This post was originally published on this site
St. John Bosco’s baseball team celebrates after winning the regional title Saturday. (PHOTOS: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).
Top-seeded St. John Bosco’s baseball team completed what head coach Andy Rojo referred to as the “triple crown of championships” as the Braves defeated visiting Patrick Henry of San Diego 4-0 in Saturday’s CIF So Cal Division I Regional championship game.
Last month, the Braves won the Trinity League title and eight days ago St. John Bosco captured the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship game by defeating Santa Margarita.
The Braves have won 19 consecutive games and finished the season with a 16-1 home record. St. John Bosco is ranked No. 1 in the Southern Section, No. 1 in California and No. 3 in the nation, according to Maxpreps.
Patrick Henry (23-11-2) was attempting to win its first So Cal regional title in school history.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
“I’ve run out of words to explain the run this team has been on,” said Rojo. “We haven’t lost a game in two months. It’s unbelievable and truly unprecedented, winning the triple crown, the Trinity League, the Southern Section Division 1 title and now the Division I regional state championship. I think we should be in the conversation for a national championship.”
The Braves (30-4) got dominant pitching from freshmen Brayden Krakowski and closer Jack Champlin. The Patriots only managed three hits and did not advance a base runner past second in the game.
“It’s my first year with the team and I felt from day one these guys would grind it out,” said Krakowski, who was relieved by Champlin with two outs in the fifth inning. “My fastball and slider were working well and I just let the defense take care of the rest.”
“Brayden’s job today was to get 14 outs and then it was my job to finish it,” said Champlin, who started the game at third base. “When I come in, I must have the mindset that I’m the best pitcher on the mound. It’s not being conceited, it’s being confident. You need to be confident to be able to pitch at a high level like this and be successful and I have my teammates to thank for that.”
The Braves 1-2-3 hitters, James Clark, Jayden Jackson, and Noah Everly supplied the lion’s share of the offense, and they did it in the first two innings. The trio accounted for four hits, three runs, two RBI and three stolen bases.
St. John Bosco jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. The speedy Clark led off with a triple down the right field line. Following a walk to Jackson, Everly drilled an RBI single to left, giving the Braves a 1-0 lead. Two outs later, Clark was singled home by his brother, Miles Clark, as St. John Bosco upped its lead to 2-0.
The Braves added two more runs in the second inning on the strength of an RBI double by Clark and an RBI single by Jackson to increase its lead to 4-0.
“It’s hard to put it in words what we have accomplished, but today we went out and executed,” said Clark, who along with his brother, Miles, is committed to playing college baseball at Princeton. “We like to get out early and punch teams in the mouth and get ahead. What we’ve done as a team is set a wonderful legacy and it has been iconic.”
“It’s special what we’ve done; you can’t make this stuff up,” said Jackson, who is a UCLA-commit. “From the start, this team had an edge.”
Krakowski gave up three hits and walked one batter. He was relieved by Champlin with two outs in the top of the fifth inning. The Patriots best opportunity to score came in the first inning when they had two runners on base with two outs.
However, Krakowski retired Tyson Bobo on an infield groundout to end the inning. In the top of the fifth inning, Patrick Henry’s DH, Jayden Goldman, roped what appeared to be a double to the left center field fence. However, the Braves appealed that Goldman missed first base and the umpire agreed, and Goldman was ruled out.
Champlin retired all seven batters he faced to close out the win and give the Braves a regional championship.
No. 7 seeded Patrick Henry (23-11-2) won the Western League this season and reached the San Diego CIF Division 1 final, before losing to Granite Hills. The Patriots’ defeated No. 2 seeded Santa Margarita and No. 3 seeded Crespi in the first two rounds of the regional tournament to advance to the finals. Patrick Henry won 10 of their last 13 games.
“We started off a bit slow this season, but we came around and started playing good baseball,” said Patriots Coach Sheldon Watkins. “We play in the best conference in San Diego, the Western League. We know Bosco won the Trinity League, the best league in the nation, so we knew what we were up against.”
Notes:
—-Andy Rojo: “Prior to the game, I told our guys that winning a third title in the same year is an incredible feat. I took the approach of trying to minimize all that stuff. We’ve told the guys that if they go out and do what they’ve been doing for the last two months, stay to your same routines and if we play clean at the end of the day, we can live with the results.
“I think after we swept OLu in the first series of the Trinity League this season that it sent an overall message to the guys that we can compete with anybody. Their confidence grew and it was a turning point for us, and they realized that they could compete with anybody.”
—-The Braves won the Southern California Regional Division III last year, defeating Bakersfield Christian. The Patriots reached the regional semifinals in 2023 but lost to Bakersfield Christian.
—-An inquiry prior to Saturday’s game turned up six current St. John Bosco players reside in Orange County: (Jhett Ohira (Los Alamitos), Alex Campos (Fullerton), Aiden Olguin (Cypress), Micah Taguiam (Huntington Beach), and James and Miles Clark (Anaheim).
—Entering Saturday’s game, St. John Bosco shortstop, James Clark led the Braves with a .404 batting average and runs scored (27).
—The Braves last loss (10-5) was to Santa Margarita on April 8.
—Two Patrick Henry players have committed to playing Division 1 college baseball next season (Cody Cappelletti/St. Mary’s and Kayden Henson/UC San Diego).