Baseball: Maranatha, Poly Still Cruising in League Title Races; Pasadena, Muir Tied for Final Automatic Playoff Bid

From Top Clockwise: Dawson Netz, Alvie Castro, Matt Queen, Ethan Patrick, Aaron Treloar, Amaris Harrison By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor With essentially three weeks to play in the 2018 prep baseball regular season, Maranatha and Poly are cruising towards Olympic and Prep League titles, respectively. Muir and Pasadena are both 3-3 in Pacific League play […]

From Top Clockwise: Dawson Netz, Alvie Castro, Matt Queen, Ethan Patrick, Aaron Treloar, Amaris Harrison

By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor

With essentially three weeks to play in the 2018 prep baseball regular season, Maranatha and Poly are cruising towards Olympic and Prep League titles, respectively.

Muir and Pasadena are both 3-3 in Pacific League play and tied for that fourth and final automatic CIF-SS bid, which adds some drama and fun to the final few weeks.

St. Francis leapfrogged both Crespi and Loyola in the Mission League standings after last week’s series victory over the Celts in a three-game battle.

Maranatha (11-4 overall, 6-0 in league) features two dominant juniors.

One is the area’s most dominant pitcher and the other is not just playing second base, he is now on the mound and is winning games.

MHS earned the three-game season sweep over Whittier Christian with a pair of victories over the Heralds this past week and one nearly a month prior.

Dawson Netz, the Pasadena area’s premier pitcher extended his consecutive scoreless streak to 36 after a five-inning, mercy-rule victory Tuesday over Whittier Christian.

In his two wins against the Heralds this season, Netz has a regulation no-hitter and this five-inning shutout.

His stats are all area bests, including a 6-0 record, a 0.18 ERA and 56 strikeouts.

Max Blessinger was already one of two of the area’s best leadoff hitters with La Salle’s Ethan Patrick.

The MHS junior is second in the area with a .490 batting average, has an area-best 25 hits and leads with 14 stolen bases.

But Blessinger is now pitching as well, and is 2-0 on the hill with an 0.91 ERA.

Maranatha has a two-game lead over last year’s Olympic League champs (Village Christian) and they’ve already beaten the Crusaders in their first of three match ups this season.

The Minutemen have nonleague games this week with Bakersfield Christian, Bosco Tech and a doubleheader Saturday with Salesian.

Poly (14-2, 5-0) went 4-0 this past week with a pair of victories over Firebaugh in Prep League action and then a doubleheader sweep of Providence on Saturday.

The Panthers won those four games by a combined margin of 58-7.

They boast a one-half game lead over second place Rio Hondo Prep in the Prep League’s hierarchy and they have a pair of games with the Kares this week.

Matt Queen’s numbers continue to be ridiculous.

The senior has an area-best .521 average and he’s 5-1 on the mound with a 1.00 ERA.

Cameron McFarlane (.459), David Matthias (.444), Franco Alonso (.442), Jackson Hayes (.425) and Ty Evans (.371) are all hitting the ball well for first-year coach Mack Paciorek.

Alonso leads the area with 19 RBIs and 3 saves.

La Salle (10-7, 4-2) earned a two-game sweep of last-place Serra this past week.

With three weeks to go in the regular season, the Lancers are officially one-game back of first-place Bishop Amat (10-9-1, 4-0).

But they are two games back in the loss column and dropped their first of three with Amat a few weeks back.

The good news, though, is that going forward, La Salle will have two Del Rey League games each week and they have dual aces in Landon Smith and Zane Lindeman.

Lindeman is second in the area with an ERA-low of 0.33 and Smith has a 1.24 ERA.

The reason for mentioning it as “good news” is because for not only for the rest of the regular season, but also the playoffs, the Lancers will have two games per week (that are affect their playoff chances, meaning league games) and have the starting pitching to last, not to mention Jeff Daley’s success out of the pen.

Daley is 4-1 with a 1.62 ERA and 15 strikeouts.

Ethan Patrick and Brennan Mace lead the Lancers offensive attack.

Patrick is batting .489, Mace .448 and Mark Daley .333, but the Lancers offense drops off after that.

La Salle will have a pair of games with third-place St. Paul on Tuesday and Friday.

The Swordsmen (7-8, 3-3) are just one-game back of the second-place Lancers.

Pasadena (12-7, 3-3) earned a sweep over lowly Hoover this week, but opponent aside, the Bulldogs have won three consecutive Pacific League games.

PHS and Muir each go into the final three weeks with 3-3 league marks and likely one of these two Pasadena schools with earn that fourth and final automatic CIF-SS playoff bid.

Alvie Castro is 4-1 on the mound with a 0.93 ERA and 33 strikeouts, but the senior is also hitting .362, with 21 hits and he’s driven in 16 runs.

Jacob Green has been huge for PHS.

Green is hitting .438 and has 21 hits, but he’s also has a 1.33 ERA on the mound.

Adrian DePasquale (.385, 20 hits, 14 RBI), David Banuelos (.312, 15 hits), Robert Olivades (.298, 14 hits) and Aaron Corder (.277, 13 hits) have all been key.

Steve Lopez is 2-1 on the mound with a 1.24 ERA for PHS.

The Bulldogs have a pair of games with Glendale (3-12-1, 0-6) so they should be 5-3 in league by the end of the week.

