BLAZER BASH: Centennial pounds Liberty to claim bracket title

Centennial’s baseball team entered the Blazer Spring Bash on an offensive tear.

And, no surprise, it was the Bulldogs’ bats that carried them to the tournament’s Centennial Championship.

Host Centennial used a seven-run third inning to overcome an early deficit and defeated Liberty 14-4 in six innings Wednesday.

“We’re a young, inexperienced team, but we’ve had some kids step up and do some good things for us,” Centennial coach Charles Cerrone said. “And the tournament coming early this year I think helped us. We got some guys some at-bats; we got some guys on the mound. It’s just good for our guys to get these games.”

Centennial (10-4) averaged nearly 13 runs in winning its five tournament games and has posted at least seven runs in nine of its past 10 outings. Against Liberty, the Bulldogs scored in every inning, and all nine players in the starting lineup had at least one hit.

Austin Kryszcuk, Centennial’s leadoff hitter, reached base in all five of his plate appearances, going 3-for-3 with two walks and four runs scored.

Jake Rogers and Brett Berger each went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs, and Garrett Holden also had two hits for the Bulldogs, who took advantage of 11 walks and three hit batters.

“I was happy in both games (Wednesday) because we fell behind in both games and we were resilient,” Cerrone said. “We were able to battle back a little bit and do some good things.”

Liberty (9-4) scored four runs in the top of the first inning, as the first six batters reached base against Rogers. Justin Lutes, Omar Ortiz and Michael Wong each had run-scoring singles before Rogers shut down the Patriots the rest of the way.

Rogers allowed two hits in the final five innings and retired 10 straight batters to finish the game.

“Jake Rogers, like a lot of pitchers, he takes a little time to settle in sometimes,” Cerrone said. “He was getting his ball up, and he got hit hard in the first inning. I think what helped us is we were able to get a couple runs back in the bottom of the first inning.”

Rogers and Berger hit back-to-back RBI doubles in the third, and Kyle Horton had a two-run double as the Bulldogs sent 13 batters to the plate in the inning.

Berger added a run-scoring single in the sixth before Hayden Grant’s RBI single ended the game because of the 10-run rule.

“We kind of just felt ‘Let’s keep chipping away, keep chipping away,’ ” Cerrone said. “And we were very fortunate to have that big third inning. Jake really settled down, got some confidence. And we played good defense after the first inning.”

Basic 5, Chatsworth (Calif.) 2 — At Durango, the Wolves had five doubles in a four-run third inning as they knocked off the Chancellors for the Steven Janvrin Championship.

Nick Thompson started the rally with a one-out double, and Marcus Giles drove in two with his double as the Wolves took the early lead.

“It’s contagious,” Basic coach Scott Baker said. “The emotions and everything. We just got it going and it got to the next guy. And the next guy wanted to do it. And the next guy wanted to do it. That’s sports, especially at this level. It’s so contagious.”

Chatsworth broke through with two runs in the fifth, but Basic added an insurance run in the top of the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Roger Riley.

Montana Gomez allowed two runs on eight hits in six innings to get the win. Trever Berg threw a scoreless seventh to get the save.

“It was a fastball attack,” Baker said. “I think he threw 85 pitches, and 70 were fastballs. We didn’t really have to go in at all. We just kept going away and I think his juices were flowing a little bit. He was throwing a little harder than normal, which is good.”

Jack Wold was 3-for-4 with two doubles and a run, and Riley went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs to lead Basic’s offense. But Baker said the offense wasn’t the key to the win.

“Pitching and defense was stellar,” Baker said. “Gomez, who has only pitched four or five innings so far for us this year, came out and did an incredible job. Gutsy effort. He threw strikes and let the defense play.”

The win avenged a 6-1 loss to the Chancellors on Monday as the Wolves improved to 14-1.

“We would like to match up with them,” Baker said. “They beat us in pool play. (They’re) such a quality program. The tradition. It was just a huge win for us.”

