Cleveland Upends Romero, Roosevelt

No one on Reseda Cleveland’s baseball team, seeded No. 15 for the City Championship playoffs, seemed surprised Friday by its 3-1 victory over No. 2-seeded Roosevelt (24-5) in a first-round game at East Los Angeles College.

“We think we can beat anybody,” said Cleveland pitcher Byron Grubman, who threw a five-hitter to improve to 7-3.

Cleveland (18-11), the fourth-place finisher in the West Valley League, handed Roosevelt left-hander Ricky Romero his first defeat. Romero (12-1) came into the game with 152 strikeouts in 73 innings.

The Cavaliers were aggressive from the outset, taking advantage of four wild pitches, four walks, two hit batters and three stolen bases. Romero struck out 10 and gave up four hits.

Billy Spottiswood had an RBI single in the third inning for Cleveland. Grubman’s RBI single in the sixth and a sacrifice fly by Matt Jordan made it 3-0.

It is the second year in a row that the 15th-seeded team has won its opener. Roosevelt did it last year, making it to the final at Dodger Stadium.

Eric Sondheimer

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In the Southern Section quarterfinals:

Camarillo 2, Palos Verdes Peninsula 1--The top-seeded Scorpions couldn’t collect the clutch hit they needed to overcome a masterful pitching performance by Peninsula’s Andy Beal, so they capitalized on a hit batter instead.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth inning, Beal plunked Brad Boyer with a changeup that brought Brett Scyphers home with the winning run.

Delmon Young (4-1) pitched 11/3 scoreless innings of relief to seal the victory for Camarillo (28-4), which advances to play Long Beach Poly (22-8) in a semifinal Tuesday at Cal State Fullerton.

Beal (8-2) allowed six hits and two unearned runs over six innings, striking out five and walking three. The sophomore shut down Young, who went hitless in three at-bats. Peninsula (20-9) scored in the fourth inning when Jordin Gill reached base after being hit by a pitch and later scored on Kyle Degener’s RBI groundout.

But the USC-bound Degener made a costly error in the bottom half of the inning when he fielded Travis Sutton’s ground ball at third base and didn’t make a throw to first, thinking the ball was in foul territory. The ball was ruled fair, allowing Doug McGee to tie the score at 1-1.

Ben Bolch

Lakewood 2, Anaheim Esperanza 0--The Lancers scored two unearned runs in the fifth inning and junior right-hander Jason Wanamaker tossed a three-hitter in a Division I game at Lakewood High.

Esperanza left-hander Greg Miller, who has signed with California, held second-seeded Lakewood (27-5) hitless until Patrick Luyben’s one-out double in the fifth. Allen Woods followed with an infield single.

Miller (9-4) struck out Aljay Davis for the second out. With Daniel Steward at the plate, Miller’s pickoff throw caught Woods off first. First baseman Rick Taloa took two steps toward Woods, then threw home after Luyben broke for the plate. Taloa’s throw was in the dirt, allowing Luyben to score and Woods to reach third.

Woods scored when shortstop Ryan Vanderstraeten couldn’t get Steward’s grounder out of his glove.

Lakewood, which will play Righetti on Tuesday, is making its first baseball semifinal appearance since 1994. Esperanza finishes at 19-10.

Steven Herbert