Saugus and Golden Valley win on the road; plus, scores from the second round.
For the second-consecutive season, the Trinity Classical Academy Knights advanced to the quarterfinals of the baseball playoffs following a home win Tuesday over the Troy Warriors of Fullerton in the second round of the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Division 6 championships.
“It was a good team win. It took all of us from the start of the game,” Trinity head coach Justin Stark said. “We did a great job with the coverages. The dugout had great energy. The parents in the stand had a ton of energy and overall, I thought we did the little things right.”
The Knights’ pitching staff had a big day as they limited Troy’s offense to three runs and five hits.
Junior right-hander Isaac Saroughian earned the win for the Knights after tossing three and two-thirds innings and was relieved by Asaj Ardon in the fourth inning.
In the fifth inning, the Knights threw out their ace Andrew Carlson, who ended the day on the mound for the Knights and struck out five and allowed one hit.
“I thought they were great,” Stark said on his pitching staff’s performance. “Isaac came into a big situation starting this game off and gave us every chance to win this game. And giving the ball to Andrew with the lead, you have a lot of confidence in those last couple innings with him on the mound.”
Carlson, a commit to Texas Christian University for baseball, went 1-for-2 at the plate and senior Quinn Minyard led the Knights in batting as he went 2-for-3 with two doubles.
With the win, the Knights advanced to the quarterfinals and will host again on Friday in what will be a must-win with a trip to the semifinals on the line.
The Knights are scheduled to match up with El Rancho Dons of Pico Rivera, who secured an 8-0 win over Northwood in the second round.
The contest between the Dons and Knights is scheduled for Friday at the Hart baseball complex with first pitch scheduled for 3:15 p.m.
After Tuesday’s games, here are scores from the second round:
Saugus 11, San Marino 10: The Centurions, who won in come-from-behind fashion in the first round, recaptured the late-game magic in the second game for a road win over top-seeded San Marino.
After trailing by as much as four runs, the Centurions recorded a narrow win after Matt Carta’s big day at the plate as the senior went 3-for-4 with two runs driven in and a homer.
The Centurions will hit the road again for the quarterfinals as Saugus matches up with the Rio Mesa Spartans of Oxnard.
The contest between the Centurions and Spartans is scheduled for Friday at 3:15 p.m. at Rio Mesa High School.
Golden Valley 6, Jurupa Valley 3: The Grizzlies, who won their first-ever playoff game in the first round, hit the road for the second round and matched up with the Jurupa Valley Jaguars in the Division 7 playoffs.
The Grizzlies collected nine hits across the game and tagged six runs with catcher Tyler Do having the biggest day at the plate with a double and two runs driven in.
With the win, the Grizzlies host South El Monte in the quarterfinals with first pitch scheduled for 3:15 p.m. at Golden Valley High School on Friday.
Duarte 4, Santa Clarita Christian 2: The Santa Clarita Christian Cardinals were the hosts in Tuesday’s second-round matchup against the Duarte Falcons.
But all the Cardinals’ offense was able to gather was two runs across two hits in the game and they were eliminated at home.
With the loss, the Cardinals are eliminated from the Division 8 playoffs.
