A pair of unranked Southern California teams -
Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.) and
Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) - will meet today in the championship of the National High School Invitational.
The championship game is the only game that will be played Saturday due to rain. The contest was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., however rain has postponed the first pitch. The game is being streamed live on USABaseball.com and MLB.com.
The meeting pits two teams that struggled during the month of March after starting the season ranked in the Xcellent 25. Mater Dei, which began the season at No. 3 - just behind two teams it beat this week, Bishop Gorman and Carroll - lost three times during the month while Harvard-Westlake, which started the season at No. 19, lost to Valencia and Alemany while also losing standout pitcher Lucas Giolito to injury.
As a result of the losses, both teams dropped out of the Xcellent 25 heading into the NHSI. However strong pitching performances and outstanding offensive support have landed both Southern California teams in today's final.
Harvard-Westlake needed nine innings to get past
American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.) and get into the championship game.
Hans Hansen threw all nine frames for the win, allowing eight hits while striking out two. The Wolverines scored the winning run on
Max Fried's single that plated
Jack Flaherty.
Mater Dei defeated
Sarasota (Sarasota, Fla.) 5-1 with
Ty Moore driving in a pair of runs to lead the offense. The combination of sophomore pitchers
Charlie Vorsheck and
Brian Conley held the Sailor offense to one run.
In other games,
Parkview (Lilburn, Ga.) defeated
Russell County (Seale, Ala.) 7-5,
Highlands Ranch (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) kept
Washington (New York, N.Y.) winless in the tournament with a 3-2 win,
Orange Lutheran (Orange, Calif.) topped
Brookwood (Snellville, Ga.) 7-4,
Oxford (Oxford, Ala.) beat Lee County 4-0,
Columbus (Columbus, Ga.) edged
Gulliver Prep (Miami, Fla.) 4-1 and
Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) beat Carroll 8-4.
The highlight of the consolation bracket featured the game between No. 1 ranked Bishop Gorman and No. 2 ranked Carroll. Neither team performed as expected in the tournament (both were 1-2 over the rain-shortened event), and the Gaels got the upper hand on the Tigers behind Adam Wozniak's complete-game win which included five strikeouts.
Joey Gallo led the Bishop Gorman offense with a pair of RBI while
Kenny Meimerstorf also batted in a pair.
Orange Lutheran rebounded from its loss to Sarasota by scoring three runs in the seventh inning to edge Brookwood.
Garett King picked up the win while
Matt Stumme had a pair of RBI.
Highlands Ranch picked up its first win of the tournament on the arm of
Tony Audino, who struck out six in going the distance against Washington.
Edwin Corniel struck out 11 in a losing effort for the Trojans.
Connor McFadden led the Falcon offense with a 3-for-3 effort.
Matt Olson came up big for Parkview, which finished 2-1 in the tournament after a 7-5 win over Russell County. Olson had two hits and a pair of RBI to help pitcher
Jesse Foster get the win.
Rock Rucker had three hits with a double to lead the Russell County offense.
Columbus picked up its second win on
Avery Seckinger's two-hitter against Gulliver Prep.
Pierce Ressmeyer led the offense with two hits and a pair of RBI.
Oxford received shutout pitching from
Zach Lovvorn, who struck out six, to defeat Lee County.
