Mater Dei baseball escapes with win over La Mirada in 11 innings in Boras Classic South – Orange County Register

SANTA ANA — In a baseball game where errors were more common than hits, Mater Dei cruised to a 3-2 victory over La Mirada in 11 innings Wednesday night in the Boras Classic South with help from backup catcher Tre Arita .

With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the 11th, Arita hit a ground ball to second base that was swung by the La Mirada fielder and allowed the winning run to score.

The ending was somewhat symbolic of a game where the teams combined for nine errors, even though the contest began as a tough battle between two of the best teams in CIF-SS Division 1.

Mater Dei (10-6) advances to the tournament semifinals to face Huntington Beach on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Mater Dei High. Corona (14-1) will face Etiwanda (7-10) in the other semifinal Thursday at 6 p.m. at JSerra.

La Mirada (13-4) will face Maranatha on Thursday at 3 p.m. at JSerra.

Mater Dei stranded the bases loaded three times before the 11th inning. Arita, who was replacing an injury, had two of the Monarchs’ three points.

“I’m always ready to come off the bench,” Arita said. “Coach told me to always be ready, so when it was my time to go in, I was already ready.”

“He put the cannon on the ball and good things happened,” Mater Dei coach Richard Mercado said. “That’s something we weren’t able to do earlier in the game. Playing as bad as we did on the offensive end and getting a win is really important for us.

Wednesday’s game began with a pitching duel between the two starters – sophomore Jacob Oropeza of La Mirada and Wylan Moss of Mater Dei.

Moss, a UCLA signee, pitched seven innings, allowed four hits with one run and four strikeouts. He allowed a sixth-inning solo home run to La Mirada’s Aiden Aguayo, who is also committed to UCLA.

“He was making his fastball and slider work,” Mercado said. “It’s a really good baseball club there and he must have really worked hard. His effort gave us a chance later in the match.

Oropeza pitched six shutout innings, allowed five hits, one run and had six strikeouts.

He allowed a game-tying home run to Washington commit Brandon Thomas in the seventh inning before leaving the game.

It was a contrast of styles between the two pitchers, with Moss pounding the strike zone with fastballs that reached speeds of 80 mph. Oropeza threw just one pitch that exceeded 80 miles per hour on Wednesday, but was effective painting the corners with breaking throws.

Relief pitching was also very good for both teams. Mater Dei’s Ryan Iveson pitched four innings and allowed one run on four hits with eight strikeouts.

La Mirada’s Kaden Corns pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowed three hits with one earned run and struck out seven.

La Mirada took the lead in the 10th inning thanks to three defensive errors by Mater Dei. Leadoff hitter Tyler Primanto reached base via a throwing error and advanced to third when catcher Mater Dei tried to catch Primanto stealing, but no one was covering second base and the ball sailed into the field central.

Travis Friend grounded sharply to third base, but Mater Dei’s third baseman bounced the ball, allowing Primanto to score.

Mater Dei evened the score in the 10th inning when Arita hit a groundout with the bases loaded to drive in Antonio Ganem.

Corns escaped the inning with a fielder’s choice at home plate and a strikeout.

Mater Dei’s Braden Ruiz singled in the 11th inning and advanced to third after walks to Ganem and Ezekiel Lara. Arita’s game-winning grounder came with two outs and Ruiz scored on the play.

“We had a four-game losing streak before this (tournament),” Arita said. “So it’s a huge boost for us to play Huntington tomorrow.” They’re a good team and it should be a good battle.

Mater Dei beat Crespi 4-0 in the first round of the Boras Classic on Tuesday and La Mirada beat Rancho Bernardo by the same score in the first round.