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Mater Dei baseball tops Newport Harbor behind strong outing by Kai Bratton

April 8, 2026

SANTA ANA — The Mater Dei baseball team got six-plus innings from pitcher Kai Bratton and a clutch home run from Ezekiel Lara in a 5-2 victory over Newport Harbor in the opening round of the Boras Classic South tournament Tuesday at Mater Dei High School.

Mater Dei (7-5), the seventh ranked team in Orange County, will play Ayala in the quarterfinals Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Mater Dei.

“Any win this time of year is a good win,” Mater Dei coach Richard Mercado said. “This tournament is always tough and Newport (Harbor) is a good team.”

Newport Harbor (15-3) is ranked No. 6 this week in Orange County.

Bratton gave up a home run to Keoni Wun on the first pitch of the game, but then settled down nicely, retiring nine of the next 11 hitters he faced.

When the Sailors scored their second run on a sacrifice fly in the fourth, the Tennessee signee retired seven of the next eight hitters again.

Bratton came within one out of a complete game. Aidan Harty came in and got the final out with a fly ball to center.

“He ambushed that fastball,” Bratton said of Wun’s home run. “My best stuff versus his best stuff, so he’s competing well. He beat me on that pitch but then I showed them that I could come back and I wanted to go right after them and I did that the rest of my outing.”

The Monarchs were leading 3-2 with two outs and a runner on first in the fifth when Lara belted a full-count pitch over the right field fence to extend his team’s lead to 5-2.

Mater Dei's Ezekiel Lara (23) hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning as the Monarchs defeated Newport Harbor 5-2 in the opening round of the Boras Classic South tournament Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at Mater Dei High School. (Photo by Lou Ponsi) — Mater Dei’s Ezekiel Lara (23) hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning as the Monarchs defeated Newport Harbor 5-2 in the opening round of the Boras Classic South tournament Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at Mater Dei High School. (Photo by Lou Ponsi)

“It all started from the first at-bat, just learning his sequence,” Lara said. “A lot of change-ups and two-seams (fastballs) and I was just trying to fight them off and then he hung a change-up middle-in and I just let my hands turn.”

Gavin Guy also had a good outing for the Sailors.

After giving up an RBI single to Austin Gerkin and two-run single to Brady Guth in the first inning, the UC Santa Barbara signee retired seven of the next eight hitters and was one strike away from pitching out of trouble in the fifth when Lara hit his home run.

“I was really proud of our two-strike approaches against a good arm like that,” Mercado said. “It was nice to get into their pen a little bit.”

The Sailors came into the contest on a six-game winning streak, with three-game sweeps of Edison and Los Alamitos in Sunset League games.

Newport Harbor coach Josh Lee was proud of Guy’s performance.

“The only thing he gave up was that home run on the last pitch,” Lee said. “To be honest, that was my fault. I called a bad pitch. He actually threw what I called. I’ll wear it an move on.”

Mater Dei baseball tops Newport Harbor behind strong outing by Kai Bratton Orange County Register

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Mater Dei baseball tops Newport Harbor behind strong outing by Kai Bratton

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