PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Mater Dei Stops Esperanza to Reach Tournament Final

Mater Dei’s Mike McDonald gave up three hits in five innings while the rest of the Monarchs provided timely hitting and defense to post an 8-3 victory over Esperanza in a Newport Elks baseball tournament semifinal Thursday at Esperanza High School.

Mater Dei (3-0) advanced to play Tustin in Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. championship game at Tustin High School. Esperanza (2-1) will play in the third-place game.

After struggling with his curveball early, McDonald (2-0) recovered to pitch five innings, retiring 14 of the last 17 batters he faced.

“We faced a quality pitcher today,” Esperanza Coach Mike Curran said. “and when we did hit the ball well, they made all the plays defensively.”

Esperanza managed only one hit, Jason Goettsche’s fifth-inning home run, after the first.

Damon Ganier pitched hitless relief over the final two innings for Mater Dei.

The Monarchs took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first against Esperanza starter Marcus Jones. McDonald’s double to right-center scored Ryan Locanto and Toby Sanchez’s single brought home McDonald.

Esperanza countered in the bottom of the first to tie the score, 2-2, on Poncho Ruiz’s two-run home run to left.

After Mater Dei scored an unearned run in the third, Jeff Frankel’s two-run single in the top of the fourth capped a three-run inning to put the Monarchs ahead, 6-2.