Baseball: Cody Buckel comes through for No. 2 Royal
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
No. 2-seeded Simi Valley Royal turned to ace pitcher Cody Buckel in its Southern Section Division 1 playoff opener against Corona, and Buckel delivered. He threw a six-hitter, striking out nine, as the Highlanders defeated Corona, 1-0. Buckel drove in the only run with a double.
Top-seeded Orange Lutheran pulled out a 5-4 win over Vista Murrieta on Chase Harrison’s RBI single in the bottom of the seventh. Santa Ana Mater Dei defeated Newbury Park, 5-1, behind Cory Hahn, who threw a six-hitter.
Moorpark defeated Bellflower St. John Bosco, 6-2. No. 3 Lakewood defeated Thousand Oaks, 5-2. Oxnard got a walk-off two-run home run from Austin Davidson in the bottom of the eighth to defeat Long Beach Millikan, 2-0. Sophomore left-hander Jason Balades struck out 11 and allowed two hits.
In the biggest upset of the day, Dana Point Dana Hills defeated No. 4 Huntington Beach Edison, 2-1, in eight innings. Trevor Scott’s RBI double in the eighth made a loser out of Henry Owens, who struck out 11 and allowed three hits. Junior Eric Hsieh matched Owens for eight innings to get the win. Stunner. Now Dana Hills has Peter Tago ready to go on Tuesday.
Placentia El Dorado beat Foothill League champion Valencia, 4-1. Anaheim Esperanza knocked off Valencia West Ranch, 5-4. Jared Ortiz, Nico Rusconi and Allen Sarkissian each had two hits for West Ranch.
Corona Santiago defeated Aliso Niguel, 8-6. Cody Hough went four for four. Brandon Baxter had three hits. Alex Cox got the win and the save. He was pulled leading, 8-1, then had to come back in to close the game.
San Juan Capistrano JSerra got a three-run triple from Clay Williamson in the sixth inning to defeat Temecula Great Oak, 5-2. San Clemente defeated Anaheim Canyon, 2-1. Murrieta Valley defeated Long Beach Wilson, 16-7.
Other Division 1 scores: El Modena 6, Corona Centennial 3; Riverside Poly 5, Mission Viejo 4; Camarillo 10, Newport Harbor 6.
In Division 5, North Hollywood Campbell Hall defeated South El Monte, 12-5. Van Nuys Montclair Prep defeated Phelan Serrano, 9-0. Max Fried, Nick Suniga and Ben McKendall combined on a one-hitter. Max Miller had three hits, including a two-run home run. Los Angeles Cathedral defeated Whittier Christian, 2-0. Sergio Luna (11-2) struck out 13.
-- Eric Sondheimer