CYPRESS >> The Cypress baseball team came into the National Classic tournament on a hot streak, and the Centurions continued their sizzling play Wednesday with a 7-2 victory over Santa Margarita in the semifinals at Cypress High School.
The Centurions (16-3-2), who are ranked No. 9 in Orange County, will take on Bishop Amat in the championship game Thursday at 7 p.m. at Amerige Park in Fullerton.
Bishop Amat defeated El Dorado 2-1 in nine innings in the other semifinal.
Cypress coach John Weber will take the Centurions into the National Classic final for the second time. Orange Lutheran defeated Cypress in the championship in 2013, the same year the Centurions won the CIF SS Division 2 title.
A turning point in Wednesday’s game came in the bottom of the first inning when the No. 7-ranked Eagles (5-6), the designated home team, led off the inning with three consecutive singles. They took a 1-0 lead on Luke Lavin’s single, which drove in Blake Balsz.
The Eagles had runners on second and third with no outs and appeared to be headed towards a big inning, but Cypress starting pitcher Luke Matlock settled down and retired the next three batters without allowing another run.
“The game could have been over in the first inning,” Weber said. “He pitched his way out of it.”
The Centurions came right back to take a 2-1 lead in the top of the second inning on an RBI single from John Short, followed by perfectly placed squeeze bunt by Bren Wilkinson, which drove in Matthew Morell from third.
Cypress scored two more runs in the second inning to take a 4-2 lead, and the Centurions broke the game open with a three-run seventh that was highlighted by Nick Montgomery’s RBI double.
Montgomery went 2 for 3 with an RBI and two runs scored, and Morrell was 3 for 3 with two RBIs, two runs scored and a stolen base.
Weber said Matlock is coming back from an illness that caused him to lose several pounds, so Weber replaced him on the mound after four innings.
Gabe Cobian pitched the final three innings without allowing a run and earned the save.
Santa Margarita reliever Samuel Cova got out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam without allowing a run in the sixth, keeping the Eagles in the game.
Related Articles
Bishop Amat baseball advances to National Classic title game with extra-inning victory over El Dorado
Mission Viejo baseball beats Tesoro with Andreas Nilsen’s walk-off HR
Steve Fryer’s Diamond Club baseball standouts last week, April 5
Three Orange County baseball teams will try to keep NHSI title in California
Orange County boys athlete of the week: Austin Overn, Foothill
But Cobian kept the Eagles off the board. The sophomore left-hander pitched out of some trouble in the sixth and got the Eagles in order in the seventh.
“He’s been pretty solid for us,” Weber said. “He hasn’t pitched a ton of innings and he is a super competitor too.”