Angel City FC tops Utah for 3rd win in 4 games

• May 4, 2024

SANDY, Utah — Sydney Leroux and Clair Emslie both scored in the first half and Angel City held on for a 2-1 victory over the expansion Utah Royals on Friday night.

It was the third win in four games for Angel City (3-3-1, 10 points), which has played a schedule front-loaded with some of the NWSL’s top teams before its meeting with the Royals.

Leroux scored on a header in the 29th minute and Emslie doubled the lead with a penalty kick in the 41st. Emslie leads the team with five goals this season.

Alyssa Thompson’s assist on Leroux’s goal was the 19-year-old’s third straight game with an assist, making her the youngest NWSL player with three in three games.

Dana Foederer scored her first NWSL goal in the 51st minute to pull Utah within 2-1 as the Royals (1-5-1, 4 points) pressed for a home win before heading out on the road for the next three matches.

Angel City goalkeeper DiDi Haracic stopped Amandine Henry’s free kick through the wall in the 73rd minute then stopped a rebound attempt from Madison Pogarch to preserve the victory.

“It was gritty, we ground it out. I think we need to be better to be honest, two-nil up, need to be better in the second half,” Emslie said.

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​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers outlast Braves on Andy Pages’ 11th-inning walk-off single

• May 4, 2024

LOS ANGELES — This time around, there was no playoff seeding at stake, no MVP race to decide and no argument to settle about who is the National League’s best team as October approached.

This time, the Dodgers and Atlanta Braves met as a pair of mega-talented teams still trying to find their way in the early portion of the season and they proved to be at similar places on the journey.

In the first meeting of NL powers, it was the Dodgers who got the jump on the season series with a 4-3 victory Friday night as Andy Pages delivered a walk-off RBI single in the 11th inning. The rookie finished his first four-hit game in style.

“It’s very special to me,” Pages said through an interpreter about getting singles in each of his final four at-bats. “We know how good Atlanta is. I was just happy we got the win.”

The early anticipation for this Dodgers-Braves matchup was a far cry from the last time the teams dueled at Dodger Stadium late last season. Yet it ended up similar in many ways when the atmosphere increased as the hour grew late.

A year ago, Ronald Acuña Jr. got the jump on the Dodgers in the showdown series with an early grand slam and made a statement in an Atlanta series win that lasted through MVP voting when he was named the NL’s top player.

On Friday, it was Acuña’s home run in the eighth inning that tied the score at 2-2 and ultimately forced extra innings. Acuña entered with just one home run, although he was still in a three-way tie for most runs scored in the major leagues with 29. The Dodgers’ Mookie Betts was among the trio.

“Especially (facing) that team, the Braves … we have to play a perfect game for us to be able to get the win,” said Teoscar Hernandez, who hit a home run as the Dodgers won for the eighth time in 10 games. “But it was really important. We’re paying really good baseball right now and trying to stay focused on things we need to do and just try to keep the streak going.”

With a month left in the 2023 regular season, the Braves won three of the four games against the Dodgers in what felt like a NL Championship Series preview, only to have both teams collapse in the NL Division Series.

Acuña had his home run Friday, although fellow star Matt Olson continued his early-season slumber by going 0 for 4.

The Dodgers have their stars too, although Betts and former Brave Freddie Freeman were relatively quiet with one hit among them. On Friday, the team’s rock was Gavin Stone, who gave up one run on five hits over six innings with a walk and five strikeouts. The bullpen gave up one earned run on one hit the rest of the way.

“I think I was just getting ahead and using secondaries to kind of get soft contact and put them away,” Stone said. “A couple of innings there, especially early, I wasn’t getting ahead but (catcher Will Smith) had a really good game plan so he kind of calmed me down.

The Braves scored in the 10th inning on a sacrifice fly from Orlando Arcia, but Shohei Ohtani wiped out that run with an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th to extend the game.

Michael Grove (1-1) earned the win with a scoreless 11th inning. Pages’ game-winning bloop hit to center field came off veteran right-hander Jesse Chavez (1-1).

“Pitch by pitch your confidence grows and grows,” Pages said of the game winner that came on a full count during an eight-pitch at-bat. “You get more experience facing these pitchers and get more chances with these at-bats.”

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Hernandez has been impressed with Pages, who was playing in his 15th career game.