Muir (7-5-1, 3-3) got their season’s biggest win in Friday’s 7-0 takedown of second-place Burroughs.

Brian Love was nails in a must-win scenario for the Mustangs.

Love has been remarkable.

He’s 3-1 and his 0.68 ERA is third lowest in the area.

Amaris Harrison has kind of been the Muir offense thus far.

The speedy sophomore leads the Mustangs with his .378 average, 14 hits and 12 RBIs.

His brother, Aryonis, a junior, is batting just .200, but he’s had one of those season’s so far where even when he hits the ball hard, it’s right at someone.

Valente Vera is hitting .278 with 12 hits, 8 RBIs and a team-best four doubles.

Emiliano Martinez is 3-0 on the mound with 1.27 ERA and it seems the Mustangs will go as far as their pitching will take them.

This week is a huge gut-check, as they have a home-and-away series with Crescenta Valley (15-4, 6-0).

The Falcons are tied with Arcadia atop the Pacific League standings and in league games, their pitching staff has surrendered just six runs in as many games.

St. Francis (7-10, 2-4) started the week with a disappointing 6-0 loss to Crespi after entering the series on a four-game win streak.

But the Golden Knights dusted themselves off and won the final two of three with the Celts, including an 8-5 victory on Wednesday and a walk-off, 6-5 triumph on Friday.

The two wins helped the Golden Knights leapfrog both Loyola and Crespi in the Mission League standings.

Aaron Treloar had a great outing on Wednesday, and went six innings, allowing just one run on one hit and striking out seven.

On Friday, Chris Stamos went the distance and St. Francis got the walk-off base hit from Brendan Durfee.

Stamos has been incredible on the mound, and is 4-1 with a 2.03 ERA and 32 strikeouts.

Mikey Kane (.377, 20 hits), Christian Muro (.370, 20 hits) and Aaron Treloar (.358, 19 hits and a team-high 12 RBIs) have led the Golden Knights offense.

St. Francis will begin a three-game series with Chaminade starting Tuesday.

Weekly Sports Schedule, April 16-21:

Monday:
Baseball: Chadwick vs Flintridge Prep at 3:30

Tuesday:
Baseball: Glendale at Pasadena at 3:30
Baseball: Muir at Crescenta Valley at 7
Baseball: St. Francis at Chaminade at 3:30
Baseball: Firebaugh vs Flintridge Prep at 3:30
Baseball: Poly at Rio Hondo Prep at 3:45
Baseball: St. Paul at La Salle at 3:15

Wednesday:
Baseball: Bakersfield Christian vs Maranatha at 6
Baseball: St. Francis at Chaminade at 3:30
Baseball: Marshall at Mountain View at 3:15

Thursday:
Baseball: Maranatha at Bosco Tech at 3:30
Baseball: Flintridge Prep at Firebaugh at 3:30

Friday:
Baseball: Pasadena at Glendale at 3:30
Baseball: Crescenta Valley at Muir at 3:30
Baseball: St. Francis at Chaminade at 3:30
Baseball: Poly at Flintridge Prep at 3:45
Baseball: St. Paul at La Salle at 3:15
Baseball: South El Monte at Marshall at 3:15

Saturday:
Baseball: Maranatha vs Salesian at 10
Baseball: Maranatha vs Salesian at 1
Baseball: Flintridge Prep vs St. Pius at 10
Baseball: Flintridge Prep vs St. Pius at 1
Baseball: La Salle at Alhambra at 3

Baseball Standings Through April 13:

Del Rey League:
Bishop Amat (10-9-1 overall, 4-0 in league)
La Salle (10-7, 4-2)
St. Paul (7-8, 3-3)
Cathedral (8-8, 2-3)
Serra (6-10-1, 0-5)

Mission League:
Notre Dame (15-2 overall, 6-0 in league)
Harvard-Westlake (15-2, 6-0)
Chaminade (13-6, 5-4)
Alemany (9-9, 4-5)
St. Francis (7-10, 2-4)
Loyola (10-10, 3-6)
Crespi (5-14, 1-8)

Mission Valley League:
El Monte (6-7 overall, 4-1 in league)
Arroyo (6-6, 3-1)
South El Monte (7-12, 3-2)
Marshall (4-9, 2-2)
Mountain View (4-9, 2-3)
Gabrielino (3-11, 1-3)
Rosemead (1-11, 1-4)

Olympic League:
Maranatha (11-4 overall, 6-0 in league)
Village Christian (13-4, 4-2)
Heritage Christian (11-6, 2-3)
Whittier Christian (9-14-1, 1-5)
Valley Christian (8-7, 0-3)

Pacific League:
Arcadia (16-0 overall, 6-0 in league)
Crescenta Valley (15-4, 6-0)
Burroughs (10-9, 4-2)
Pasadena (12-7, 3-3)
Muir (7-5-1, 3-3)
Burbank (4-9, 2-4)
Glendale (3-12-1, 0-6)
Hoover (1-16, 0-6)

Prep League:
Poly (14-2 overall, 5-0 in league)
Rio Hondo Prep (8-3, 4-1)
Chadwick (6-5, 1-2)
Flintridge Prep (6-4, 0-2)
Firebaugh (1-10, 0-4)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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