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Northwood Timberwolves celebrate after Friday’s win in the quarterfinals. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Northwood High School’s baseball team, behind the solid pitching of Paul Grossman and the clutch hitting of Joseph Harper and Carter Liu, notched a 1-0 victory over Citrus Hill in the CIF Division 5 quarterfinals Friday in front of a big crowd at Northwood.
The top-seeded Timberwolves (15-15-1 overall) advance into the semifinals Tuesday to face St. Anthony in Long Beach. It’s the first time since 2004 when Northwood, coached by Rob Stuart, reached the semifinals.
Northwood is in pursuit of its first CIF title in baseball.
“Paul Grossman, really good today,” a calm Northwood Coach Ben Owens said. “Give credit to their guy, he was really good as well, (Efren) Urrea he was mixing pitches and mixing speeds. We just never got anything going offensively but we got a timely hit from Harper and a passed ball and Carter Liu hits a single up the middle and next thing you knew it was 1-0, and it was all Paul really needed the way he was going today.
“Give credit to the boys and sticking together and kind of figuring it out today.”
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
Urrea, the Citrus Hall starter, struck out five and allowed only four hits.
But it was Grossman’s time to shine Friday.
Grossman, who has been battling a blister on one of the fingers on his pitching hand, pitched the first six innings, striking out seven and allowing three hits. He walked five but managed to work out of trouble in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings. Citrus Hill stranded seven runners in the first four innings.
Grossman found a way to get it done, registering his fifth win before giving way to reliever Garrett Stevenson, who pitched a scoreless seventh inning.
Northwood’s only run came in the fourth inning. With one out, Joseph Harper doubled, went to third on a passed ball and scored on a single by Carter Liu.
“We competed well today,” Grossman said. “The defense really was good today, our bats weren’t there but the other pitcher was great, he was a good pitcher and was able to mix it up and made it tough for our hitters. He got better as the game went along and I had to go out there and keep us in the game and hold up zeroes and luckily it ended up with a 1-0 win. It’s always nice when you put up a donut on the other team.”
Grossman said his arm felt “all right.”
“I’ve been dealing with a blister, it’s getting better, the arm, it’s the end of the season and it’s getting a little bit tired but two more games and we just have to grind through it and finish strong,” he said. “I think we got the power to do it and the guys to do it so I think we’re in a really good place now.
“I wasn’t sure in the middle of the week if I was going to be able to pitch today and yesterday it took a big change. We weren’t sure if I was going to start or relieve but I told coach yesterday it’s my ball so I went out there and did my best and went six, it was really important. Before the game, honestly, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to go that far.”
Harper, who was on two Northwood CIF football championship teams, was also excited to contribute to the win.
“It really means a lot to go this far,” he said. “This senior group of boys have been playing together since 12-u Little League for Northwood Little League, probably six or seven guys in that lineup played together and we worked hard and kind of had a disappointing league, but we went into the playoffs, we knew we could go far.
“The guy on the mound was pretty solid, he mixed a lot of stuff up, I worked a 3-2 count and poked one down the line and then Carter Liu came in … and it was very clutch. I knew with a guy like Paul on the bump we only needed one or two to get us a W. Me and Paul have been on varsity since freshman year and he’s been dominant ever since he took the mound. We’re going to go out and win this thing.”
Northwood alsso threatened in the first inning but came away empty. In the second inning, Liu singled and advanced to third on an error with one out. But Urrea was able to work out of trouble.
Tuesday’s game is scheduled to be on the campus of St. Anthony Tuesday. St. Anthony (20-8) defeated Hillcrest 7-2 in a quarterfinal round game Friday.
The finals are Friday, May 30 and Saturday, May 31 at Blair Field, the home of the Long Beach State Dirtbags, and at Cal State Fullerton.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com