SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – JJ Hollis did it again for JSerra’s baseball team.
Hollis pitched a complete game for the Lions in a 4-1 win over Orange Lutheran on Thursday in a Boras Classic South semifinal at JSerra High.
Hollis, a junior right-hander, pitched a complete game in a 2-1 win over Orange Lutheran on March 11 in a Trinity League game.
That March 11 league game was a two-hitter. Both of those Orange Lutheran hits came in the first inning.
Thursday’s game was a three-hitter. One hit was in the first inning, the other two in the third.
Hollis (6-4, 185), who committed to UC Santa Barbara, retired 12 in a row from the second out of the second inning to the first out of the sixth.
JSerra junior RHP JJHollis pitched a three-hitter in the Lions’ 4-1 win over Orange Lutheran in @TheBorasClassic semifinals. He pitched a two-hitter in a 2-1 win over OLu last month… @ocvarsity pic.twitter.com/7pbMWnBjL3
— Steve Fryer (@SteveFryer) April 22, 2022
JSerra (15-9), No. 5 in the Orange County top 25, will play O.C. No. 3 Villa Park (23-2) in the tournament championship game Friday at 6 p.m. at Mater Dei High. Villa Park defeated Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks 2-1 in Thursday’s other semifinal.
The Lions have won the Southern California portion of the Boras Classic tournament three times.
Orange Lutheran (20-4) will play Notre Dame (19-6-1) in the third-place game at Mater Dei on Friday at 3 p.m.
JSerra scored all of its runs in the bottom of the second inning. Brandon Chang hit a two-run double and scored on a wild pitch. Lou Fujiwara had an RBI single.
Orange Lutheran and JSerra often are the top two baseball teams in the prestigious Trinity League, so their games usually are high-pressure contests. Hollis enjoys it so much Thursday that he didn’t want to depart the game when JSerra coach Brett Kay was contemplating bringing in a reliever.
“He wanted to take me out in the last inning but I did not let him,” Hollis said. “I never want to come out of the game.”
Kay likes that.
“He wants the ball,” said Kay, who compared Hollis to previous JSerra ultra-competitive pitchers like Eric Silva, Graham Weiss and Gage Jump. “He’s not going to sit there and ‘wow’ you with velocity and things like that, but he’s going to will himself and put his teammates on his back and just perform.”
Orange Lutheran took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Ben Reiland led off with a single and went to third base on Derek Curiel’s single. The left-handed hitting Jacob Pereda pulled a bunt that JSerra first baseman Dominic Smaldino scooped with his glove hand and with the same motion lifted the ball to Lions catcher Brandon Chang whose tag was too late to get Reiland, who dragged his left hand across the plate on a head-first slide.
JSerra batted around during its four-run half of the second. Jonathan Mendez was hit by a pitch, Smaldino walked and David Horn reached on a bunt single to load the bases. Chang, after two bunt attempts went foul, pulled a double down the third-base line to drive in Mendez and Smaldino.
After Chang scored on a wild pitch, Fujiwara’s single drove in Andrew Lamb for the fourth run and the 4-1 lead.
Orange Lutheran beat JSerra in two of their three Trinity League games last month. The Lancers won the first two games 9-0 and 1-0. JSerra got a 2-1 win in the series finale on Hollis’ two-hitter.
Also in the Boras Classic South:
No. 2 Huntington Beach 6, Pt. Loma 5: Brian Trujillo was 3 for 5, including a double that drove in the winning run for the Oilers (17-8) in the eighth inning of a fifth-place semifinal. Adyn Lucero got the win in relief.
No. 7 Foothill 2, Sierra Canyon 1: Grant Johnson’s bunt scored Jake Fenton from third base as the Knights (21-9) advanced to the consolation championship game. They play Servite on Friday at 6 p.m. at JSerra High.
Foothill lost to St. Augustine of San Diego in the first round Tuesday and defeated San Dimas on Wednesday.
Sierra Canyon entered the tournament with a 22-0 record. Sierra Canyon, No. 2 in the Prep Baseball Report state rankings, lost to La Mirada in the first round before defeating ML King in the second round of the consolation bracket.
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No. 6 Servite 5, Corona 1: Trevor Schmidt got the win and drove in two runs for the Friars (14-9).
Servite lost to Villa Park in the first round Tuesday and beat state No. 5 Yucaipa on Wednesday.
No. 11 Mater Dei 2, Yucaipa 1: Landon Gordon pitched 6 1/3 innings, gave up three hits and had seven strikeouts, for the Monarchs (12-12) in a consolation bracket game. Ethan Hedges and Connor Neere drove in the Mater Dei runs.