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Orange Lutheran baseball shows pitching depth in win over Servite

May 2, 2026

Orange Lutheranâs Sam Principe, left, who pitched the whole game,...

Orange Lutheran’s Sam Principe, left, who pitched the whole game, and catcher Brady Murrietta, celebrate as the Lancers beat Servite in a Trinity League game in Anaheim on Friday, May 1, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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ANAHEIM – Pitching depth will be a very valued commodity in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 baseball playoffs.

Orange Lutheran showed Friday that it has that area covered, as the Lancers beat Servite 3-1 in a Trinity League game at Servite High.

Junior right-hander Sam Principe pitched a complete game for the Lancers. He gave up three hits, one of them a home run, and three walks. Principe had four strikeouts and was supported by errorless fielding and two double plays.

Orange Lutheran is locked into second place, behind league champion St. John Bosco, with an 8-4 record in the Trinity League. The Lancers (20-5 overall) started this season at No. 1 in the Orange County Top 25 and they are still at No. 1 this week. Servite is ranked No. 5.

The Lancers conclude league play with a three-game series against Mater Dei that starts Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Mater Dei.

Friday’s game was the final league game for Servite. The Friars are in fourth place with a 6-9 league record. Mater Dei is in third at 5-7.

Mater Dei beat Servite in two of the three league games, so the Monarchs have the tiebreaker advantage over Servite if they finish tied for third place.

The top three finishers in the six-team Trinity League are automatic qualifiers for the CIF-SS playoffs.

Servite is 14-13 overall with one game remaining, a nonleague home game Tuesday against Cypress. The Friars will have be at the .500-or-better threshold to be eligible for at-large berth consideration if they are not an automatic qualifier.

Orange Lutheran’s pitching staff is led by senior right-hander Gary Morse, last year’s Orange County pitcher of the year who has committed to Tennessee. The Lancers also have 6-5 senior right-hander Cooper Sides, a transfer from Northern California who is an LSU commit.

Lancers coach RJ Farrell hoped to get as many innings as possible from Principe on Friday. It’s been a long season with some long-distance road trips for games. The Lancers were in Las Vegas for a tournament, in Santa Clara for the Boras Classic championship game, and in North Carolina for the National High School Invitational.

Orange Lutheran now has three league games in four days against Mater Dei. The three-game series continues Monday and concludes Tuesday.

Principe is not new to Orange Lutheran’s starting rotation.

“Sam has been a starter for us for two years,” said Farrell. “We needed to extend him today. We didn’t want to have to go to the bullpen today with the (Mater Dei) series starting tomorrow.”

Principe mixed speeds effectively all afternoon.

“I really liked the way I got ahead on the count on my off-speed pitches,” he said. “My slider was a little flat at the beginning of the game so I started working my curve ball in. The changeup was there the whole game.”

Orange Lutheran scored a run in the first inning, another in the third inning and its final run in the fourth. Two of the runs were unearned.

Lancers catcher Brady Murrietta reached on an error. Servite sophomore second baseman Jesse Lopez made a sprawling grab to his left of a hard-hit ground ball by CJ Weinstein and threw to Friars pitcher Cole Grothues covering first base for the out. Murrietta advanced to second base on the play and scored on Jordan Kurz’s single through the middle for a 1-0 lead.

Zion Avina opened the Orange Lutheran half of the third inning with a double to right-center field. Avina eventually scored on an error for a 2-0 lead.

Hamilton Friedberg’s double to left-center field, the deepest place at Servite’s geometrically unique outfield, to drive in Kurz to make it 3-0 in the top of the fourth inning.

Servite got its run in the bottom of the fourth when Friars catcher Eli Rubal drove a Principe fastball over the fence in left field.

Principe did not feel bad about that pitch.

“Sometimes you’ve got to tip your cap,” he said. “It was a good pitch and … it was a good pitch and he turned on it.”

Farrell supposes that no high school baseball team in the nation has traveled as much as Orange Lutheran has. He said that shows, at times.

“We’re tired,” said Farrell, in his second season as Orange Lutheran’s head coach. “I don’t think there’s any way around that. But it’s like we told the kids before the game, that everything we’ve done is for what’s about to come, so we need to keep our minds right, get through this series and then we get a little bit of a break.”

CIF-SS baseball playoff brackets will be released May 9. First-round games are May 13 for the 16-team Division 1 pool-play games, May 14 for Divisions 2, 4, 6 and 8 and on May 15 for Divisions 3, 5, 7 and 9.

Orange Lutheran baseball shows pitching depth in win over Servite Orange County Register

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Orange Lutheran baseball shows pitching depth in win over Servite

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