“Watching him play, watching him develop these couple of weeks since he’s been up here, he’s a great guy and he’s always asking how to get better,” Hernandez said. “… He’s made for big moments. He’s not afraid to go out there and have success at any moment.”

Smith continued his production with an early RBI single and Hernandez hit a fourth-inning home run, to match Ohtani for top honors on the team with seven. Smith’s 25 RBIs rank second among NL catchers.

At age 40, Braves right-hander Charlie Morton was as effective as ever, giving up two runs on five hits over six innings with two walks and five strikeouts.

The lone run Stone allowed was on a home run by Austin Riley in the first inning. The Braves weren’t heard from again until Acuña went deep against right-hander Daniel Hudson.

Andy Pages #WALKOFF! pic.twitter.com/IUHe6Oodqp

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) May 4, 2024

.@kirsten_watson caught up with tonight’s #Dodgers hero, Andy Pages after his walk-off hit against the Braves. pic.twitter.com/i8ip0IV7ay

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) May 4, 2024

Dave Roberts on Andy Pages: “Every time he gets up there it seems like he takes a good at-bat, and the moment certainly doesn’t get too big for him… he just rose to the occasion, it’s fun to watch.” pic.twitter.com/vfTtv7UUUn

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) May 4, 2024

OHTANI TIES IT UP! #LetsGoDodgers pic.twitter.com/Xug0mqM7l7

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) May 4, 2024

GET OUT BALL!! #Dodgers take the lead on Teoscar Hernández’s homer. pic.twitter.com/s3uHEn4m0Y

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) May 4, 2024

​ Orange County Register 

Fountain Valley baseball tops Trabuco Hills in CIF-SS playoffs with thrilling finish

• May 4, 2024

FOUNTAIN VALLEY — The CIF-SS Division 3 baseball playoff game between Trabuco Hills and Fountain Valley on Friday featured a season’s worth of emotions in the final inning.

In the top of the seventh, the Mustangs, who had been trailing by a run for most of the contest, were down to their final strike when a two-run single from Sean Dmytrowicz gave them the lead at Fountain Valley High.

Fountain Valley came back and scored two runs in the bottom of the inning for a 4-3 walk-off victory in the first round of the playoffs.

Michael Patterson’s single with the bases loaded drove in the tying run, his second RBI of the game, and then Josh Grack followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Brady Tomko with the winning run for the Barons (19-9).

“He threw me a first pitch curveball,” Grack said. “I saw he missed low and I figured he was going to go back to it. He did and he gave it a little higher. I just put a bat on it. I was just thinking a pop fly, just hit it and do my job.”

The game was a pitchers’ duel for six innings.

Pitcher Kenji Gonzales singled home Ryan Luce in the first to give the Mustangs (12-11) a 1-0 lead.

But Barons starter Cayden Bonura, who pitched a complete game, didn’t allow another hit until there were two outs in the fifth inning.

“He’s been a bulldog,” Barons coach Gerardo Gonzalez said. “He got a little hyped up and then kind of just left some pitches up and they got some hits (in the seventh). But he’s an emotional kid and he plays off his emotions, which is great. We wouldn’t be where we’re at without him.”

Gonzales, the starter for the Mustangs, allowed two runs on five hits over five innings.

Fountain Valley’s Gibson Rath led off the second with a home run to tie the score and Patterson’s single in the third drove in Tyler Peshke to give the Barons a 2-1 lead.

That’s how it stayed until the seventh.

With one out, Logan Molina hit a single and Daniel Van de Kreeke followed with a double to put runners on second and third.

After a foul out, Dmytrowicz stepped up and with a one-ball, two-strike count, singled in both runners to give the Mustangs a 3-2 lead.

That set the stage for the Barons’ rally in their final at-bat.

Trabuco Hills coach Michael Burns had plenty of praise for his team for their effort against the Barons and also for the way they closed out the regular season with a sweep of Mission Viejo to qualify for the playoffs.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever wanted it more for a group of kids than this group of kids,” Burns said. “The way they approach their day-to-day, the way they work their butts off. We’re down to our last strike. That’s the epitome of this team. I’m just so proud of them and hope they can take that into life with them.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Swanson: Clippers fall flat again in Dallas as season ends

• May 4, 2024

DALLAS — As the song goes: Inglewood, always up to no good.

And now the Clippers live there.

