Baseball: The freshman of the year

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The awards for 2010 haven’t been finalized, but there’s no doubt shortstop-pitcher Chris Rivera of Placentia El Dorado is the freshman of the year.

He has made a huge impact for El Dorado, which plays Dana Point Dana Hills in Tuesday’s 4 p.m. Southern Section Division 1 semifinal at Blair Field in Long Beach. The other semifinal matches Santa Ana Mater Dei and Simi Valley Royal at 7 p.m.

Both games should be quite competitive. Home runs are hard to hit at Blair Field, which means the pitchers are in charge. And that means the coaches will be trying to do everything to get a run across. Lots of bunts, lots of hit-and-runs, lots of aggressiveness.

Dana Hills will have its ace, Peter Tago. The key for El Dorado is try to get a man on base and then manufacture a run. El Dorado seems to have so many quality pitchers it doesn’t matter who is on the mound. Rivera is the closer, and if he’s pitching at the end, El Dorado will be headed to Lake Elsinore for the final.

Royal will have its No. 2 pitcher, Tyler Abbott, who has signed with UC Irvine. He’ll have to face Cory Hahn, who is 12-1 and has lots of motivation considering that Mater Dei has lost in the semifinals the last three years. The Monarchs have been hitting the ball well in the playoffs.

In Division 2, Glendora hosts Manhattan Beach Mira Costa and Yucaipa hosts Lake Forest El Toro. Mira Costa has been the big surprise. The school of volleyball players and surfers keeps winning.

I know the professional scouts are probably rooting for a Glendora-Yucaipa final because that would produce the best pitching matchup of the finals: Adam Plutko vs. Taijuan Walker. But the big question is can Glendora and Yucaipa win semifinal games without their No. 1 pitchers?

-- Eric Sondheimer