HISTORY LESSON FROM THE CITY OF ANGELS

The players from Los Angeles attend schools from the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Los Angeles City Section. The City Section was once affiliated with the Los Angeles United School District. In 1917, the LA city schools were a part of the Southern Section but in 1935 they broke away to form their own CIF section. The City Section reaches along the Pacific Coast and east into the San Fernando Valley baseball-centric towns such as Reseda and Woodland Hills. The City Section sponsors 17 sports in three seasons and is proud of its long baseball tradition.

SCOUTING REPORT

The California squad leans heavily on the experience of players from the Class of 2020 and head coach Matt Mowry, who has guided Birmingham (Lake Balboa) to four CIF-City Section titles in the last six seasons. More than half of the roster achieved All-City Section this spring. Mowry will have the luxury of triumvirate of his players in Chicago, including Domenik Cervantes (.350), Erik Rivas (.310, 19 RBI) and hurler Gavino Rosales-Espinoza (1.52 ERA). Banning’s Anthony Joya (7-5, 1.64) struck 135 in 72.2 innings. Josh Hernandez (.441 OBP) of Marshall is the batter at the top of the order who drew 25 walks and rapped 28 hits and Vicente Vargas Casiano of Vaughn scored 33 runs and added 35 hits. Isaiah Velazco of Granada Hills batted .319 and drove in 23 runs. At 6’4”, 230 lbs. Ivan Blanco (8-3) of Roybal L.C had 70 strikeouts and batted .375. SS Joshua Duarte of San Pedro (Miami) and David Medrano of Garfield (Cal State Fullerton) have committed to big-time programs. More pitching depth is bolstered by Travis Connelly of San Pedro, who had five complete games and seven wins. Nathaniel Flores (4-0, 2.40) and Vincent Esparza of Kennedy (2.25 ERA, .423 batting average). The heart of the order will feature slugger David Felix of Maywood CES, who homered seven times and knocked in 35 runs.

2019 CITY SECTION SEASON

The CIF-City Section crowned two of four baseball champions on May 25 at Dodger Stadium: Birmingham (Open Division); Harbor City Narbonne (Division I); Granada Hills Valley Academy of the Arts or VAAS (Division II) and Vaughn (Division III). Birmingham became the third City Section team to capture a third straight Open Division title, topping Palisades, 9-5. The Patriots were up 5-0 but Palisades evened it in the fourth. Kevin Olmos laced three RBI singles and David Velazquez ripped a two-run double to clinch a Valley school’s 46th upper division baseball title in the last 47 years. In Division I, sophomore DJ Orona whiffed seven and shortstop Julio Camarena had a two-run single as Narbonne beat Marshall, 4-0. At USC’s Rod Dedeaux Field, Rasheed Bilal went 3-for-4 with two RBI and scored the go-ahead run in VAAS’s 5-2 win over South Gate in Division II on June 1. Elsewhere, Vaughn, a school with less than 300 students, won its second consecutive Division III crown, defeating Maywood CES, 6-5. Senior starter Ismael De Haro went four innings allowing two runs and striking out three to pick up the win.

2019 ROSTER