Baseball: Get ready for a classic

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

The crowd is trickling in for tonight’s 7 p.m. Crespi-Sherman Oaks Notre Dame Mission League showdown at Birmingham, and I expect a memorable pitching duel, with 8-0 Tyler Johnson of Crespi taking on 8-0 Nik Rodarte of Notre Dame on the mound.

Notre Dame’s challenge is making sure the Celts don’t have a lead after five innings, because Crespi simply doesn’t lose when it can bring in its two relief pitchers who throw 90 mph, Ryan Hawthorne and Sean Gilmartin.

Notre Dame is ranked No. 1 by The Times, with Crespi No. 3. It’s a little chilly but the plume of hot dogs on the grill is in the air, and I can’t believe there will be a better game in the San Fernando Valley this season than this one.

-- Eric Sondheimer