Recap
Jared Jones pitches La Mirada baseball past Huntington Beach in Boras Classic’s first round
Huntington Beach 1, La Mirada 2
Santa Ana, CA — SANTA ANA – USC needs some good news.
Here it is: The Trojans will be getting a great pitcher.
USC-committed junior right-hander Jared Jones of La Mirada pitched the Matadores to a 2-1 win over Huntington Beach on Tuesday in the first round of the Boras Classic baseball tournament at Mater Dei High.
Jones (6-1, 175) gave up four hits, four walks and one earned run while striking out eight over 6 2/3 innings. He threw 115 pitches. Jones also had two hits and scored the winning run.
La Mirada (13-3 overall), ranked No. 5 in CIF-Southern Section Division 1, plays Mira Costa of Manhattan Beach (10-4) in the second round Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Mater Dei. Mira Costa defeated Cypress 6-2 on Tuesday.
Huntington Beach, ranked No. 4 in Division 1 and No. 3 in the Orange County, plays Cypress (13-2), the No. 1 team in the O.C. top 25, in a consolation-round game Wednesday at noon at Mater Dei.
Jones threw hard. His fastball topped out at 96 mph.
“I know my fastball was working,” Jones said. “I knew the velocity was up and the change-up was working as well to lefties and righties, and then my slider I felt was unhittable today.”
Huntington Beach took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning when Dylan Ramirez’s sacrifice fly drove in Jag Burden who led off the inning with a single.
The Matadores got their runs in the fifth. Caleb Jung reached on a one-out infield single and one out later scored on Jones’ first single and an accompanying throwing error that moved Jones to second base. Jones scored on a single by Darius Perry for the 2-1 lead.
Huntington Beach senior left-handed pitcher Josh Hahn, a UCLA signee, was good, too. He struck out seven, including the side in the fourth inning, with one walk. Oilers senior lefty Eddie Pelc pitched the seventh, struck out three and gave up two walks.
Jones was removed after his fourth walk with two outs in the seventh. La Mirada reliever Jacob Sharp ended the game by striking out Hahn.
Jones enjoyed pitching against Hahn, who he knows well from travel ball.
“It’s always fun competing against him,” said Jones of Hahn. “He’s one of the great ones in SoCal.”