After spending one year on the freshman team and another year on junior varsity, Devin Gonor was an unknown left-handed pitcher when he made his varsity debut for El Camino Real last season. He beat Crespi, the defending Southern Section Division 2 champion, serving notice of a bright future.
There he was standing on the mound at Dodger Stadium on Saturday afternoon asked to deliver a 10th City Section championship for El Camino Real. He came through with a performance that will put him on a equal pedestal with all the great ECR players of the past, such as major leaguers Randy Wolf, Connor Jackson and Kurt Birkins.
“It’s amazing. I can’t even describe it,” Gonor said after the final out had been recorded.
Gonor threw a three-hit shutout in the Royals’ 2-0 victory over Venice in the Open Division championship game. It was a breakthrough senior season in which he went 11-1 and ended with shutouts over Birmingham and the Gondoliers. He’s committed to Concordia University in Nebraska.
“I grew up coming to Dodger Stadium watching Clayton Kershaw and Cody Bellinger,” he said. “To be on the same field, it’s something you can only dream of.”
Venice (28-3) came in as the No. 1 seed but could get little going against Gonor, who struck out five and walked two.
“Oh my Gosh, Devin was incredible,” catcher Adan Viner said. “I expected nothing less. He was heavily using his change-up.”
El Camino Real (23-8) scored in the third inning for a 1-0 lead on a Luke Howe sacrifice fly with the bases loaded. An error on a ground ball allowed Luigi Tanner to reach base. There were two walks before Howe, El Camino Real’s best hitter, lifted a fly ball to left field for the RBI.
The Royals added another run in the seventh on a walk, sacrifice and RBI triple from pinch hitter RJ De La Rosa Noel Moreno pitched well for Venice, allowing only an unearned run until leaving the game in the seventh.
For coach Josh Lienhard, his team won 18 consecutive games against City Section opponents, relying on his outstanding pitching staff that also included Howe and Christian Gastelum, who performed well Saturday at first base catching throws in the dirt from the infielders.
El Camino Real ties Chatsworth for most City baseball titles at 10. It was the Royals’ first title since 2016.
There were 4,200 tickets sold between the Division I game won by Carson 3-1 over Banning and the afternoon final. All four teams are expected to compete in the Southern California regionals in two weeks.
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