Their next home game will be their first at the new Intuit Dome. You can put a period on the 2023-24 season: Friday night’s 114-101 Game 6 loss to the fifth-seeded Dallas Mavericks meant the Clippers won’t ever host another game at Crypto.com Arena.

Their opening-round loss in the Western Conference playoffs eliminated Coach Tyronn Lue’s team on his 47th birthday, the fourth-seeded Clippers bowing out in a first-round series against a Luka Doncic-led Mavs team for the first time in three meetings.

With Clippers star Kawhi Leonard sidelined with knee inflammation, Doncic (28 points and 13 assists) and Kyrie Irving (28 of his 30 points after halftime) proved a considerably more potent one-two punch than Paul George (18) and James Harden (16).

It all went in accordance with the NBA’s current trend: A young star – Doncic is 25 – with much to prove leading his team past an aging, content contingent past proving much.

But who knows? Maybe a young building will spark the Clippers? Maybe the franchise that still, after 54 years, has yet to win a championship will have better aura in its new arena?

More likely it won’t matter: You can take the team out of downtown L.A., but I doubt even a new arena can take the downtrodden out of these Clippers, certainly not as they’re currently constructed.

The 213 Era – aka the What-if-Kawhi-Leonard-Was-Healthy? Era – has been a study in what might have been, and might never be, Leonard’s right knee refusing to play ball for a third consecutive postseason.

Paul George said Kawhi Leonard — sidelined with knee inflammation — “wanted to be out there, wanted to be with us… it was more staff keeping him back.” pic.twitter.com/AqeUxlkevE

— Mirjam Swanson (@MirjamSwanson) May 4, 2024

Since Leonard and George linked up in L.A., the Clippers exited in the second round in 2020, in the conference finals in 2021, in the play-in in 2022 (a season Leonard missed recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament), and in the first round each of the past two seasons.

The two-time NBA Finals MVP with San Antonio and Toronto, Leonard was sidelined this postseason after right knee inflammation proved too much of a hindrance in his appearances in Games 2 and 3.

And so, with the Clippers’ best player relegated again to spectator status, Leonard’s high-paid pals’ play lived up to their promise.

They told us they felt no pressure going into Friday’s game. Stuff your ‘must-win’ in a dust bin, they said. “The pressure’s on them to win the game,” Harden proclaimed at shootaround Friday morning, echoing George’s comments immediately after the Clippers’ historically lopsided 30-point loss in Game 5: “If you fail, you fail.”

And they weren’t kidding. Urgency? Nonsense. The Clippers had no sense of it. Not not nearly enough.

All Lue was looking for on his birthday were quick, decisive actions.

But for much of the game, the Clippers gave him a lot of dribbling nowhere fast and tough-shot-taking. From Lue’s perspective, they ran out of gas.

And Dallas was spry, Dallas was the aggressor. The Mavericks swarmed defensively, forced shot clock violations, kept George under wraps. The Clippers gave up 18 offensive rebounds; all 21 of the Mavericks’ second-chance points felt important. The Mavs were fast to the floor for loose balls, frustrating the Clippers, holding them at bay until they blew it open after halftime, outscoring their guests 62-49, and summarily excusing them for the season.

The Mavericks just about blew the lid off their building when Irving danced into the corner and plunged a dagger into the Clippers’ season with his 3-pointer (and the foul) with 5:38 to play, putting Dallas ahead, 106-82.

Standing on business, as the signage all around the Dallas arena read.

Lue said team owner Steve Ballmer stopped by the locker room postgame with some “kind words.” The coach said a few times, “I’m proud of our guys” for taking the season seriously. Remember when a 26-5 stretch in the middle of it made believers of many? It’s a long season, though.

“Especially when you’re in that small group of teams that have a chance and you don’t get to get everything out of everything that you put into it, it’s frustrating,” George said after the game. “But we didn’t do enough to move on. That’s on us.”

Looking ahead, Lue said he plans to stay put, even if much of L.A. spent the day wishing he would switch teams to take the Lakers’ now-vacant head coaching job.

“I hope so, I didn’t come here to bounce around and go all over the place,” Lue said about extending his tenure with his current team. “This is where I want to be.”

George couldn’t be so committal. The Palmdale native can opt out and become a free agent this summer by declining his $48.8 million player option for the 2024-25 season.

“Yeah,” he wants to be back, he said, “if it works that way, absolutely.”

