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Orange Lutheran baseball loses first league battle with St. John Bosco

April 1, 2026

St. John Boscoâs James Clark (22) gets a hit against...

St. John Bosco’s James Clark (22) gets a hit against Orange Lutheran during their Trinity League game in Orange, CA, on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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ORANGE — The Orange Lutheran baseball team gave up 10 walks and hit two batters in a key Trinity League matchup against St. John Bosco on Tuesday at Hart Park.

Four of those batters wound up scoring for the Braves in their 7-4 victory over the Lancers, the No. 1-ranked team in Orange County.

The contest was the first of a three-game series this week between the two teams.

The Lancers came from behind twice to tie the score, before James Clark’s bases-clearing double with two outs in the fifth inning put the game away for the Braves (10-2, 4-0), who were ranked No. 1 in the nation by MaxPreps until it lost two games last week.

“With the free bases we gave them today, against a team like that, that’s hard,” Orange Lutheran coach R.J. Farrell said. “It kind of got us.”

In the first inning, the Lancers (7-2, 0-1) walked the Braves’ first three hitters to load the bases.

A run scored on a wild pitch and Moises Razo walked to load the bases again.

Jack Champlin and Jhett Ohira hit back-to-back sacrifice flies to score two more runs and give the Braves a 3-0 lead.

The Lancers responded in the bottom of the inning as Ricardo Hurtado scored from third on a ground out and Eric Zdunek followed with a two-run home run to tie the score.

Razo singled home a run in the second to give the Braves a 4-3 lead and the Lancers tied the score again when Hamilton Friedberg scored from third on a ground out in the fourth.

The Braves loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth, and the Lancers nearly got out of the jam without giving up a run.

Catcher Brady Murrietta made a nice catch on a foul pop up for the first out, then first baseman Jordan Kurz fielded a bunt and flipped the ball to Murietta to force out the runner coming from third for the second out.

Then Clark came up. With a one-ball, two-strike count, the shortstop ripped a double just inside the third base line to clear the bases.

“If that was a foul ball, then who knows what happens,” Farrell said.

Both teams just returned from playing in the National High School Invitational in North Carolina last week.

The Lancers won the tournament for the fourth time and the Braves finished 2-2.

The Braves and Lancers will play again Wednesday at Hart Park at 7 p.m. and conclude their series Thursday at St. John Bosco at 1:30 p.m.

Wednesday’s game is expected to feature a marque pitching matchup between the Braves’ Julian Garcia and Orange Lutheran’s Gary Morse.

“We’ve got two really big arms going,” Braves coach Andy Rojo said. “The next two games are going to be a dogfight.”

Orange Lutheran baseball loses first league battle with St. John Bosco Orange County Register

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