BASEBALL: UCLA prospect Fried pitches team into final in North Carolina

Montclair Prep left-hander Max Fried pitched four hitless innings Saturday, walking three and striking out four to secure his second win for the AABC all-stars in a 4-2 pool-play victory over the Dixie all-stars at the USA Baseball Tournament of Stars in Cary, N.C.

Fried, a UCLA commit, has walked five and struck out five in five hitless innings for AABC, which clinched a berth in Sunday's final. After appearing in the past two games for AABC, Camarillo's Hunter Virant, another UCLA-bound talent, didn't pitch Saturday.

The PONY all-stars gave up three ninth-inning runs in a 10-9 loss to the Babe Ruth all-stars, preventing a showdown of future UCLA hurlers in Sunday's championship game with Harvard-Westlake's Lucas Giolito eligible to pitch for PONY after throwing four innings in Thursday's 13-1 victory over NABF.

Giolito could still see action in the third-place game against Dixie, with Virant a likely possibility to pitch for AABC in the final against Babe Ruth.

All three area pitchers are among the 144 players competing for spots on the U.S. 18-under national baseball team.