Two Southern California teams survived the second round of the National High School Invitational and advanced to today's semifinal in Cary, N.C.
Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) had another huge game, knocking off the nation's No. 2 ranked team
Carroll (Corpus Christi, Texas) by a score of 12-0.
Ty Moore was the hero for the Monarchs as he belted a home run and finished with three RBI. He also combined with
Brian Conley to limit the Tigers to just four hits in the contest.
The Monarch offense pounded out 17 hits with
Brandon Perez also adding three RBI and
Austin Monte and
Ryan Barr adding two apiece.
Davis Tominaga and
Tyler Adkison each added a double. The Monarchs blew the game open in the third when they pushed seven runs across the plate to open a 10-0 lead.
Carroll began the day with a 1-0 win over
Gulliver Prep (Miami, Fla.) to advance to the second round.
Courtney Hawkins struck out nine in five and a third innings and also hit a home run for the only run of the game for Carroll.
Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.) also advanced to the semifinals, but the Wolverines needed a late offensive push to get past
Parkview (Lilburn, Ga.). Trailing 2-1 in the fourth, the Wolverines scored four runs in the frame to take a 5-2 lead. They added three more runs in the sixth and went on to win 10-3.
Max Fried picked up the pitching win and also had a triple on offense. He allowed three runs on five hits with eight strikeouts and just two walks.
Mater Dei will take on
Sarasota (Fla.) today in one semifinal game at noon while Harvard-Westlake meets
American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.) in the other semifinal at 3:30 p.m.
The two Florida teams have also been a surprise at the NHSI, each advancing through the first two rounds without much difficulty.
American Heritage posted another shutout, this time defeating
Brookwood (Snellville, Ga.) 4-0.
Dominic Mancini and
Brandon Diaz combined on a six-hitter to get the shutout.
Zack Collins led the offense, going 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
Sarasota, meanwhile, held off
Orange Lutheran (Orange, Calif.) 5-3 to advance. Sophomore Evan Crawford went the distance to get the win, giving up three runs on seven hits with two strikeouts.
Broderick Rodocker paced the Sailors on offense with a three-run double among his two hits.
Sarasota started the day with a 14-2 win over
Lee County (Sanford, N.C.) as
Tyler Leonard went all seven innings and gave up two runs on six hits with six strikeouts.
Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) and
Washington (New York, N.Y.) continued to struggle as they each lost for the second time in two days. The Gaels fell to Gulliver Prep, who touched starter
Joey Gallo for five runs on five hits in three innings. None of the runs were earned and Gallo struck out seven batters while reportedly reaching 98 miles per hour on the radar gun, according to Baseball America.
Washington, meanwhile, couldn't touch
Russell County (Seale, Ala.)'s
Rock Rucker, who threw four no-hit innings. The Warriors were able to jump out to a 7-0 lead and held on for the 8-0 victory. Rucker left the game with a no-hitter intact due to soreness in his arm.
Anfernee Grier completed the game and gave up one hit, a double in the sixth inning to
Randy Rodriguez.
In other games,
Oxford (Ala.) defeated
Highlands Ranch (Colo.) 7-1 and
Columbus (Ga.) edged Lee County 8-3 in the consolation bracket.
