Telepeer

Orange Lutheran beats Norco to win Boras Classic South championship

April 11, 2026

Orange Lutheran players celebrate their 4-1 over Norco in the final of the Boras Classic at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Friday, April 10, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register/SCNG)

1 of 19

Expand

SANTA ANA – Orange Lutheran won the championship of another prestigious baseball tournament.

The Lancers defeated Norco, 4-1, in the championship game of the Boras Classic Southern Section on Friday at Mater Dei High.

Orange Lutheran (12-3) won the National High School Invitational championship two weeks ago in North Carolina.

Pitching depth is required to win a four-game, four-day tournament. The Lancers proved they have that.

Orange Lutheran senior right-hander Blake Killinger held Norco to one run on five hits with three strikeouts and only one walk in 5⅓ innings.

Norco had scored 25 runs over its two previous games in the Boras Classic.

Killinger (6-8, 225) has pitched in high-leverage situations before. He threw three scoreless innings as the starting pitcher in Orange Lutheran’s 7-6 win over Florida’s Venice in NHSI championship game.

Killinger threw an inning last week in the Lancers’ big Trinity League series against St. John Bosco and last season he was the Lancers’ starting pitcher in the final game of the Bishop Gorman Invitational.

“That’s his role for us,” Orange Lutheran coach RJ Farrell said. “To see him come out and keep his pitch count down (73 pitches) like he did, dominate like he did, was really good to see.”

Killinger, who signed with Loyola Marymount University, knew he was going to get the ball Friday.

“I’d been planning for this all week,” he said. “They usually go to me in championship games like this.”

It is Orange Lutheran’s first Boras Classic Southern Section championship and the Lancers’ seventh time in the tournament that completed its 14th season.

The Lancers will play the Boras Classic Northern Section champion, St. Mary’s, in the Boras Classic state championship game on April 18 at Santa Clara University.

Orange Lutheran took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Ricardo Hurtado launched a high fly that cleared the left-field fence for a solo home run, his second home run this season.

Eric Zdunek walked with the bases loaded to send home Brady Murrietta and Gavin Hottle followed with his bases-loaded walk to send in CJ Weinstein for the inning’s second and third runs.

Norco junior Jacob Melendez launched the baseball well over the right-field fence for a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning to make it 3-1. It was his third homer of the season.

Killinger said he threw two changeups to Melendez before Melendez was able to get a big swing on a belt-high fastball.

“Gotta watch those ones,” Killinger said of that pitch.

The Lancers extended their lead to 4-1 in the top of the sixth on Brady Murrietta’s single that drove in pinch-runner Bubba McClure.

Orange Lutheran advanced to the Boras Classic Southern Section championship game with wins over Fountain Valley, 13-1, Gahr, 2-1, and Aquinas, 8-0, in Thursday’s semifinals.

Norco got to Friday’s game by beating St. John Bosco, 3-2, Los Osos, 14-0, and Mater Dei, 11-5, in the semifinals.

Orange Lutheran, No. 2 in the Prep Baseball Report state rankings, returns to Trinity League action with a game at JSerra on April 14. That’s the first game of a three-game league series. Orange Lutheran is 1-2 in the six-team league.

JSerra is 1-5. The Lions usually are much better than that. They have very few seniors on the roster, but the skill level is apparent and that team could get hot.

“To win four games in a row against these quality teams in an event like this is, it’s a big week for us in a lot of ways,” Farrell said. “To come out on top is awesome. But we’ve got JSerra next week, and that’s a really important week for us.”

Norco, No. 4 in the Prep Baseball Report state rankings, resumes Big VIII League play April 13 at Roosevelt to start a three-game league series. The Cougars are 5-0 in the six-team league.

Also in the Boras Classic:

Patrick Henry 4, Huntington Beach 3: The Oilers (13-4-3) lost in the tournament consolation final as the Patriots (11-6) scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Ely Mason had two hits and two RBIs for Huntington Beach. The Oilers went 2-2 in the tournament.

Orange Lutheran beats Norco to win Boras Classic South championship Orange County Register

News Details

Orange Lutheran beats Norco to win Boras Classic South championship

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

News

CONTACT INFO

QUICK LINKS

SERVICES

CURRENT NEWS