L.A. High, Out to Avenge Loss, Faces Defending 3-A Champion Venice Today

Last year, in the semifinals of the City 3-A baseball playoffs, everything came apart for Los Angeles High School. The Romans took on eventual champion Venice and came out on the short end of a 10-5 drubbing.

“We had a tough day,” L.A. High Coach Terry Williams said. “They beat us bad. They were a good baseball team. I’m not sure revenge is a factor, but we’re definitely looking forward to Friday.”

Friday has arrived, and Los Angeles (13-4) will gets its chance to unseat the defending champions (22-6) in a semifinal at West Los Angeles College, but the task won’t be easy. Venice has talented first baseman Colin Franker, who has already hit two home runs in the playoffs, and plans to start Dwayne Lortie, the winning pitcher in last year’s championship game.

In the other 3-A game, Palisades (18-5) will play Westchester (12-5) at Harbor College. In the 4-A games, Chatsworth (19-2) will play Granada Hills Kennedy (21-6) at Cal State Northridge, and Banning (15-10) will play Granada Hills (13-4) at Birmingham High.

All games are scheduled to start at 3 p.m.