CARY, N.C. - In a rematch of the 2012 USA Baseball National High School Invitational (NHSI), Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) once again prevailed over Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.) 4-0 to win back-to-back NHSI titles.
With the game still scoreless in the top of the third, Mater Dei's Josh Stephen was sent to first on a leadoff walk. Bryan Call hit a sac-bunt to send Stephen to second. Back at the top of the order, Austin Grebeck showed bunt, and the wild pitch got away from Harvard-Westlake catcher Arden Pabst to send Stephen to third. An RBI single to left field sent Stephen home. That would be the only run of the game until the sixth inning.
Ryan McMahon opened the sixth for Mater Dei with a leadoff single. Two batters later, with runners on the corners and one out, a balk call scored McMahon to extend Mater Dei's lead to two. With two outs, Stephen hit one well into right center for an RBI single that made it 3-0 in favor of Mater Dei.
In the final inning, Mater Dei scored once again on a two-out Perez RBI single to complete the shutout and claim its second NHSI championship with a 4-0 win. In 2012, Mater Dei defeated Harvard-Westlake 3-2 to take home the inaugural NHSI title.
Mater Dei's Jacob Erickson was solid at the mound giving up just four hits and one walk while recording eight strikeouts. Austin Grebeck (2-for-3, one run, one RBI) and Tyler Adkison (2-for-4) also stood strong offensively for the Monarchs. Harvard Westlake's leadoff hitter Ezra Steinberg (2-for-3) provided support for the Wolverines in the loss.
WP: Erickson, 7.0 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts
LP: Horowitz, 2.1 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 1 earned runs, 2 walks, 1 strikeout
Harvard-Westlake: 0 runs, 4 hits, 1 error
Mater Dei: 4 runs, 7 hits, 1 error