CARY, N.C. - San Clemente (San Clemente, Calif.) secured its first USA Baseball National High School Invitational (NHSI) title Saturday, March 28th, with a decisive win over College Park (Pleasant Hill, Calif.), 8-3.
San Clemente opened the scoring in the second inning and never let up, pushing runs across the plate in every inning that followed. Senior Chris Puckett smacked one down the left field line to give the Tritons the 1-0 lead in the second. With a 4-1 lead in the fourth inning, Lucas Herbert hit one into right center, sending two home extending the lead 6-1. The Tritons crossed home plate once in the fifth and once in the sixth, giving them the 8-3 advantage heading into the seventh.
College Park tried to answer in the fourth, scoring their first run of the game on a wild pitch. The Falcons added two more runs in the fifth but they couldn't overcome the early deficit as San Clemente closed it out to claim the title.
"All we've been talking about is taking home that trophy," San Clemente catcher Herbert said after the game. And he made sure his team did as he went 1-for-2, with a double, a RBI and two runs scored.
Herbert's fellow teammates Puckett (2-for-3, one double and two RBIs) and Connor Sealey (2-for-3, one walk, two RBIs) also came through in the big game. College Park's Willie Maciver (1-for-4, one RBI) hit a two-run single in the fifth and Joe DeMers (1-for-2, one RBI) followed with a base hit for College's Park's final run of the game.
"This team has just been incredible all season long and throughout this tournament they just battle for each other. They have great team chemistry and I can't say enough about what they've accomplished, and I want to thank them for the ride that they've taken me on," San Clemente coach David Gellatly said.
San Clemente became the third team to take home the NHSI trophy, and the second from California. Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) took home the tournament's first two titles, and The First Academy (Orlando, Fla.) won the championship in 2014.
LP: Ian Maciver, 2IP, 4 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned runs, 2 walks WP: Tanner Lawson: 4-.1 IP, 3 hits, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts
College Park: 3 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors San Clemente: 8 runs, 9 hits, 2 errors