The No. 1-ranked Corona High baseball team has started the season with eight shutouts in nine games. And that’s no fluke.
With ace Seth Hernandez on the mound, the Panthers advanced to the Boras Classic semifinals with a 5-0 win over Santa Margarita on Wednesday at JSerra. Hernandez struck out 13 in 6-1/3 innings. Twice Santa Margarita had runners at third against Hernandez, but he either overpowered the Eagles with his fastball or got key outs with his breaking stuff. In 19-1/3 innings, Hernandez has given up no runs, struck out 40 and walked two.
Corona pitchers have thrown five consecutive shutouts and given up one run all season. The state record for consecutive shutouts by a team is seven set by Chino Pleasant Valley in 1957 and tied by San Francisco El Camino in 1977, according to CalHiSports.com.
Joshua Hur hit a home run, Trey Ebel had a two-run double and Ethan Bingaman contributed an RBI triple. Corona (9-0) will play in Thursday’s 6 p.m. semifinal at JSerra. Hayden George struck out eight in five innings for Santa Margarita, which got four hits off Hernandez.
The other semifinal will have La Mirada at Mater Dei.
La Mirada 4, Huntington Beach 1: The Matadores (8-1) advanced to the Boras Classic semifinals by handing Huntington Beach its first defeat. Kevin Jeon hit two home runs and finished with three RBIs. Luke Armijo threw five innings and Jason Rodriguez got the save. La Mirada’s only loss is to Corona.
JSerra 3, Vista Murrieta 2: Max Reimers struck out 11 and gave up one hit in six innings for JSerra.
Mater Dei 11, Carlsbad 4: Brandon Thomas finished with three hits and two RBIs to keep Mater Dei (10-0) unbeaten in a quarterfinal game of the Boras Classic. Sophomore Austin Gerken had three RBIs without getting a hit. He drove in runs with a walk and two sacrifice flies.
Bishop Alemany 4, St. Francis 1: Franky Magaña threw three shutout innings of relief for Alemany.
Crespi 5, Loyola 3: Tyler Walton struck out 10 in a complete game and Landon Hodge contributed three hits to help Crespi improve to 12-0.
Sierra Canyon 10, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 4: Teddy Levin had two hits and four RBIs for Sierra Canyon.
Harvard-Westlake 4, Chaminade 2: Justin Kirchner struck out seven in six innings and Miguel Villegas went three for three to lead the Wolverines.
Aquinas 7, Birmingham 2: Johnny Tena and Mason Greenhouse each hit home runs for Aquinas.
Ayala 5, Cypress 3: Jaden Valenzuela and Aidan Erlandsen hit home runs for Ayala in a Boras Classic consolation game.
Gahr 16, Paloma Valley 1: Bryce Morrison had a home run and triple to lead Gahr.
Narbonne 6, San Pedro 2: Sophomore Evan Mora threw a complete game for Narbonne. Ami Rodriguez and Raul Izquierdo each had two hits.
Cleveland 12, Taft 2: Miles Garcia had two hits and two RBIs for Cleveland.
El Camino Real 11, Chatsworth 1: Luke Howe struck out nine in a complete game for ECR.
Simi Valley 6, La Palma Kennedy 1: Greg Lopez had two hits and Kyle Casey struck out four in six innings for the Pioneers.
Foothill 8, Utah Layton 0: Gavin Lauridsen continued his dominating pitching, striking out 12 while giving up one hit in six innings for Foothill.
Anaheim Canyon 5, Villa Park 1: Sophomore Kemuel Zhang struck out seven and walked none in a complete game for Canyon.
El Dorado 4, Oregon West Linn 3: Brady Abner delivered the walk-off hit in the bottom of the seventh for El Dorado. Diego Gonzalez had a home run.
Orange Lutheran 1, Granada Hills 0: Gary Morse struck out 16 with no walks and allowed two hits.
Softball
Granada Hills 5, La Cañada 0: Jocelyn Jimenez went four for four and Addison Moorman struck out 12 and threw a one-hitter.
San Pedro 5, Peninsula 3: Caroline Baker struck out 14 for San Pedro.
