Harvard-Westlake, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame advance to Easton tournament final

Mission League rivals Harvard-Westlake and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame each dominated their baseball opponents on Tuesday in the semifinals of the Easton tournament, setting up a Thursday night showdown at Birmingham for the championship.

Harvard-Westlake (4-0) received a three-run home run from Michael Snyder, a two-run home run from Drew Bowser and eight strikeouts in five innings from Sam Hliboki in a 10-0 win over Birmingham.

Notre Dame (4-0) cruised to a 9-2 win over Simi Valley in which the big news happened in the seventh inning when Lucas Gordon, who couldn’t pitch last season because of a shoulder injury, returned with two strikeouts in a scoreless inning of relief. Chris Aldrich finished with three hits for Notre Dame

Birmingham broke down defensively in the fifth inning, allowing four unearned runs on two errors. Harvard-Westlake’s bats came alive. The Wolverines got 11 hits. Snyder finished with four RBIs. Catcher Jacob Galloway threw out two runners trying to steal. Birmingham dropped to 3-1.

“It was the first time our offense exploded,” said outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong.

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