The surprising and youthful Culver City High School baseball team advanced to the semifinals after a 4-1 win at University High School in Irvine in the CIF-Southern Section Division III quarterfinals last Friday.
The Centaurs were led by junior pitcher Lukas O’Connor, who tossed a complete game four-hitter.
Culver City, which improved to 16-12-1 overall, also featured strong defense from senior third-baseman Ryan Mulvihill.
“We’re getting key hits, pitching intelligently and playing good team ball,” said head coach Rick Prieto. “The players continue to meet the challenge.”
The win sent the Centaurs into the semifinals on Tuesday to host Irvine Woodbridge, a 9-0 winner over Rialto in the quarterfinals at Woodbridge. A Culver City win would pit them against either top-seeded Bonita or Irvine Beckman for the program’s first-ever championship, which would be held at Dodger Stadium today at 4:30 p.m.
Culver City advanced to the quarterfinals by way of a 9-5 second-round win over third-seeded Paramount on last Thursday at Culver City.
The Centaurs started fast, taking a 9-0 lead through five innings.
The Pirates made it interesting with five runs in the top of the sixth but relief pitcher O’Connor came in to shut them down in the top of the seventh.
Run-scoring singles from George Aceves and Skylar Blocker helped Culver City take a commanding 5-0 lead, and the Centaurs upped it to six runs as Blocker scored on a bases-loaded walk to freshman second baseman Darian Sylvester.
O’Connor drove in a run with a triple and Christopher Caines and Bradley each had RBI singles to give Culver City a nine-run cushion in the bottom of the fifth.
In the top of the sixth, starting pitcher Tyler Mark got into trouble as Paramount cut the Centaurs’ lead to four runs.Mark was replaced by sophomore reliever Mario Fragoso, then O’Connor, who struggled, as a walk to Jose Lopez and singles by Gabriel Aguilar and Luis Loya brought the tying run to the plate in Frank Valenzuela. Valenzuela, however, flied out to right field to end the threat.
Culver City hit the road in the quarterfinal game against University High School, broadcasted on Cox Sports Network Cable. The Centaurs scored three runs in the first inning to take the large University crowd out of the game early.
O’Connor pitched a complete game, allowing 1 run on 7 hits. Adkison went 2-for-4, and Mulvihill and Blocker each went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI.