High school baseball: El Camino Real takes over first place in West Valley League

El Camino Real took over first place in the West Valley League on Wednesday with a 9-2 victory over Taft.

Cole Kitchen hit a two-run home run and also struck out nine in leading the Conquistadores to their fourth league win in five games. Andy Ambriz went three for three with a two-run double.

A three-way tie for first place went away after Granada Hills upset Cleveland 6-4 in eight innings and Birmingham knocked off Chatsworth 8-2.

Granada Hills scored a run in the seventh and two more in the eighth to drop Cleveland to 3-2. Isaiah Velazco went four for five and Alex Becerra added three hits. Brandon Garfinkel threw two shutout innings of relief to pick up the victory with three strikeouts.

Birmingham improved to 3-2 with its win over Chatsworth and is in position to greatly influence the final league standings, because the Patriots close their season in two weeks with a two-game series against El Camino Real. Johnny Tincher had three hits and three RBIs and Gavino Rosales threw four scoreless innings of relief. Austin Carrillo had three hits for Chatsworth.

Poly 13, Arleta 0: Juan Rodriguez struck out six in four innings. Elias Galaviz had a double, home run and three RBIs.

Etiwanda 4, Chino Hills 2: Matt Bardowell threw a complete game and also hit a home run for Etiwanda. Marty Grisso had three hits.

Ayala 5, Claremont 1: Joe Naranjo and John Pappas each hit home runs. Naranjo struck out seven.

King 13, Corona Santiago 3: Nick Pena had three hits and two RBIs for King.

Servite 3, St. John Bosco 2: Knolton Clark threw five shutout innings for the Friars. Mike Santos had two RBIs and Sean Lugo added two hits.

JSerra 1, Santa Margarita 0: Ryan Farmer threw the shutout to help JSerra clinch a Division 1 playoff berth. The Lions will play Santa Margarita in a final game to decide second place in the Trinity League. Cody Schrier stole home in the first inning for the game’s only score.

Orange Lutheran 6, Mater Dei 0: Five pitchers combined on the shutout. Carl Lawson and Garrett Frechette each had two hits and two RBIs.

Millikan 5, Alemany 1: Christian Yogi finished with three hits for Millikan.

Bonita 6, Glendora 5: The Palomares League champs won on a walk-off.

Vista Murrieta 5, Murrieta Valley 0: Nick Sims struck out eight in five innings and Mikey Romero contributed two hits.

Great Oak 7, Chaparral 1: Cam Mabee struck out seven and allowed three hits in 6 1/3 innings.

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