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Indications are that the Clippers want to not only to lock up Lue, but to arrange to keep George and Harden around.

That makes sense, though, if only because it will be hard to imagine the Clippers can unwind themselves from their aging stars within the current constraints of roster building in the NBA, especially being so short on tradable draft picks.

So run it back? Take the regular season seriously or don’t, but meet you back here for a short, short-handed playoff blip again next year?

Lue, at least, seems ready for it. Eventually there has to be a breakthrough, right? Maybe in the new place.

“I like our team,” Lue said. “This was a good year. This year made me a better coach, having a team with four future Hall of Famers … it was good for me. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, outside of the early ending. I’m ready to move onto next season and get better.”

Thoughts from Coach Lue @LAClippers | #ClipperNation pic.twitter.com/s3GqNHoZOO

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) May 4, 2024

2ND HALF KYRIE TAKEOVER

Kyrie Irving scored 28 of his 30 points in the 2nd half to help advance the @dallasmavs to the West Semis!

DAL visits OKC for Game 1 on Tuesday at 9:30pm/et on TNT pic.twitter.com/RjZl7rTZBO

— NBA (@NBA) May 4, 2024

​ Orange County Register 

Canelo Alvarez, Jaime Munguia unusually polite to each other ahead of bout

• May 4, 2024

By MARK ANDERSON AP Sports Writer

LAS VEGAS — Given the significance of two Mexican fighters facing each other on Cinco de Mayo weekend, Canelo Alvarez and Jaime Munguia have been especially respectful of each other heading into Saturday night’s bout.

Much more so than what typically would be expected of a title fight when those going against each other often create fake controversies to gin up pay-per-view sales.

Alvarez saved most of his venom for his former promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, who now works on the other side with Munguia. De La Hoya gave just as well as he received, and at times it felt during Wednesday’s news conference as if he was the opposing boxer rather than Munguia.

A point Alvarez, the consensus super middleweight champion, was sure to make.

“He tried to get the attention for him not for Munguia,” Alvarez said before unleashing a string of expletives at De La Hoya.

Alvarez went R-rated after the interpreter didn’t fully translate his Spanish words into English. So Alvarez made sure his feelings were clearly known by doing the translating himself. He soon rose to his feet to directly challenge De La Hoya, but no blows were thrown.

ESPN reported that De La Hoya sent Alvarez a cease-and-desist letter demanding that the boxer stop making claims that De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions stole money from fighters.

The spotlight eventually will turn to the competitors in the ring and for good reason.

Just about any fight involving Alvarez is must-see. He is an enormously popular four-division champion who has established himself as one of history’s great boxers, taking a 60-2-2 record (39 knockouts) into this weekend.

Alvarez will try to do what no one else has accomplished – defeat Munguia, who is 43-0 (34 KOs).

“Canelo has great experience,” Munguia said through an interpreter. “He’s gone up against great fighters. I may not have that resume where I’ve gone up against so many great fighters, but what I do have is youth on my side. I want to be able to showcase my capabilities inside of the ring to come out with the win in the end.”

A big question is one of age. Alvarez, at 33, is much closer to the end of his career than the beginning, In the 27-year-old Munguia, he is going against someone hungry to move that timeline along.

“I don’t really pay attention (to) if he’s younger or older,” Alvarez said. “I’m different. I’m Canelo. I don’t care. My experience, my talent, my intelligence is different.”

Alvarez is a minus-450 favorite at BetMGM, meaning a $100 bet pays $22.22 if he wins.

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From the unusually polite tone between the fighters this week, just the fact that Alvarez and Munguia are meeting is a win in itself.

“It’s more a celebration,” Alvarez acknowledged. “No matter what (fans) support, I think this fight is for them and I feel proud.”

Munguia said through an interpreter that didn’t mean the fighters would go easy on each other.

“You can expect a full-out Mexican war,” Munguia said. “You’re not going to be disappointed. It’s going to be a great fight on Saturday night.”

There are three belts on the line on the undercard: Mario Barrios will defend his WBC interim world welterweight title against Fabian Maidana, WBC interim world featherweight champion Brandon Figueroa faces Jessie Magdaleno and Eimantas Stanionis puts his WBA welterweight title at stake against Gabriel Maestre.

