Baseball: Jacob Erickson delivers in Mater Dei’s championship win
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Senior left-hander Jacob Erickson didn’t just come through for Santa Ana Mater Dei in Saturday’s championship game of the National High School Invitational in Cary, N.C.
He exceeded expectations and then some, throwing a complete game in the Monarchs’ 4-0 victory over Studio City Harvard-Westlake. He struck out eight, walked one and allowed four hits.
It was the second consecutive year the Monarchs (10-1) had beaten Harvard-Westlake (11-3) in the final thousands of miles away from Southern California.
Center fielder Austin Grebeck was a major contributor, getting an RBI single in the third and making a terrific catch in the outfield. Josh Stephen had an RBI single in the sixth and Brandon Perez had an RBI single in the seventh. Grebeck and Tyler Adkison finished with two hits apiece. Ezra Steinberg had two htis for Harvard-Westlake.
Mater Dei will have little time to celebrate. The Monarchs return to Southern California and begin play on Tuesday at home against Hart in the 16-team Boras Classic that could have an even stronger field than the NHSI.
-- Eric Sondheimer