To say that St. John Bosco and Santa Margarita engaged in a championship baseball game on Friday night that will be remembered for a lifetime would be an understatement.
“This game was special, something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. You really had to fight for it,” said St. John Bosco left fielder Noah Everly.
It was a Southern Section Division 1 final filled with drama. Teenagers came through with big play after big play until finally in the bottom of the ninth inning, with the bases loaded, Miles Clark hit a walk-off single up the middle to give St. John Bosco a 3-2 victory and its first baseball championship before a sold-out crowd of 3,010 at Cal State Fullerton.
“It hurts a lot,” Santa Margarita coach Chris Malec said. “It was a great effort by both sides. There were so many amazing moments.”
Let’s start with Santa Margarita pitcher Brennan Bauer, who threw five scoreless innings of relief and somehow escaped twice with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh to keep the game going. First he had a 3-and-1 count to Everly and got a pop fly with one out. Then he had a 3-2 count with Moises Razo and got a fly out to the warning track.
“That’s all Brennan,” Malec said.
In 22 1/3 playoff innings, Brenann won four games and gave up one earned run.
Then there was Everly coming through with a stunning catch on the run in left field in the top of the ninth inning to prevent a Santa Margarita extra base hit with a runner on first.
“That was an extraordinary catch,” Malec said.
Said Clark: “Oh my goodness, Noah came through.”
So did Clark against relief pitcher Ethan Russell in the bottom of the ninth. Bauer had run out of innings, having reached his 10-inning max after throwing five innings against Crespi in the semifinals. Russell walked Razo on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases, setting the stage for Clark.
“We were locked in the whole game,” Clark said. “We didn’t lose our mental focus. I kept telling my guys we have to stay focused.”
Razo had a two-run double in the first inning to give the Braves an early lead. Santa Margarita took advantage of an error and closed it to 2-1 in the second on Brody Schumaker’s second hit. The Eagles tied tied it at 2-2 in the fifth with a squeeze bunt by Blake Ankrum, the third sacrifice of the game.
After Gavin Cervantes started on the mound and freshman Brayden Krakowski pitched into the sixth inning, St. John Bosco turned to its closer, Jack Champlin, who was magnificent. In four scoreless innings, he gave up one hit with four strikeouts. At one point, a Santa Margarita batter appeared to challenge Champlin after the count went to 3-0. Champlin struck him out, unleashing a fist pump.
St. John Bosco ended up being the most consistent team in the Southland for the 2025 season. The Braves went 27-4 and became the first Trinity League champion to win a Division 1 title. All the other Trinity League teams that have won Division 1 never won the league title. And beating top-seeded Corona 2-0 on Tuesday was quite an accomplishment itself.
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