​ Orange County Register 

Clippers’ season ends with Game 6 loss to Mavericks

• May 4, 2024

By SCHUYLER DIXON AP Sports Writer

DALLAS — On a night when the Clippers were again playing without one of their stars, they needed more from the healthy ones in order to extend their season.

As it turned out, they didn’t get enough from either one.

Luka Doncic had 28 points and 13 assists, Kyrie Irving scored 28 of his 30 points in a second-half surge while Paul George and James Harden endured a poor shooting night as the Dallas Mavericks advanced to the second round of the playoffs with a 114-101 victory over the Clippers on Friday night.

Doncic pushed through another rough shooting night with his ailing right knee to do what the Slovenian superstar couldn’t three years earlier – close out the Clippers in Dallas in Game 6 of a first-round series.

The fifth-seeded Mavericks beat the fourth-seeded Clippers for the the first time in three first-round tries over the past five seasons and will open the Western Conference semifinals at the top seed, Oklahoma City, on Tuesday night.

George had 18 points on 6-for-18 shooting to go with 11 rebounds for the Clippers, who won the first two times they played without Kawhi Leonard in the series but didn’t have enough scoring punch in the last two he was sidelined by right knee inflammation.

Harden had 16 points and 13 assists but was just 5 of 16 from the field and missed all six of his 3-point attempts as the Clippers were eliminated in the first round for the second consecutive season. George and Harden combined to shoot 2 for 16 from behind the arc.

Irving, Doncic’s co-star added at the trade deadline last year for the kind of playoff run the Mavs hope they just started, gave Dallas its biggest lead with a flashy four-point play when he hit a leaning 3-pointer as he was bumped by P.J. Tucker and made the free throw for a 106-82 lead.

The Clippers answered with an 11-2 run to get within 13 but never seriously threatened a big comeback in the final minutes.

The Mavs broke a 52-52 halftime tie by outscoring the Clippers 35-20 in the third quarter – the same quarter that fueled the Game 5 win in Los Angeles for a chance to clinch – and pushed the lead to 20 early in the fourth.

Doncic, who also has dealt with illness in addition to a sore knee, started 0 for 7 from 3-point range to drop below 25% for the series but made his first try of the second half to start the third-quarter surge.

The NBA scoring champion was 9 for 26 from the field and just 1 for 10 from long range while going 9 for 11 on free throws. Irving was 10 for 13 from the field after halftime.

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Norman Powell scored 20 for the Clippers, and Ivica Zubac had 17 points and 11 rebounds.

P.J. Washington scored 14 points with some big 3-pointers for the Mavs, going 4 for 8 from deep, and Daniel Gafford had 13 points with several emphatic buckets down low.

Dallas’ Maxi Kleber didn’t return after spraining his right shoulder when he took a hard fall on a blocking foul against Amir Coffey on a drive in the first minute of the second quarter.

Kleber, whose 3-point shooting was a boost for Dallas in the series, returned to shoot free throws, making one of two before leaving at the next dead ball.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Cade Townsend dominates in Santa Margarita’s victory over Tesoro in Division 1 baseball playoffs

• May 4, 2024

Santa Margarita’s Cade Townsend pitches, holding Tesoro scoreless, during a 7-0 win in a first round CIF-SS Division 1 game between the two teams on Friday, May 3, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Contributing Photographer)

LAS FLORES – Santa Margarita pitcher Cade Townsend is projected to be an early-round MLB Draft pick this summer.

He showed why Friday. The senior right-hander threw a three-hitter with 11 strikeouts and one walk in the Eagles’ 7-0 win over Tesoro in a CIF Southern Section Division 1 first-round playoff game at Tesoro High.

Santa Margarita (20-8-1) will play at home against Gahr (18-10) in the second round Tuesday. Gahr of Cerritos beat Fullerton 5-2 on Friday.

Tesoro finished the season 17-11. The Titans, the CIF-SS Division 4 champion in 2022, was a South Coast League co-champion with Dana Hills this season.

Townsend (6-2, 180) has 87 strikeouts in 57 innings this season. He signed with Mississippi but might not get to Ole Miss if his MLB Draft results and offerings persuade him to turn pro instead.

Radar guns behind home plate had Townsend’s fastball consistently at 94 and 95 miles per hour with an occasional 96 mph. He also threw some sliders and a changeup at a velocity that would be a pretty good fastball for most high school pitchers.

