Favorites dominate on first day of 2013 NHSI Baseball Tournament

The top-ranked teams held serve in the first round of the National High School Invitational on Wednesday with Lexington (S.C.), Venice (Fla.), Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.) and Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) all coming out on top in Cary, N.C.

Last year in the inaugural NHSI, baseball fans anticipated a potential battle between the top two teams in the country, Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) and Carroll (Corpus Christi, Texas). While those two teams eventually met, it wasn't in the championship game. Instead, both of those top teams were upset in the first round and played the remainder of the tournament in the consolation bracket.

That's not the case in 2013, at least not after the first round. Of the six ranked teams that played on Wednesday, five of them won. In one game, Mater Dei vs. Tullahoma (Tenn.), two ranked teams played but the higher-ranked team won. A seventh ranked team, The Woodlands (Texas), plays Jenks (Okla.) today in the final first-round game. Texas and Oklahoma state rules do not permit teams to play on Wednesday.

Defending champion Mater Dei opened with a convincing win over Tullahoma. The Monarchs erupted for eight runs in the top of the fourth inning to build an 11-2 advantage. Tullahoma made three errors in the inning allowing three runs to score. A bases-loaded walk and a bases-loaded hit batsman brought home two more runs. Bryan Call and Brett Mellon each had RBI hits in the inning as well.

Austin Grebeck and Call each had three hits for Mater Dei while Mellon had two hits and three RBIs. Jeremy Martinez went 2-for-4.

Justin Brown was 3-for-4 with an RBI for Tullahoma while Justus Sheffield was 2-for-3.

Davis Tominaga got the win, going four innings and giving up two runs on four hits with five strikeouts. Sheffield took the loss, giving up 11 runs on 10 hits with four strikeouts.

Harvard-Westlake 3, Eustis (Fla.) 0
Last year's runner-up, Harvard-Westlake, also picked up a win, shutting out Eustis on a three-hitter by Jack Flaherty. The Wolverine junior finished with 13 strikeouts and no walks.

Ezra Steinberg led the Harvard-Westlake offense, going 3-for-3 with an RBI. Michael Vokulich was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a double while Brian Ginsberg was 2-for-3 with two runs scored.

Lexington 4, Florida Christian (Miami) 0
Lexington opened the tournament with a win despite getting just two hits in the game. Lexington twice stole home, once in the first and once in the third inning. Lexington also got an RBI single from Nick Ciuffo in the third and added its final run on a passed ball in the seventh.

Lexington pitcher Josh Reagan went the distance for the shutout as he gave up four hits and struck out five.

Venice 5, Christian Brothers (Memphis, Tenn.) 1
Venice got a strong pitching effort from Brandon Elmy, who gave up just one run on one hit through five innings while striking out eight. Cooper Hammond finished the game and struck out three in the final two innings while giving up one hit.

Michael Rivera and Colton Lightner led the offense, going 2-for-3, with Lightner getting a double for the game's best hit. Danny Raynor drove in a pair of runs.

Bingham (South Jordan, Utah) 10, Roberson (Asheville, N.C.) 0
Bingham banged out 15 hits, all singles, off four Roberson pitchers to take the win. Jacob Druce was 4-for-5 with two RBIs and Lance Harrison was 3-for-5 with an RBI. Coleman Stout and Tj Bowcutt each had a pair of hits.

Chase Tavonatti gave up two hits with three strikeouts and a walk to get the win.

Milton (Ga.) 4, Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.) 3
Alec Cease doubled home brother Dylan Cease to break a 3-3 tie and ultimately gave Milton the win.

Milton twice had to come from behind. Trailing 2-0 in the second inning, Milton scored once in the second and once in the fifth to tie the score. However Hamilton regained the lead in the top of the sixth with a single run to set up Alec Cease's heroics.

Dylan Cease was 3-for-3 with a double for Milton while Jack Thompson was 2-for-3 with a double. Dalon Farkas also had a double for the winners.

Cathedral Catholic 14, Grayson (Loganville, Ga.) 2
In the final game of the day, Cathedral Catholic put together a pair of five-run rallies to blast Grayson, which gave up 15 hits and also hurt itself with five errors.

Stephen Gonsalves started and got the win for Cathedral Catholic. He went four innings and gave up two runs on five hits with five strikeouts and two walks. He also led the offense, going 2-for-4 with a triple, four RBIs and three runs scored.

Derek Black added a double and a triple while going 2-for-4. He also drove in two runs. Michael Martin and Brady Aiken also had a pair of hits and an RBI.

Schedule
Today's schedule finds Jenks (Okla.) and The Woodlands (Texas) finishing off the first round with a 9:45 a.m. matchup. Consolation play begins at 10 a.m. with Roberson vs. Florida Christian. Tullahoma meets Eustis in another consolation round matchup at 11 a.m. while Christian Brothers plays Grayson in consolation play at 3 p.m. The loser of the Jenks/The Woodlands game plays Hamilton at 3:45 p.m.

In the championship bracket, Mater Dei meets Lexington at 12:45 p.m., Bingham plays Harvard-Westlake at 1 p.m., Venice takes on Cathedral Catholic at 1:15 p.m. and the winner of the Jenks/The Woodlands game plays Milton at 4:30 p.m.