Baseball: JSerra winter tournament offers early glimpse of top teams

With predictions of consistent rain coming, this weekend’s JSerra winter baseball tournament will be an opportunity to watch lots of top players and teams before weather considerations get into the way.

Games are being played across Southern California Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. There are more than 50 schools participating.

JSerra, which returns USC-bound Brady Shockey and UCLA-bound Chase Strumpf, will host Loyola on Friday, De La Salle on Saturday, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and West Ranch on Sunday and Etiwanda and Warren on Monday.

Harvard-Westlake, another likely top team, plays Aliso Niguel on Saturday at JSerra, at Mission Viejo, at St. John Bosco and at Los Alamitos.

City Section teams El Camino Real, Chatsworth and Birmingham are entered. El Camino Real is at St. John Bosco on Saturday, at Los Alamitos, faces Servite at JSerra and is at St. Paul. Chatsworth is at Vila Park, at Anaheim Canyon, at Mission Viejo and at St. John Bosco.

Teams get to test their pitching depth against quality competition. The spring season figures to be quite unpredictable if there are weather disruptions, because teams won’t be able to rely on one dominant pitcher. And several leagues have switched to playing three league games a week, requiring three starting pitchers. The regular season starts March 1.

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