Baseball: It’s time for the No. 2 pitchers in City Section Division I

The seedings pretty much held up in the opening round of the City Section Division I baseball playoffs, with most teams electing to use their No. 1 pitchers. Now comes a real test seeing how the No. 2 pitchers perform in quarterfinal games on Friday.

The matchups:

No. 9 Palisades at No. 1 El Camino Real. Brian Gallagher has been very good at times for El Camino Real. The Conquistadores have been starting to hit more consistently. Palisades has junior Holt Maybank available. He has thrown well in the final month of the regular season.

No. 5 Chatsworth at No. 4 Banning. It was March 25 when Justin Yanez of Banning shut out Chatsworth, 1-0. We’ll see if the Chancellors learned anything. This time Chatsworth could throw freshman Tommy Palomera, who hasn’t pitched in almost a month because of a freak injury when struck in the head by a clip that broke off from a stretching chord.

No. 6 Birmingham at No. 3 Kennedy. Junior Felix Rubi will get the call on the mound for the Golden Cougars. He throws strikes but this is his first big playoff test. The Golden Cougars’ defense has been outstanding, led by shortstop Nick Rodriguez. Birmingham’s Jonathan Russomo will be asked to come up with a strong pitching effort on the road. Birmingham’s seniors will rush off to graduation afterward.

No. 10 Granada Hills at No. 2 Narbonne. Adrian Padilla, who’s 6-0, will go for Narbonne. Ace Daniel Rocha threw five innings and is available in relief. Connor Dreyer, who has had some unlucky one-run decisions, will go for Granada Hills.

Winners advance to the semifinals on Wednesday at USC, but that date could change depending on conflicts with graduation.