By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor There are just two weeks left in the 2017 prep baseball regular season. Heading into crunch time, Maranatha and Poly have realistic chances at an Olympic and Prep League championship, respectively. La Salle is looking to improve its playoff seed in the Del Rey League. Currently, the Lancers are in […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor
There are just two weeks left in the 2017 prep baseball regular season.
Heading into crunch time, Maranatha and Poly have realistic chances at an Olympic and Prep League championship, respectively.
La Salle is looking to improve its playoff seed in the Del Rey League.
Currently, the Lancers are in a 5-3, and in a second-place tie with Serra, but La Salle will need to finish at least one-game ahead of the Cavaliers after losing the season series, 2-1.
Marshall is on the outside looking in at a Mission Valley League automatic bid.
The Eagles are two-games back of third-place Arroyo in the win column.
** Maranatha (17-5 overall, 6-2 in league) is one-game back of Village Christian in the Olympic League.
The Minutemen, though, beat Village Christian in their first meeting and finish off the regular season with a pair of games against the Crusaders (17-4, 7-1).
But for now, Maranatha has two games with Valley Christian this week.
They’ll travel to Cerritos on Tuesday, and then host the Crusaders on Thursday at 6 at Brookside Park.
Maranatha has gone 4-3 in their last seven games.
Eddie Lopez is arguably the area’s hottest hitter.
The senior is batting .523 with 34 hits and 26 RBIs.
Max Blessinger (.472 average), and Marco Martinez (.448) are both hitting over the .400 mark and steering the Maranatha offense.
The success, though, will rely heavily on the arms of Trevor Marrs, Alex Cornwell, Charles Acker and Dawson Netz.
** Poly had a great week for two reasons.
The Panthers dominated Prep League rival Flintiridge Prep in a pair of games last week, and swept the Rebels in the three-game season series.
And it wasn’t even close.
Poly’s margin of victory over Prep was by a combined score of 35-13.
The second reason for optimism is that the Panthers now control their own destiny.
They have two games this week with fourth-place Chadwick (4-4 in league), and then single games next week with second-place Rio Hondo Prep and last-place Firebaugh.
Matt Queen and Matt Loomis have been solid on the mound, and have a combined record of 5-1 with a coupled ERA of around 1.50.
Ty Evans has been especially hot of late.
Evans had five hits, and drove in seven runs, including a grand slam in their two wins over Prep.
** Flintridge Prep has a one-game lead for third place in the Prep League.
The Rebels have one game this week on Friday at Rio Hondo Prep and then finish off their regular-season slate with last-place Firebaugh.
Prep’s pitching has been better than game scores might indicate.
The Rebels’ defense hasn’t always protected or supported its pitchers.
** La Salle is tied for second with Serra and the Lancers have two games this week with Del Rey League leading Bishop Amat.
The Lancers are 0-1 this season against Amat, having lost a late lead back on March 28.
La Salle will host Amat on Tuesday at the Arcadia County Park, and then will travel to La Puente on Friday.
The Lancers have won 6 of their last 7 games since losing a heartbreaker to Serra on April 12.
The pitching staff has been pretty solid over the last two weeks.
It is led by Grant Fosselman (4-3, 1.81 ERA), Jeff Daley (3-0, 1.38), Zane Lindeman (5-4, 2.40), and James Barnard (2-1, 2.47).
Offensively, Ethan Patrick (.447 average, 34 hits), Sammy Martinez (.324, 22 hits) and Noah Zate (.318, 14 hits) have led the way.
** Marshall is on the outside looking in.
The Eagles (4-4 in league) are in fourth place, but have four more Mission Valley League games to play.
They’ll get Rosemead (3-6 in league) on Wednesday and then face Arroyo (6-3 in league) on Friday, which is the team just ahead of them in third place.
Matthew Arnst had led the way with a team-best .364 average and a team-low 1.18 ERA.
** Pasadena (4-6 in league) is three games back of both Burbank (7-3) and Burroughs (7-3) for third place.
But the Bulldogs have little room for error, and have just four games to play.
This week, Pasadena will play a pair of games with Burbank and finish the regular season with Muir (2-8 in league).
PHS (14-12) is over the .500 mark, so it’s not out of the question to receive an at-large playoff berth even if they finish outside of the top three in league.
Up To Date Standings:
Baseball:
Del Rey League:
Bishop Amat (16-8 overall, 8-0 in league)
Serra (13-8, 5-3)
La Salle (14-10, 5-3)
Cathedral (12-9, 2-6)
St. Paul (10-15, 0-8)
Mission League:
Notre Dame (16-7 overall, 10-2 in league)
Harvard-Westlake (18-4-2, 9-4-2)
Chaminade (17-4-1, 7-4-1)
Alemany (13-11, 7-8)
Crespi (8-12-1, 4-8)
St. Francis (7-16, 4-8)
Loyola (7-14-1, 2-9-1)
Mission Valley League:
El Monte (10-5 overall, 7-2 in league)
South El Monte (12-9, 6-2)
Arroyo (7-11, 6-3)
Marshall (5-13, 4-4)
Rosemead (7-9, 3-6)
Gabrielino (2-11, 2-6)
Mountain View (3-15, 2-7)
Olympic League:
Village Christian (17-3 overall, 7-1 in league)
Maranatha (18-5, 6-2)
Valley Christian (13-10, 3-5)
Whittier Christian (12-14, 3-7)
Heritage Christian (10-13, 3-7)
Pacific League:
Crescenta Valley (22-1 overall, 10-0 in league)
Arcadia (13-8, 9-1)
Burbank (11-8, 7-3)
Burroughs (12-10, 7-3)
Pasadena (12-10, 4-6)
Muir (8-12, 2-8)
Glendale (2-17-1, 1-9)
Hoover (3-14, 0-10)
Prep League:
Poly (12-7 overall, 6-1 in league)
Rio Hondo Prep (13-7, 6-2)
Flintridge Prep (12-5-1, 5-3)
Chadwick (9-7-1, 4-4)
Firebaugh (0-11, 0-10)
