Hills to just two hits while striking out seven.