SAN DIEGO – Returning to San Diego to look to repeat as champions, BPA Rawlings took on CBA Marucci for the California World Series Underlcass Championship. CBA earned the win this year with an impressive 7-2 victory and strong pitching throughout the entire tournament.
CBA capitalized on a pair of errors to jump out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning. Luis Espinoza and Michael Paredes each singled to lead off the game. Espinoza came around to score on the first error and with the bases loaded, Matthew Brumbaugh delivered a single into left field to plate another run.
Eventual MVP Bryson Hashimoto knocked in another run with a sacrifice fly to improve the lead to 3-0 with only a pair down in the inning. Blake Dickerson singled to bring home the fourth and final run of the inning.
With that lead, CBA starter, Tyler McKinney, cruised tossing a complete game over seven innings, only running into trouble in one inning. He has an incredibly long, lean build and repeated his delivery well. McKinney located around the zone with his fastball and induced a lot of weak contact around the infield.
BPA did threaten the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning with the top of the lineup coming up for their second time through the order. Maxwell Foxcroft led the inning off with a walk and moved to third after singles by Joshua Hahn and Kyle Luckham to load the bases. Cutter Clawson delivered a two-run single up the middle. With the bases loaded again after a walk, McKinney recorded a big swinging strikeout to end the threat.
CBA came back to to the plate in the top of the fifth and added back on to their lead. Esponiza delivered another hit, this time a leadoff double. He was advanced to third and scored on a deep sacrifice fly off the bat of Max Crabbe to make it 5-2.
An inning later, CBA continued to pad their lead after Brumbaugh collected another single with one out. Hashimoto doubled down the left field line to set up a pair of runners in scoring position for Dickerson. He delivered once again with a two-run single, giving him three RBI in the game.
The rest of the game went by with little fanfare as both pitchers settled in and cruised allowing only one runner to reach base through the final inning and a half. BPA’s pitchers pitched better than their score might indicate. Joshua Hahn showed impressive velocity from just a sophomore, working in the mid 80’s and touching 87 mph. He pitched well to contact, but the defensive woes is what ultimately cost them. Cutter Clawson came in in relief and again filled the zone over four innings, working efficiently on the mound.
As noted above, Bryson Hashimoto earned MVP honors for the event with a .625/.600/.875 slash line for the weekend. He had five total hits with a pair of doubles, one RBI, three runs scored, and a stolen base.
BPA’s collective team pithing numbers were incredibly impressive. They posted a 1.30 team ERA and struck out 29 batters in 27 innings. Jack Sterner earned MVP-Pitcher honors with eight strikeouts in seven shutout innings. The win came against a very tough Trosky Baseball team in their pool play matchup.
2016 California Underclass World Series runner-up: BPA Rawlings
2016 California Underclass World Series MVP: Bryson Hashimoto
2016 California Underclass World Series MV-Pitcher: Jack Sterner
CBA and BPA choose to share Upperclass title
For the Upperclass version of the event, it was also a matchup of CBA and BPA for a second straight year. Both teams agreed to be co-champions and will split the title. BPA was led by a potent offensive attack behind highly touted PG All-American Jayson Gonzalez and Tyler Lasch. CBA was no slouch themselves with a lineup filled with high-end Division I commits, which would have set up for an exciting game.
CBA’s Tyler Hardman, an Oklahoma commit, earned MVP honors hitting .636 for the event with seven total hits on the weekend. He scored four runs and knocked in one as well. UC Santa Barbara commit Reece Weinberg took home MVP-Pitcher honors with a dominant start in pool play going seven shutout innings, allowing just four hits, and striking out 11 batters.