JSerra Baseball Digs Deep, Advances to Third Straight CIF-SS Semifinal

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After riding its starting pitching in two playoff games on back-to-back days to open the week, the JSerra baseball team dipped into the reserves on the mound and the middle of the order at the plate to raise the program’s bar for consistent excellence one step higher.

JSerra grabbed the lead with five RBI from senior Ryusei “Lou” Fujiwara in the No. 6 spot, and senior Mac Zawistoski tossed four shutout innings out of the bullpen to earn the win over Sierra Canyon, 6-3, in the CIF-SS Division 1 quarterfinals on Friday, May 12.

The defending Division 1 champion Lions advance to their third consecutive CIF-SS semifinal looking to advance to the program’s third straight CIF-SS Final. JSerra, the No. 4 seed in Division 1, will play at Corona on Tuesday, May 16.

“To do that with this group is pretty darn special,” JSerra coach Brett Kay said. “In this tournament (Division 1), it’s the hardest tournament to win. It’s the hardest tournament to advance. It’s not even remotely close to anything else. You have to be lucky, and today we were lucky. To be able to do it again, we’re not satisfied by any means. “

Corona upset No. 1 seed Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks, 2-1, in 10 innings on Friday. JSerra hosted Corona in the consolation bracket of the Boras Classic on March 14 in a 13-1 Lions win. Corona will be looking to advance to its first CIF-SS title game since 2017.

“We know Corona, the whole city is going to be there,” Kay said. “It’s going to be nasty. It’s going to be a great battle, but we’re not happy with being in the semis. They don’t allow mediocrity. They want to keep winning.”

JSerra got straight to business on Friday thanks to the bat of Fujiwara, a Washington commit from Tokyo that won the 2017 Little League World Series with his team from Kitasuna, Japan.

In the first inning, Fujiwara smacked a two-run single that scored Oregon State-committed senior Trent Caraway and Cal-committed senior Dominic Smaldino for the early 2-0 lead.

JSerra nearly got out of the third inning unscathed by Sierra Canyon, but the Lions couldn’t hold on to a diving catch attempt for the third out of the inning. The Trailblazers tied the score, 2-2, with a single on that dive attempt and a follow-up double.

However, JSerra immediately jumped back ahead in the bottom of the inning again on the swing of Fujiwara. Fujiwara laced a two-run double that scored UC Santa Barbara-committed senior Jonathan Mendez and Northwestern-committed senior Charlie Caruso to regain the two-run advantage, 4-2.

Fujiwara, batting sixth for the Lions, would add an RBI sacrifice fly in the fifth inning to go 2-for-4 on the day with five RBI.

“You don’t notice the guy, but he’s an unbelievable player that landed in our lap from Japan,” Kay said. “He came here as a shortstop, but he’s settled at second. He’s such an important cog in our lineup that you can’t look past. He’s as good as any player we’ve had.”

Caraway went 3-for-4 for the Lions with a run scored and collected his 45th hit of the season, which broke the JSerra single-season hits record previously held by 2017 MLB Draft No. 1 overall pick Royce Lewis. Mendez reached base four times on a 2-for-2 performance with a walk, a fielder’s choice and two runs scored.

On the mound, JSerra started with senior JJ Hollis, and while the Lions had long starts from Matt Champion (7 innings) and Ben Reimers (6-plus innings) in their first two playoff games, Hollis got pulled after only three innings with three runs allowed on six hits with one strikeout.

Hollis allowed two hits to open the fourth inning, and his replacement, Brodie Purcell, only faced two batters but allowed two walks, including a bases-loaded walk to hand Sierra Canyon a run.

“JJ hasn’t been JJ. It’s been a little inconsistent,” Kay said. “We liked Brodie behind. His stuff has been good. Brodie had the guy 0-2 and walked him, and the next guy 1-2 and walked him. We’ve got the depth on the mound to be able to handle that. It was more of a matchup thing. I didn’t like their swings on JJ. I felt comfortable because we had the depth.”

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Kay wouldn’t have to go to the bullpen again for the rest of the game, as the senior lefty Zawistoski held down the final four innings for JSerra.

Zawistoski entered the game with base loaded and no outs in the fourth inning, but with a fielded squeeze bunt by Caraway for an out at home and back-to-back strikeouts, Zawistoski navigated the jam and kept JSerra ahead, 4-3.

“It changed the game,” Kay said. “That allowed us to breathe a little bit.”

Zawistoski allowed just three hits and struck out four to earn the win.