Offense lifts Huntington Beach into semifinals at NHSI

Video: Highlights of Huntington Beach's Hagen Danner

Huntington Beach (Calif.) entered the National High School Invitational with one of the event's top pitching staffs, but so far the offense has proven to be the deciding factor in the Oilers' first two wins of the tournament in Cary, N.C.

Huntington Beach downed Trinity Christian Academy (Jacksonville, Fla.) 12-7 on 14 hits to post the highest run total of the tournament so far. With its 8-5 win in the opener, Huntington Beach has scored 20 runs in two games. Landon Silver provided the highlights in a seven-run second inning as he hit a three-run home run that gave Huntington Beach a 9-2 lead. Chad Minato and Hagen Danner also had three hits apiece with Danner driving in three runs.

Huntington Beach will play Allatoona in one semifinal game at 3:30 p.m. while Chaminade (West Hills, Calif.) will play Florence (Ala.) at 12 p.m. in the other semifinal matchup.

The championship game is set for 12:15 p.m. on Saturday.

Chaminade (West Hills, Calif.) 9, Walton (Marrieta, Ga.) 8
Blake Solis hit a two-run walkoff home run in the bottom of the seventh to give the Eagles the come-from-behind 9-8 win over Walton and advance to the semifinals.

Nick Kahle also hit a home run and a double for Chaminade while Blake Rutherford was 4-for-4 with a double and Tommy Costello was 3-for-4 with three RBIs.

Jason Rooks had a home run and three RBIs for Walton while Carter Kieboom had a double and three runs scored.

Allatoona (Acworth, Ga.) 5, North Broward Prep (Coconut Creek, Fla.) 1
Brandon Rainey was 3-for-3 with a run scored to pace the Allatoona offense that scored twice in the second and third innings to build an early lead. Kyle Jacobsen got the win, going five innings and giving up no runs on two hits with five strikeouts.

Florence (Ala.) 5, The First Academy (Orlando, Fla.) 4
Landon Langston doubled and scored on a fielder's choice in the bottom of the seventh to provide the winning run for the Falcons. Sophomore Cole Henry went five innings for Florence, striking out five. Brax Garrett was 1-for-3 with an RBI.

Topsail (Hampstead, N.C.) 5, Rocky Mountain (Fort Collins, Colo.) 2
The host Pirates got a complete-game effort from Payton Rice to hand Rocky Mountain its second loss of the tournament. Rice went seven innings and gave up two runs on six hits with four strikeouts.

Sam Hall was 2-for-4 with a double for Topsail while Aaron Beach also had a double.

Flanagan (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) 9, Poly Prep Country Day (Brooklyn, N.Y.) 3
The Falcons banged out 12 hits, including five doubles, to earn their first win of the tournament. Alex Hernandez was 3-for-3 with a double while Ricky Presno was 2-for-3 with a double. Mark Vientos added a 2-for-4 effort with an RBI.

Houston (Germantown, Tenn.) 6, Bingham (South Jordan, Utah) 3
Ayrton Schafer went 3-for-4 with three doubles to lift Houston over Bingham in the second round of the consolation bracket. For Bingham, Logan Leatherwood and Colin Gordon each had a triple.

Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) 3, Liberty Christian (Lynchburg, Va.) 2
Josh Stephen continued his hot hitting streak as he went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI in the Monarchs' win over Liberty Christian. Stephen is 7-for-8 with three doubles, a home run and six RBIs in two games.

Today's schedule finds Liberty Christian matched up against North Broward Prep at 9 a.m. while Topsail will play Bingham, also at 9 a.m. Poly Prep Country Day will take on Rocky Mountain at 9:15 a.m. while The First Academy meets Houston at 12:15 p.m. Mater Dei takes on Flanagan at 12:30 p.m. and Walton plays Trinity Christian at 3:30 p.m. Not all loser's bracket games follow the original tournament bracket.