UCLA and USC baseball are proving to be among the top programs in the nation this year thanks for an influx of talent from Southern California high schools.
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I'm Eric Sondheimer. It's a big week in local college baseball with No. 1-ranked UCLA hosting USC in a three-game series that will feature lots of high school graduates from Southern California.
Let's exam. The West Coast doesn't seem to receive a whole lot of respect in the college baseball world, but UCLA is 25-2 and ranked No. 1. USC is 26-3 and both teams are relying on lots of Southern California high school products. They meet in a three-game series beginning Friday at Jackie Robinson Stadium. UCLA announced on Monday it's already sold out except for a limited number of student tickets. Since Orange Lutheran won the National High School Invitational on Saturday in Cary, N.C., it's about time to respect the talent high schools are producing in Southern California. UCLA's ace pitcher for Friday's opener is Logan Reddemann, who was a standout at Quartz Hill. USC's ace pitcher is left-hander Mason Edwards, an All-City player from Palisades who's 5-0 with an 0.67 ERA. UCLA's relievers have been lights out and include Wylan Moss from Mater Dei, Zach Strickland from Maranatha, Easton Hawk from Granada Hills, Jack O'Connor from Palos Verdes, Justin Lee from Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and Chris Grothues from Servite. Freshman Angel Cervantes from Warren has been a midweek starter. When it comes to hitting, the player with the best batting average for the Bruins is Ocean View High graduate Mulivai Levu at .378. Will Gasparino from Harvard-Westlake has 12 home runs. Roman Martin from Servite is hitting .343 and had six RBIs against Iowa on Sunday. Dean West from Sherman Oaks Notre Dame is the leadoff man. Phoenix Call from Calabasas has been surging at the plate. Freshman Dominic Cadiz from Notre Dame is at .288 with two home runs, including a grand slam. For USC, other pitchers contributing include Grant Govel from Palos Verdes, freshman Diego Velazquez from Crespi, freshman Gavin Lauridsen from Foothill, Andrew Johnson from Capistrano Valley, Paul Grossman from Irvine Northview, Ben Cushnie from West Ranch, Garren Rizzo from Palos Verdes and freshman Cameron Fauset from Newbury Park. Among the hitters, Maximo Martinez from Mira Costa leads the team with a .333 batting average. Other contributors are Adrian Lopez from Ganesha, Augie Lopez from Loyola, Abbrie Covarrubias from Cypress, Isaac Cadena from El Dorado, Dean Carpentier from Huntington Beach, Andrew Lamb from JSerra and Richard Tejeda from Orange Lutheran. As you can see, both programs are thriving with Southern California players as key parts of their talent pool. It doesn't get more exciting than the news that Olympian Quincy Wilson, who was 16 years old when he won a gold medal as a member of the 2024 4x400 relay team, is coming to town to compete at the Arcadia Invitational on April 11 at Arcadia High. He's scheduled to run in the 400 and the 4x100 and 4x400 relays with his team, Bullis High from Maryland. That sets up the opportunity for some amazing times because Servite has been running fast in both relays early in the season. Here's the report. At the Simi Valley Invitational, the Notre Dame 4x100 relay team of Nikko Petronocolis, Quincy Hearn, Beckham Borquez and Emmanuel Pullins recorded a school-record time of 40.76 seconds. Notre Dame is scheduled to host Loyola on Tuesday in a top dual meet at 2 p.m. Jaden Griffin of Newbury Park won the 200 in 21.36. Defending state champion JJ Harel of Notre Dame made his season high jump debut, going 6-foot-8. That qualifies him for the Arcadia Invitational. In girls, Jadamarie McDuffie of Lakewood St. Joseph won the 100 in 11.75 and the 200 in 23.82. Rich Gonzalez, the meet director for the Arcadia Invitational, will begin seeding athletes this week. The Michelle Carew Classic, hosted by Anaheim Canyon and played at Peralta Park in Anaheim, begins on Wednesday. Rosary is the defending champion. Norco is the favorite. Marina's Mia Valbuena struck out 16 in a 2-1 win over Los Alamitos. Sister Avi had the game-winning hit in the seventh. Audrina Tinoco of