Prep sports roundup: No. 2 St. John Bosco holds off No. 1 Orange Lutheran in baseball showdown

It was No. 1 Orange Lutheran taking on No. 2 St. John Bosco in the first game of a three-game baseball series on Tuesday. The Lancers were coming off winning the National High School Invitational. There’s a history of teams returning from North Carolina as No. 1 in America and suddenly losing.

That happened to the Lancers. St. John Bosco took advantage of four walks in the first inning to score three runs and received a key three-run double from James Clark in the sixth inning for a 7-4 victory at Hart Park.

The score was tied 4-4 until Clark’s bases-clearing double with two outs in the sixth. Brayden Krakowski gave the Braves three innings of scoreless relief, giving closer Jack Champlin time off from the mound and making him available for the final two games, if needed. The teams play again Wednesday night at Hart Park, and it’s quite a pitching matchup: Gary Morse vs. Julian Garcia.

Harvard-Westlake 8, Loyola 0: Junior Justin Kirchner, a Yale commit, struck out 13 and threw a no-hitter in the Mission League win. Ira Rootman had a three-run home run and five RBIs.

JSerra 2, Servite 1: An RBI double by Ayden Coleman and RBI single from freshman Joey Koenig lifted the Lions to the Trinity League win.

Mater Dei 5, Santa Margarita 2: Tristan Ramos hit a two-run triple in the top of the ninth inning to break a 2-2 tie and key Mater Dei’s Trinity League win. Santa Margarita had tied it in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single from Chase Marlow.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 2, Temecula Valley 1: With the bases loaded, two outs and a 3-and-2 count in the bottom of the seventh inning, JuJu Diaz-Jones got a swinging strikeout on a curveball to secure Notre Dame’s spot in Wednesday’s National Classic semifinals. AJ LaSota threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings. Troy Trejo had two hits and Malakye Matsumoto had an RBI double. Notre Dame is 14-1 and will face De La Salle at 1 p.m. at El Dorado on Wednesday.

Corona Centennial 4, Arcadia 3: The Huskies won it in the bottom of the seventh to advance to the National Classic semifinals. Arcadia scored twice in the top of the seventh to tie the game on consecutive bases-loaded walks. But the Apaches were hurt by an attempted steal of home that failed.

Cypress 2, Las Vegas Basic Academy 0: Drew Slevcove threw the shutout with six strikeouts to send Cypress into the National Classic semifinals against Corona Centennial.

Villa Park 2, Bishop Amat 1: Jack McGuire threw a complete game with nine strikeouts.

Cleveland 9, Venice 4: Sebastian Castaneda finished with four RBIs for the surging Cavaliers, who have won seven consecutive games.

El Camino Real 3, St. Augustine 0: Jackson Selzz threw a complete game with four strikeouts.

Birmingham 6, Eastlake 1: Larkin Fleming, who became eligible on Friday after sitting out following his transfer from Notre Dame, hit a grand slam to lead the Patriots. Adrian Keagy allowed one hit in six innings.

Bell 8, Miami Gulliver Prep 7: Jayden Rojas hit a bases-loaded walk-off triple in the seventh to make the Eagles 14-1 this season.

Corona 11, Miami Christian 4: Trey Ebel and Aaron Springston each had three RBIs and Joseph Flores homered for the Panthers.

El Dorado 6, Aquinas 1: Brady Abner went three for three to lead the Hawks.

Sylmar 5, Morse 4: Matthew Torres struck out nine and Rickee Luevano had a home run and triple for the Spartans.

Calabasas 2, Crespi 1: Jayden Singer threw four scoreless innings for Calabasas.

Newport Harbor 8, Los Alamitos 0: Gavin Guy struck out nine in six innings. Keoni Wun had three hits.

Viewpoint 12, Delano Kennedy 1: Shane Anderson went three for three and Michael Shaw threw a complete game.

Softball

Orange Lutheran 4, JSerra 3: Annabel Raftery had a solo home run and Angel Jimenez contributed a two-run single in the Lancers’ Trinity League win.

Track and field

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 71, Loyola 51: The Loyola vs. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame dual meet always produces good times. In the 100 meters, the first four finishers were football players, led by Loyola’s Zion Phelps, who ran 10.56 seconds to edge Emmanuel Pullins, who ran 10.59.

In the 110 high hurdles, Beckham Borquez of Notre Dame set a school record with a time of 13.91, second-best in the state this season. Ejam Yohannes of Loyola won the 400 in 49.65 and the 200 in 21.41. Notre Dame won the 4x100 relay in 40.80. Loyola took the 4x400 relay in 3:22.59.

Both schools will have plenty of athletes competing in the Arcadia Invitational on April 11.