Granada Hills baseball coach Matt Matuszak has spent each night this week sleeping on a couch in the hospital after his wife gave birth to the family’s first child, a girl. All is well and Matuszak can give his wife more good news after the Highlanders upset No. 3-seed Bell 2-0 in eight innings on Wednesday during an opening game of the City Section Open Division baseball playoffs.
Luke Chau, a senior left-hander, threw a complete game two-hitter, striking out three and walking one. He retired 21 of the first 22 batters. He might want to take his infielders out to dinner, because the foursome of third baseman Landon Tuch, shortstop Caleb Reclusado, second baseman Adriel Merida and first baseman Max Szczech made every routine play and hard play. Reclusado had seven assists.
Left-hander Luke Chau of Granada Hills retired 21 of the first 22 batters in a 2-0, eight-inning win over Bell.
(Craig Weston / For The Times)
Chau and Bell ace Jayden Rojas each refused to give in. Rojas struck out 10 in seven scoreless innings. But he reached 96 pitches, so Bell went to Adolfo Esquivel in the eighth, and the Highlanders broke through on a walk, single by Tuch and RBI single from Nick Penaranda. Then a bunt led to a second run.
The Highlanders now get a rematch against West Valley League rival El Camino Real in the semifinals on Wednesday at Cal State Northridge, with the winner advancing to the championship game at Dodger Stadium on May 23.
Granada Hills lost to Bell 1-0 in the 2023 semifinals and has endured some tough times in not performing well in the playoffs when it was the No. 1 seed. This time as a No. 6 seed, the Highlanders executed on the mound and with their gloves until finding a way to win and send off their coach to greet his wife and baby girl a happy man.
El Camino Real 11, South Gate 0: The Royals picked up a five-inning mercy rule win behind JJ Saffie, who had three hits and four RBIs. Jackson Sellz gave up one hit in five innings.
Carson 6, Garfield 5: The Colts got a walk-off double from Xavier Allen to advance to Wednesday’s Open Division semifinals against the winner of Thursday’s game between Birmingham and Banning. Nate Ruan had an inside-the-park home run. Luis Acosta had a two-run double for Garfield.
Sylmar 7, Marshall 0: Matthew Torres threw a complete game with six shutouts to lead the top-seeded Spartans in a Division I opener. Rickee Luevano went three for three with a home run and three RBIs.
Venice 11, San Fernando 8: Remy Carpenter had two hits and four RBIs for Venice. Rudy De Rosas had three hits for San Fernando.
Chatsworth 3, North Hollywood 0: Isaiah Sanchez threw a four-hit shutout, striking out four.
Taft 13, San Pedro 9: Nate Swinson delivered four hits and Maricio Vargas had three hits in the Division I win.
Palisades 1, Narbonne 0: Ethan Davis had a walk-off single in the eighth inning for Palisades. Caleb Gitlin threw all eight innings with 11 strikeouts.
Cleveland 18, Maywood CES 0: Joshua Pearlstein went four for four in the five-inning mercy rule win. Sebastian Castaneda had three hits and four RBIs.
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