St. Bonaventure has hit eight home runs this season. Santa Margarita pulled off a Trinity League surprise with a 1-0 win over JSerra. Here's the Southern California top 20 rankings. Orange Lutheran has taken over the No. 1 spot in The Times' top 25 rankings after winning four consecutive games to win the National High School Invitational in Cary, N.C. The Lancers showed off outstanding pitching, starting with Gary Morse striking out 16 in their opener. Connor Sides, a transfer from Red Bluff High and Louisiana State commit, made his debut with five innings. It sets up Orange Lutheran to play St. John Bosco in a three-game series this week to perhaps decide the Trinity League champion. They play Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Hart Park, 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Hart Park and 1:30 p.m. on Thursday at St. John Bosco. The best individual performance of the week belongs to Jake Ange of Thousand Oaks. He hit two grand slams in a 16-4 win over Calabasas. Corona took two of three games against Corona Santiago. Here's the report from Santiago's win, then Corona's comeback win. Anthony Murphy hit two home runs. La Mirada swept Gahr in a three-game series to take control of the Gateway League race. There was a surprise in the West Valley League. Birmingham lost twice to El Camino Real and Cleveland. El Camino Real lost to Granada Hills. Those defeats open the way for Bell to gain the No. 1 seed for the City Section Open Division playoffs if the Eagles can win out. The championship game will be played on May 23 at Dodger Stadium. El Camino Real's win over Birmingham provided a confidence boost. Here's the report. The Glassman twins from El Camino Real have been helping the baseball and softball teams. Here's the report. Monroe is off to a 13-1 start led by pitcher Miguel Gonzalez. Here's a look at Gonzalez, a four-year starter. Call it unique and unprecedented in Southern California. Three volleyball players from the same team — Redondo Union — are headed to MIT. Here's the story on how it happened and their personalities to make it happen. It was a big week for Redondo Union, which upset No. 1 Mira Costa in a five-set match. Here's the report. Loyola traveled to Florida to face two top teams from the East Coast and came away victorious with wins over Marin Catholic 9-6 and Jupiter 12-6. Here's the boys rankings in the Southern Southern from LAXnumbers. Santa Margarita is ranked No. 1 in girls. The All-City boys and girls basketball teams have been announced. Here's the link to honorees... Here's the link to the long and deserving list of Southern Section academic award winners... Servite baseball player John Sullivan has committed to UCLA... Defensive back Myles Baker from Sierra Canyon has committed to California... Defensive back Danny Lang from Mater Dei has committed to USC... Hawthorne has named Jazmin Gamble football coach. She becomes a rare female head football coach for an 11-man team. She played in the WNFC and has been a trainer... Daniel Falkenstein is the new football coach at Diamond Ranch. He had been an assistant at Orange Coast College... Offensive lineman Drew Fielder from Servite has committed to USC... Pitcher Henry Tunney of Palos Verdes has committed to Yale... Linebacker Josiah Poyer of St. John Bosco has committed to USC. In the 1970s, Mark Wulfemeyer set a state basketball career scoring record for Troy High at 2,608 points. That was before there was three-point shots. He also was an outstanding baseball player. Now his grandson, Warren Wulfemeyer, is the starting shortstop as a sophomore at Santa Margarita. Here's a story from 1991 updating what Wulfemeyer had done after high school. Here's a story from 1996 when he was inducted into the Orange County Hall of Fame. From the Seattle Times, a story on why basketball coach Brandon Roy was let go last September. From SI.com, a look at freshmen making an impact during USC spring football practices. From On3.com, a story on states splitting private and public schools around the country. From Plt4.com, a story on a high school in Bakersfield trying to get kids to use P.E. lessons. Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer. 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