SANTA ANA – The Huntington Beach baseball team continues to live up to its high ranking.
The Oilers stayed undefeated Tuesday by beating Aquinas 4-1 in the first round of the Boras Classic South tournament at Mater Dei High.
The Oilers improved to 7-0 with the win in what some consider the best high school baseball tournament in California. It was the first loss for Aquinas (5-1) of San Bernardino.
Huntington Beach plays La Mirada (8-1) in the Boras quarterfinals Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Mater Dei.
In another quarterfinal, Santa Margarita (7-2) will face Corona (8-0) at JSerra High at 3 p.m.
The Oilers are No. 1 in the Orange County rankings. They are No. 2, behind Corona, in the Prep Baseball Report California rankings and are No. 3 in the MaxPreps.com national rankings that have Corona at No. 1.
Aquinas scored in double figures in all of its five games going into the Boras. The Falcons had outscored opponents 67-16.
Huntington Beach senior right-hander Otto Espinoza limited Aquinas to two hits in his five scoreless innings of work. Espinoza, a 6-2, 175-pound right-hander who committed to Cal, struck out seven with one walk. He retired the final eight batters he faced, four via strikeout.
Senior center fielder Trevor Goldenetz hit a two-run double. He also made an outstanding catch, sprinting to the right-center gap to snag a deep fly just as he ran into the wall in the sixth inning.
He gave right fielder Matt Haidl an assist on the catch.
“He told me I had room,” said Goldenetz, who is committed to Long Beach State. “I did have room and so I ran into the wall and I caught it.”
Junior left fielder Owen Bone drove in a run for the Oilers with an expert sacrifice bunt.
Senior third baseman Ethan Porter was 2 for 3 with a double, a single and a walk. Junior shortstop CJ Weinstein walked three times.
Espinoza said he had command of all of his pitches Tuesday.
“Usually my curveball is a pitch I struggle with,” he said. “But I was able to get it there. The slider is my good ‘out’ pitch and my fastball always lives.”
Huntington Beach took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Porter doubled and scored when Trent Grindlinger reached on an infield throwing error.
Goldenetz’s double in the fourth inning drove in Jared Grindlinger and John Petrie for a 3-0 lead.
The Oilers got their fourth run in the fifth when Trent Grindlinger was hit by a pitch. He was replaced by pinch-runner Trenton Ramirez, who moved to second base on Jayton Greer’s walk then advanced to third on Cole Clark’s fly out to deep right field. Ramirez scored on Bone’s perfectly placed bunt up the first-base line for a 4-0 lead.
Aquinas got its run on back-to-back doubles by Chase Davidson and Jason Dunham in the seventh inning.
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