Baseball: Tim Josten pitches West Ranch into Southern Section Division 1 semifinals

West Ranch Coach Casey Burrill has lots of confidence in Tim Josten, a junior pitcher committed to Cal State Fullerton. Even when the situation got tough in a Division 1 semifinal game against El Toro in the bottom of the seventh inning, he stuck with Josten. And Josten delivered.

West Ranch held on for a 2-1 victory over No. 2-seeded El Toro to advance to Tuesday’s semifinals at Blair Field in Long Beach. West Ranch will play Murrieta Mesa, a 6-4 winner over Orange Lutheran. Austin Salcedo and Zac Filos had two hits apiece for Murrieta Mesa. Filos pitched the final five innings in relief.

Josten struck out five and allowed five hits. He took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh. El Toro scored a run and had the bases loaded with two outs when Josten got the final out on a fielder’s choice. Austin Hernandez had an RBI single for West Ranch, a winner in 17 of its last 18 games.

In another upset, Harvard-Westlake, the third-place finisher from the Mission League, advanced to the semifinals with a 5-3 win over No. 4-seeded Cypress. The big blow was a three-run home run by Leo Kaplan in the first inning. Kaplan finished with two hits and four RBIs.

Royce Lewis had a double, RBI single and RBI sacrifice fly in JSerra’s 13-1 win over Hart. JSerra will play Harvard-Westlake in the semifinals. Collin Quinn (12-0) needed to pitch just four innings. Brady Shockey, Mark Manskar, Colin Townsend and Micah Pries had two hits each.

In Division 2, Redondo got a three-run home run from Jacob Springman in a 9-2 win over Culver City. Damien knocked off Mission Viejo, 7-3. Harrison Spohn had a home run and three RBIs. Nick Lodolo got the pitching victory.

In Division 3, Jeremiah Estrada struck out 13 in Palm Desert’s 5-1 win over El Segundo. Beckman defeated Righetti, 3-1. Jack Wiese struck out six. Aharon Modlin hit a two-run home run and finished with three hits and five RBIs in Woodbridge’s 8-1 win over Bishop Amat. Jake Larson (9-3) lowered his ERA to 0.88.

In Division 4, Brent Dickey threw a complete game in St. Bonaventure’s 3-1 win over San Gorgonio.

In Division 5, Cantwell-Sacred Heart pulled out a 7-5 win over Paraclete in eight innings. Eli Vasquez had a three-run triple. Village Christian was beaten by Citrus Hill, 9-7.

In Division 6, Flintridge Prep defeated Salesian, 7-6, on a walk-off hit by Hamilton Evans. Buckley defeated Calvary Murrieta, 8-1. Eben Berg had two hits and three RBIs. Brett Super threw a no-hitter with 12 strikeouts in 2-0 win over Santa Paula.

In the City Section Division III championship game, LACES defeated Harbor Teacher, 3-1. Erik Ponce went three for three and also pitched five innings.

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