“I felt like I had everything today,” Townsend said. “I was super happy with how the coaching staff and I were just committed to the game and knew what we were doing beforehand.”

Tesoro’s Christian LaMothe pulled a double down the right-field line with two outs in the first inning. Townsend then struck out the next seven Titans in a row and nine of the next 10. with an emphatic fist pump after many of them.

“He’s throwing multiple pitches for strikes,” said Santa Margarita coach Chris Malec. “That makes him very tough to beat with his competitiveness, his velocity and his passion.”

Santa Margarita scored two runs in the top of the second inning. Gavin Spiridonoff was hit by a pitch (and was plunked in the ribs on a pickoff attempt at first base) and went to third base when Blake Ankrum’s deep fly went over the head of Tesoro’s left fielder for a double.

Carter Enoch’s sacrifice fly sent home Spiridonoff and Ankrum, who advanced to third on the sacrifice fly, scored on wild pitch for a 2-0 lead.

Brady Schumaker led off the Eagles’ third inning with a double, went to third base on Ben Finnegan’s bunt single. Finnegan stole second base. Warren Gravely’s single to right-center field drove in Schumaker and Finnegan. Pinch-runner Hayden George scored on an error to make it 5-0.

Logan de Groot scored on a ground out in the fifth inning. Schumacher singled in Andre Owens in the sixth to complete the scoring.

The Eagles had five steals Friday.

“We have some athletes and team speed,” Malec said. “That helps us move things around.”

Santa Margarita beat Gahr 4-2 in the Prep Baseball California tournament in February and lost to Gahr 4-3 in the National Classic tournament last month.

The Eagles advanced to the CIF-SS Division 1 championship game last season. The Eagles lost to JSerra 1-0 then won the CIF Southern California Regional Division I championship.

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​ Orange County Register 

Damien’s season ends with loss to Mater Dei in CIF-SS baseball playoffs

• May 4, 2024

LA VERNE – The season came to a screeching halt for the Damien baseball team Friday with a 5-0 loss to visiting Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.

“That’s never the way you want to end a season,” Spartans coach A.J. LaMonde said. “But I’m really proud of our team. We battled our way past an early bump in the road and we had our chances but didn’t execute the way we wanted.”

The Baseline League champions ran into a buzzsaw against Mater Dei’s UCLA-bound pitcher Wylan Moss, who struck out six and allowed only four hits while picking up his sixth win of the season.

The Monarchs scored three runs in the second inning, taking advantage of a hit batter, a wild pitch and a perfectly executed sacrifice by shortstop Braden Ruiz.

Sam Tucci singled to lead off the inning and Dylan Wetzel was hit by a pitch before the Ruiz sacrifice bunt.

Lawson Olmstead followed with a single that drove in one run and Antonio Ganem doubled in another.

That brought in Spartans reliever Nathan Ries, who gave up a sacrifice fly but struck out six Monarchs and held them to one hit until the seventh inning.

Mater Dei advances to Tuesday’s second round. It will be home against No. 1 Corona, which beat El Dorado 1-0 Friday.

“Playoff baseball is crazy,” Monarchs coach Richard Mercado said. “Their guy was a little erratic early but we scrapped a couple of runs in the second and we always feel if we score first with Wylan on the mound, we have a great chance to win. Once you put a couple on the board it puts the other team on defense.”

Ganem led the Monarchs with three hits and made a running catch and crashed into the center field fence on a deep drive by the Spartans’ Nikko Paoletto.

“He’s a fantastic defender,” Mercado said. “Probably one of the best out there, maybe a right-handed Jim Edmonds. That was a fantastic play for a high school kid.”

The Spartans (16-11-1) didn’t get a hit until Jason Kidder singled with one out in the third.

They had a chance to get back in the game in the fifth inning when Ty Trancredi led off with a double. Devin Perez reached on an infield single with Trancredi holding at third.

An attempted safety squeeze went back to the pitcher and Trancredi was caught in a rundown.

Moss got a strike out and a flyout to get out of the jam and that was it for the Spartans.

“Those three runs in the second gave us a lot of confidence,” Moss said. “That (catch by Ganem) was a crazy play. The ball went up and kept going and it was a crazy catch. It’s good to have that defense. Other than the first inning and that inning they got runners on first and second, I thought I was really efficient today.”

The Monarchs picked up a couple of insurance runs in the seventh inning when Connors drove in two runs.

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​ Orange County Register