El Dorado, with a lot of Kyle Luckham, knocks off No. 1 Huntington Beach in baseball playoffs
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Unranked, underappreciated and under the radar, Placentia El Dorado High’s baseball team sure found a way to earn instant respect on Friday, knocking off No. 1-seeded Huntington Beach 4-1 in a Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinal playoff game.
Huntington Beach (27-5), considered the No. 1 team in the nation by several publications, could never solve junior pitcher Kyle Luckham, who entered with a 6-0 record and 1.39 earned-run average. For weeks, word had been spreading about Luckham’s talent and on a big stage, Luckham delivered.
He limited one of the state’s top hitting teams to six hits while striking out seven.
“He did a great job,” coach Matt Lucas said. “He controlled a pretty potent offense most of the game.”
Lucas said he was not surprised with his team’s victory. “I know a lot of people are,” he said. “One of the things that helped us was seeing [hard-throwing Dana Hills pitcher] Hans Crouse on Tuesday. It prepared our guys. They weren’t nervous or intimidated.”
Huntington Beach’s defeat brought to a stunning end the prolific four-year careers of Hagen Danner and Nick Pratto, both of whom could be first-round draft picks next month. Danner struck out seven in 5 1/3 innings and took the loss. Pratto hit a home run for his team’s only run.
Jesse Lopez homered for El Dorado and finished with three hits. El Dorado (21-8-1) will host Corona in Tuesday’s semifinals. Corona defeated Riverside North 6-2.
The other semifinal will have Santa Ana Mater Dei hosting No. 2-seeded Lake Forest El Toro. Michael Peabody went four for five, Blake Hunt hit a two-run home run and had five RBIs and Jonathan Schiffer threw a complete game in Mater Dei’s 8-4 win over Redlands East Valley.
Jake Jackson (11-1) pitched El Toro past Santa Ana Foothill 2-1.
In Division 2, top-seeded Bellflower St. John Bosco got a walk-off RBI single from Tyler Littlefield in the bottom of the seventh to defeat Glendora 3-2. Glendora had tied the score in the top of the seventh with two runs.
The Braves will be at Etiwanda, which defeated Laguna Beach 16-7. Chris Jimenez hit two home runs and finished with seven RBIs. Steven Rivas hit two home runs and finished with five RBIs for Etiwanda.
The other Division 2 semifinal will match Palm Desert at Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley. UCLA signee Jeremiah Estrada hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning and pitched Palm Desert to a 3-2 win over Huntington Beach Edison.
Ryan Daugherty threw a four-hit shutout and Dane Nakatsuka hit a home run in Capistrano Valley’s 1-0 win over Manhattan Beach Mira Costa.
Twitter: latsondheimer
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