Harvard-Westlake tops Orange Lutheran in semifinal

ENCINO » Orange Lutheran and Harvard-Westlake had played each other twice during the regular season prior to their matchup in the CIF-SS Division 1 semifinals on Tuesday at O’Malley Family Field.

Orange Lutheran, the No. 3 seed, did not face the Wolverines’ freshman pitching ace Bryce Rainer in either of those contests.

But the Lancers saw plenty of Rainer on Tuesday and couldn’t do much against the right-hander.

With a fastball in the low 90s and an exceptional curve ball, Rainer allowed just four hits while going the distance, walked one batter and had nine strikeouts in a 3-2 victory over the Lancers.

Harvard-Westlake (284), the No. 2 seed, advances to the D1 final against No. 1 JSerra. The game will likely be played Saturday night at Cal State Fullerton.

“It’s a bummer to see,” Orange Lutheran coach Eric Borba. “This group has put in so much and been through so much. (We) set a school record for wins. It’s just been an unbelievable ride. It’s funny how one day, a couple of hours, can change everything.”

The Wolverines scored all three of their runs in the first two innings.

With two outs in the top off the first, Ben Markinson hit a solo home run.

David Lozano and George Cooper delivered RBI singles in the second for Harvard-Westlake’s second and third runs.

With two outs in the second, Chris Canada relieved Lancers starter Louis Rodriguez and kept the Wolverines off the board the rest of the way, notching six strikeouts over four innings.

With two outs in the third, the Lancers’ Ben Reiland walked, stole second and scored on a single by Justin DeCriscio for the Lancers’ first run.

The score was 3-1 heading into the seventh when Max Andeel singled home Matthew Polk for Orange Lutheran’s second run.

Orange Lutheran had the tying and go-ahead runs on second and third with two outs, but Rainer struck out pinch hitter Richard Tejada to seal the victory.

“This was a great opportunity for him to play against such an opponent in a game of this magnitude and he did well,” Wolverines coach Jared Halpert said of Rainer. “You never really know how a kid is going to act until you are in a situation. He’s been in that situation that late all year long. So to see him come through and perform like that is special.”

Thanks to two double plays, Rainer faced only one batter over the minimum through six innings.

“We’ve known about Rainer for a long time,” Borba said. “He’s a great player. To do what he did and to be as composed as he was in a game like this says a lot about him.”