Southern Section baseball championships have story lines galore
The high school baseball season ends this weekend with Southern Section championship games Friday at UC Riverside and Saturday at the Diamond at Lake Elsinore. Here’s why there should be lots of excitement:
• Cory Hahn of Santa Ana Mater Dei has become the Kobe Bryant of Southern California baseball. Mater Dei fans should be chanting “MVP, MVP, MVP” when he steps to the plate.
He’s 13-1 on the mound with an earned-run average of 0.94, has hit nine home runs, and the major league team that drafts him next week will deserve great respect because it means they recognize he can play with the best despite being only 5 feet 10.
• Get your radar guns polished and put aside at least three bags of peanuts for the pitching showdown of the playoffs: Adam Plutko versus Taijuan Walker in the 4:30 p.m. Division 2 final on Saturday.
Glendora’s Plutko, a UCLA signee, missed a month because of a muscle pull in his back. He returned to throw a no-hitter. Yucaipa’s Walker threw a shutout in his last start and his fastball has touched 96 mph.
“It’s a couple high-profile guys on the big stage,” Glendora Coach Dan Henley said. “I don’t think you can script it any better.”
• The Mier and Gelalich families at La Verne Bonita continue to produce top players. Robert Mier, a junior infielder and the cousin of 2009 first-round draft pick Jiovanni Mier, is batting .438.
Matt Gelalich, a junior outfielder and the brother of UCLA outfielder Jeff Gelalich, is batting .514. They’re playing for the Division 3 title on Saturday against Huntington Beach Ocean View.
• Who is Trent Gilbert and why can’t anyone get him out? The Torrance junior second baseman has set school records for most doubles (17) in a season and most hits (58) while batting above .500.
• A Jewish school is trying to make Sandy Koufax proud. Los Angeles Milken, which opened in 1991, plays for its first Southern Section championship in any sport Friday at 1:30 p.m. against Camarillo Cornerstone Christian.
It’s the battle of the identical twins. Milken has pitchers Ben and Nathaniel Ludewig. Cornerstone Christian has pitchers Aaron and Nathan Roth.
• Get ready for a Steve Garvey sighting. The former Dodgers great is the proud father of Ryan Garvey, a junior outfielder at Palm Desert who has 45 runs batted in and plays in the Division 4 final against Torrance.
• Dana Point Dana Hills is the “ Hoosiers” of 2010. No one thinks they can beat Mater Dei in the Division 1 final, but the Dolphins have pulled off upset playoff victories against Hueneme, Huntington Beach Edison, Murrieta Valley, Moorpark and Placentia El Dorado.
And Coach Tom Faris might be saving the biggest surprise for last.
• Ty Moore is a blossoming big-time player at Mater Dei. The sophomore outfielder-pitcher was a junior varsity player last season brought up to sit on the bench in the playoffs.
“I carried buckets,” he said. “I was the team encourager in the dugout.”
Now he leads the team in hitting with a .416 average. And college scouts are about to swarm him with offers.
• Lake Elsinore is not just for water skiing. The minor league ballpark, built in 1994 for $22 million, seats 6,066 and should be a surprisingly good replacement for Dodger Stadium or Angel Stadium.
Now, if only there were no traffic on the freeways this weekend....
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