HS BASE: Comeback falls short for Harvard-Westlake in D2 loss

Down by four runs and facing elimination against top-seeded Glendora, Harvard-Westlake of Studio City never gave up today in the second round of the Southern Section Div. II baseball playoffs.

Harvard-Westlake scored three runs over the final two innings and made it dramatic by bringing the potential tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh in a 5-3 loss at Franklin Field in Encino.

Down by two runs with a runner on second base, Andrew Shanfeld, who one inning earlier had hit a home run, struck out for the final out.

"This team never stopped fighting. No one gave up," Harvard-Westlake's Austin Wilson said. "We were right there at the end."

Three times during the regular season, Harvard-Westlake (17-14-1) had come back from a big disadvantage in the late innings, but this time the Wolverines ran out of miracles.

"We knew this team had a lot of toughness and a lot of resiliency, so I wasn't surprised at all at the way we tried to come back," Harvard-Westlake coach Matt LaCour said.

Glendora's Jacob Smigelski (7-0) held Harvard-Westlake to one earned run on five hits through six innings, and Joseph Winterburn pitched the final inning.

"Harvard-Westlake swings the bat well. They're a pretty good team," Smigelski said.

Harvard-Westlake was hoping to make it the quarterfinals for the first time since 2003.

"Glendora executed well, they moved the runner over when they had to," Wilson said. "That's how you win games, by executing well. I have to tip my hat to them."

To qualify, Harvard-Westlake won two playoff games on the road, including a wild-card game after finishing fifth in the Mission League, as the Wolverines lasted longer than first-place Crespi of Encino and second-place Alemany, both eliminated in the first round.

"We had a good run," Wilson said.

In the bottom of the seventh, Sam Horn led off with a double before being forced out at second on good play by first baseman John Alexander. Wilson followed with a two-run double off the top of the fence in right-center field, but Winterburn got the third out by catching Shanfeld looking on a inside strike that ended the season.

Glendora (24-2-1) played errorless defense and scored on Joseph Woodward's RBI triple and sacrifice fly, Clinton Harnick's RBI single, Kyle Layton's RBI double and Jacob Cage's RBI single.

Harvard-Westlake's Lucas Giolito (5-5) pitched three-plus innings, and three relievers kept Glendora scoreless over the final three innings.

"We knew Glendora was going to be a solid team, and they were. They don't have a lot of weak spots," LaCour said. "They didn't give us anything. From this point, it's going to take a really good team to beat them."