Orange Lutheran beats Mater Dei to keep slight edge in national rankings

SANTA ANA, Calif. - Games don't get much bigger. Stakes don't get much higher.

A pair of the country's top teams aimed to settle the score on the diamond this past week as powerhouse programs Orange Lutheran (Orange, Calif.) and Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) met in a pivotal series near the end of the regular season with plenty of bragging rights at stake.

Turns out, Orange Lutheran lived up to the advanced billing following Friday's impressive 8-3 victory over the host Monarchs. Moreover, the Lancers took over sole possession of first place in the Trinity League and strengthened their reputation as a team that has a shot at a mythical national title in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National Baseball Rankings.

"Some of the best baseball in the country is being played right here, no offense to teams in Florida and Texas," said Orange Lutheran coach Eric Borba, whose Lancers (17-5, 10-1) are the nation's No. 2 team in the  most recent Xcellent 25 and No.1 in the Freeman rankings.

The Monarchs (17-5, 9-2), on the other hand, are no slouches. Far from it, in fact. They are No. 3 in the Xcellent 25 poll and No. 2 in the Freeman Rankings. Also worth mentioning is Mater Dei got the better of Orange Lutheran in a 1-0 victory Wednesday.

The Monarchs were not up to the task Friday, however.

Orange Lutheran trailed by a run in the first inning but the Lancers did not panic. They are considered one of the country's top teams for a reason and proved as much with an eight-run fourth inning outburst to essentially demoralize the Monarchs.

The rally started with three drag bunts from Tommy Bell, Jason Martin and Josh Morgan. Matt Carlson followed with a double. Travis Blue, Dalton Frize and Cody Nulph added base hits. The damage was done and Orange Lutheran had an insurmountable five-run lead.

"When we get together, you should expect to see a great game and baseball being played at the highest level," Mater Dei coach Burt Call said. "When you talk about Southern California, this is a hotbed for talented ballplayers. I think the rest of the country understands that."

Staked to a rather sizable advantage, Brent Wheatley took care of business. The Lancers' 6-foot-4 senior righthander  finished with a complete-game four-hitter.

Keep in mind, Wheatley was facing a stacked lineup from Mater Dei. The Monarchs feature multiple players who will be moving on to the next level in college after this season finishes up, most notably being UCLA-bound Ty Moore and USC commit Jeremy Martinez.

"Being the best team in the country, we have had a target on our back for a while now, every week it seems like," Wheatley said. "None of that mattered to us though. All we thought about was this series against Mater Dei. It's been circled on our calendars all season long."

Despite Friday's unfavorable result along with the 6-4 setback to Orange Lutheran back in mid-March, all is not lost for the resilient Monarchs. With four more games remaining in the regular season, they trail the Lancers by an all-important game in league play.

Worst case scenario, Mater Dei ends up in second place in the standings. Best case scenario, a rematch materializes in the upcoming CIF Southern Section playoffs.

The Monarchs, after all, did gain a measure of confidence with a win against Orange Lutheran earlier this season. Moore threw a complete game four-hitter with five strikeouts and no walks. The senior helped himself at the plate too and scored the winning run.

"There's a lot of pride when you put on the Mater Dei jersey, especially when we go up against Orange Lutheran," Moore said. "We're two of the top teams in the country for a reason. No one wants to give an inch in our games. We want to be able to beat them and prove that we're the best team in the nation. We're competitors. Everyone wants to have the bragging rights."

For the time being, Orange Lutheran owns the bragging rights, and rest assured that fact does not sit well with the Monarchs.

"With the growth of high school baseball, and high school sports in general, all the national media and global coverage we're getting these days, games like this between us and Mater Dei are huge," Borba said. "All of the hype about this showdown was non-stop.

"The two games this week, an experience like that is something our guys will never forget. When these kids look back, they will be be able to say that when they were teenagers, they played in a big-time series where the two best teams in the country went toe-to-toe."