Centennial 19, Foothill 5 — At Centennial, Frank Sessa went 4-for-5 with a double and two RBIs, and the Bulldogs used a 14-run fourth inning to blitz the Falcons in a five-inning semifinal.

Kyle Horton was 3-for-4 with a double and four RBIs, and Brett Berger had a triple and four RBIs for Centennial, which sent 19 batters to the plate in the fourth and drew 12 walks in the game.

Trentin Price was 2-for-3 with two doubles and two runs, and Anthony Pannullo was 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs for Foothill.

Liberty 16, Shadow Ridge 10 — At Centennial, Jacob Rogers was 4-for-5 with a double, a triple and four RBIs to lead the Patriots over the Mustangs in a semifinal.

Justin Lutes went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs for Liberty, which scored seven runs in the bottom of the sixth. Dylan Miller’s sharp single to right-center field gave Liberty the lead for good.

Omar Ortiz was 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI, and August Reich went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs for the Patriots.

Quinn Ayers was 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI, and Isaiah Blaylock was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI for Shadow Ridge. Kyle Gaura went 2-for-4 with a triple, a double and four RBIs for the Mustangs.

Basic 10, Palo Verde 1 — At Durango, David Hudleson was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI to help the Wolves defeat the Panthers in a semifinal.

Ryne Nelson went 2-for-4, and Roger Riley was 1-for-2 with a double and an RBI for Basic.

C.J. Dornak tossed a six-hitter and struck out two for Basic.

Sam Powers went 2-for-2 for Palo Verde.

Cimarron-Memorial 6, San Fernando (Calif.) 5 — At Cimarron, Luis Flores’ one-out double in the bottom of the seventh inning scored Alexander Marco and Jaret Godman with the tying and winning runs as the Spartans nipped the Tigers.

Cimarron scored twice in the bottom of the sixth inning to pull within 5-4.

Marco singled to start the bottom of the seventh and moved to second on Trevor Doyle’s ground out. Godman followed with an infield hit to put runners at the corners.

Flores doubled to center field on a 1-and-2 pitch to score both runners.

Marco was 3-for-4 with a triple and two runs, and Noah Parker went 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBIs for Cimarron.

Faith Lutheran 4, Sylmar (Calif.) 3 — At Cimarron, Zack Trageton and Kyle Poser combined on a five-hitter as the Crusaders held off the Spartans.

Trageton struck out 10 in six innings.

Robby Schwartz and Liam Bredin each had two hits for Faith Lutheran.

Birmingham (Calif.) 8, Boulder City 2 — At Las Vegas, Alberto Lopez went 2-for-2 with an RBI, and the Patriots took advantage of seven errors to defeat the Eagles.

Edgar Rivas was 2-for-3 for Birmingham.

Preston Van Diest was 4-for-4 for Boulder City. Peyton Koopman went 2-for-3 with a run, and Nolan Desantis was 2-for-4 for the Eagles.

Durango 5, Rim of the World (Calif.) 4 — At Durango, Richard Mascarenas singled home Renae Lara with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to give the Trailblazers the win over the Fighting Scots.

Rim of the World took a 4-3 lead after the top of the ninth, but Durango tied the game when Steven Giatti walked with the bases loaded.

Mascarenas got the win in relief, and Duke Pahukoa went 3-for-4 with a run for Durango.

Verdugo Hills (Calif.) 8, Durango 6 — At Durango, Ivan Gonzalez doubled home the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth as the Dons knocked off the Trailblazers.

Durango’s Jacob Bavaro went 3-for-4 with two runs, and teammate Adam Niederman was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Durango took a 6-3 lead into the seventh, but Verdugo Hills scored three runs to tie the game.

Liberty (Calif.) 17, Arbor View 4 — At Shadow Ridge, Matt Patton went 2-for-3 with three RBIs to lead the Patriots by the Aggies.