Narbonne’s Matias Caps Perfect Season With Title

Sophomore Rainier Matias of Harbor City Narbonne finished the season unbeaten when he defeated top-seeded Bobby Tam of Los Angeles Belmont, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, in the singles final of the City Section boys’ tennis tournament Wednesday at Balboa Sports Complex in Encino.

The second-seeded Matias had lost to eventual champion Tam in the quarterfinals last season. Matias’ sister Dianne won the 2002 girls’ singles title as a senior at Carson.

Granada Hills seniors Jared Novak and Jeremy Choo won the doubles title with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over junior Stephen Surjue and sophomore Sepehr Safii of Palisades.

Steve Galluzzo

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Baseball

Mojave couldn’t overcome a bad start to the Southern Section Division VI final Thursday night at UC Riverside, leaving the door open for North Hollywood Campbell Hall to escape with a 2-1 victory and the program’s first section title.

Mojave, seeded third, failed to score after putting runners on second and third with none out in the bottom of the first inning, but that wasn’t the worst blow. Its starting pitcher and leading hitter, Jon Proesl, was knocked from the game because of a leg injury while trying to steal second. His likely replacement, Victor Nunez, was then ejected for crashing into catcher Aaron Hassel during a rundown.

Proesl was replaced by junior right-hander Steve Moe, who had given up 14 earned runs in 22 1/3 innings this season.

Campbell Hall (21-6) got the leadoff batter on base in four of the first six innings but didn’t take advantage until the sixth, when consecutive singles by Matthew Cherry, Andrew Lawson and Ryan Jody gave the Vikings a 1-0 lead. Ruben Munoz followed with a one-out single to drive in the second run. Moe was then replaced by Jarod Lane.

The Mustangs (18-7) cut the deficit to 2-1 in the sixth when Joe Chase tripled with one out and scored on a two-out wild pitch by winning pitcher Sam Weinberger (11-0).

Bloomington Christian sophomore right-hander Adrian Mendoza retired the final two batters with the bases loaded at UC Riverside, preserving the program’s first section title with a 3-2 victory over Fullerton Eastside Christian in Division VII.

Eastside Christian had cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh on a leadoff single by Tyler Kreider, a double by Doug Rominger and a one-out error. After Cameron Edmonson walked to load the bases, Mendoza (11-1) struck out No. 9 hitter J.P. Lampi on a 2-and-2 curveball and got David Harnden to ground out to second on the first pitch to end the game.

The top-seeded Ravens (26-1) scored twice in the third on a two-out triple by Cameron Smith, an infield single by Corey Sandoval and a run-scoring double by Jordan Newton. The third-seeded Eagles (21-6) cut the deficit to 2-1 in the fourth on a run-scoring single by David Piraino.

-- Dan Arritt