High school baseball playoffs: Ace pitchers come through in Division 1 openers

If you wanted to win a first-round Southern Section Division 1 baseball playoff game on Thursday, you had to beat an ace pitcher. The aces didn’t let teams down but also needed some hitting help.

Jared Jones threw a shutout, but he also had to hit a home run and needed another home run from Darius Perry in La Mirada’s 2-0 win over Dana Hills.

Lucas Gordon of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame threw a shutout but benefited from a two-run home run from Diego Baquiero in the Knights’ 2-0 win over Dos Pueblos.

Max Rajcic threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings as No. 1-seeded Orange Lutheran defeated San Clemente 3-0. Chad Born and Caden Connor each had two hits.

Tyler Heaton of Yucaipa improved to 10-1, striking out five and allowing two hits in his team’s 4-0 win over Edison.

Marcus Johnson of Etiwanda threw a six-hit shutout in the Eagles’ 7-0 win over Corona. Max Clark hit two doubles and Matt Bardowell had a home run.

Dylan Dennis had a two-run, two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the sixth to lift Mira Costa past JSerra 3-2. Gage Jump, a sophomore pitcher, held Mira Costa to no hits and no runs for 5 2/3 innings before being pulled because of having thrown 95 pitches.

Sam Hliboki struck out 13 in Harvard-Westlake’s 7-1 win over Valencia. George Cooper had three hits and three RBIs.

Ayla scored two runs in the eighth inning to defeat Vista Murrieta 5-3. Jacob Badawi had three hits.

Cypress defeated Servite 5-2. Brett Wozniak threw 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Ethan Hoopingarner had a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth in Aliso Niguel’s 3-2 win over Chaminade. He finished with four hits. Quinn Mathews struck out four in two hitless innings of relief. Timmy Davoren of Chaminade held Aliso Niguel to two runs in 6 1/3 innings.

Capistrano Valley defeated Beckman 8-5. Nathan Benefeito had three hits.

Cole Danaher allowed one hit in six innings in El Toro’s 8-0 win over South Hills. Deangelo Yepez went four for five with three RBIs.

Edward Pelc and Josh Hahn combined on the shutout in Huntington Beach’s 1-0 win over Moorpark. Noah Mattera allowed five hits in defeat.

Jacob Vargas threw six shutout innings in Bishop Amat’s 7-0 win over El Dorado. Blake Archuleta had three hits.

Trent Bird threw 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief in West Ranch’s 3-2 win over Foothill. The Camacho twins, Ryan and Jovan, each had two hits.

Next Tuesday’s second-round matchups: Orange Lutheran at Etiwanda; Studio City Harvard-Westlake at Chino Hills Ayala; Aliso Niguel at Lake Forest El Toro; La Puente Bishop Amat at Huntington Beach; La Mirada at Palm Desert; Notre Dame at Mira Costa; Yucaipa at Valencia West Ranch; Cypress at Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley.

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