Nathan Aceves leads Huntington Beach to win in opening game of Boras Classic

It’s 7:25 a.m. on Tuesday morning. It’s spring break in Orange County. Most of Nathan Aceves’ Huntington Beach High classmates are probably sleeping, surfing or vacationing. But he’s doing what he loves best — preparing to pitch. He’s going through his long, precise stretching exercises at Mater Dei High before the team’s opener in the Boras Classic while waiting for teammates to show up for the 9 a.m. game.

Aceves, a senior committed to UC Santa Barbara, came through with a top performance, giving up one hit in six innings in Huntington Beach’s 6-0 win over Ganesha. He beat another UC Santa Barbara commit, Gavin Moran, who struck out nine in 4 2/3 innings.

Trent Grindlinger contributed three RBIs, Tony Martinez had a two-run ground-rule triple and Linkin Garcia had a double and single. Huntington Beach (12-4) moves on to play Maranatha in Wednesday’s 3 p.m. quarterfinals at Mater Dei.

Aquinas 5, South Hills 4: Carter Hadnot had three hits and Chase Davidson’s bunt single in the eighth drove in the tiebreaking run. Paul Vasquez hit a two-run home run for South Hills, which had a chance to tie in the eighth but a terrific catch by Gavin Egan ended the game.

Corona 2, La Costa Canyon 1: Freshman Mason Sims threw a complete game for the top-ranked Panthers in their Boras Classic opener, leaving coach Andy Wise to have available his top three pitchers, Ethan Schiefelbein, Seth Hernandez and Sam Burgess, for the next three games. Corona will play Aquinas at JSerra on Wednesday at 3 p.m.

Maranatha 5, San Dimas 4: Gabe Barragan hit a solo home run in the top of the eighth inning to break a 4-4 tie, and Maranatha got a game-ending double play in the bottom of the eighth to pull out the Boras Classic win. Eric Zdunek hit a two-run home run and Zach Strickland struck out nine in 5 1/3 innings.

La Mirada 4, Rancho Bernardo 0: Walker Calvo threw a four-hit shutout, advancing the Matadores to a 6 p.m. Boras Classic game on Wednesday at Mater Dei.

Etiwanda 1, Carlsbad 0: Al Moreno threw a shutout, giving up two hits, to lift the Eagles into the Boras Classic quarterfinals against Oaks Christian on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at JSerra.

Oaks Christian 6, JSerra 0: Sophomore Jack Laubacher struck out 10 and allowed four hits and no runs in six innings for Oaks Christian. Carson Sheffer finished with three hits.

Mater Dei 4, Crespi 0: Landon Gordon struck out seven in six scoreless innings and Lawson Olmstead hit a three-run home run to lead Mater Dei.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 6, Arcadia 1: Nate Kugler struck out eight in six innings and Kai Gonzaga contributed three hits in the Knights’ National Classic victory.

El Dorado 11, Columbia River (Wash.) 2: Jake Vanderzee hit a grand slam and Jack Fishel struck out nine in five innings to lead El Dorado.

Servite 4, Mira Costa 0: Toby Kwon gave up one hit in six innings for Servite. Miles Scott and Hayden Woodson each had two hits.

Gahr 7, Covina 3: Matt Sandoval and AJ Gonzalez each had two RBIs for Gahr.

Bishop Amat 9, Desert Oasis 1: Isaiah Hernandez contributed three hits and Aaron Sandlin struck out seven in five innings for Bishop Amat, which plays Servite on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Irvine Valley College in the next round of the National Classic.

West Ranch 4, Cypress 3: Reliever Ricky Sturm came on in the bottom of the seventh to get the final two outs with Cypress having the potential tying and winning runs on base to save West Ranch’s victory. Nolan Stoll had two hits for West Ranch.

High School Sports

The Times’ top 25 high school baseball rankings

A look at the top 25 high school baseball teams in the Southland.

March 5, 2023

Santa Margarita 12, Damien 4: Delmar Perez had a two-run home run and Gavin Spiridonoff contributed a two-run double in the Eagles’ National Classic victory. Cade Townsend struck out seven in four innings.

Granada Hills 10, Coronado 4: Alex Schmidt hit a grand slam and solo home run to lead the Highlanders, who put together a seven-run sixth inning. Justin Barnett finished with two hits and three RBIs.

St. John Bosco 8, Dana Hills 3: Macade Maxwell finished with three hits and two RBIs to lead the Braves.

Calabasas 4, Rio Mesa 3: Nate Castellon, Mason Shulman and Simon Hoffman each had two hits for Calabasas.

Villa Park 3, Harvard-Westlake 2: Justin Tims threw a complete game with four strikeouts and no walks to knock off No. 2-ranked Harvard-Westlake in a nonleague game.

Chaminade 17, Kennedy 6: Carter Bennett had three hits for the Eagles.

Corona Centennial 1, Marina 0: Jaden McNeely and Joseph Malki combined on the shutout for Centennial. Charles Rogers had an RBI double.