The La Jolla High varsity baseball team continued its good season last week as it advanced to the finals of the 57th annual Lions Tournament.
La Jolla (11-4) opened the week by defeating El Camino 7-4. Junior Peter Sefton was the offensive star as he went 3-for-4 with four RBIs. Patrick Christensen pitched five innings to earn his third win of the season, while Wyatt Hoff closed things out to pick up his first save.
The Vikings then beat Chula Vista 8-2. Once again, Sefton paced the offense with three hits and three RBIs. Billy Bright pitched six innings, allowing only one earned run.
David Harpster, Bright, Jimmy Filter and Alex Abbott had two hits apiece and 12 Vikings in all hit safely as La Jolla breezed past Nevada Union 13-3 in six innings to earn a place in the semifinal game.
In a 3-1 win over Valley Center, Christensen refused to let six La Jolla errors affect him as he pitched five strong innings, allowing only one hit and no walks. Down 1-0, La Jolla rallied to win as Rob Sprong pitched two scoreless innings for the save. The second win of the week improved Christensen’s record to 4-1. Sefton had a standout week, going 8-for-14 with two doubles, two homers and eight RBIs.
The Vikings came up short in the championship game against Point Loma, 13-5. Zach Tonks had three hits and three RBIs for La Jolla in the losing effort.
“We had a great week of baseball,” La Jolla High head coach Gary Frank noted. “Our guys fought hard all week long, and we beat a lot of good teams.”
La Jolla will play a nonleague game versus The Bishop’s School at Tony Gwynn Stadium on April 14 at 7 p.m. Admission is $5.
Meantime, La Jolla Country Day (LJCD) School went 3-1 in the 4A bracket of the Lions tourney last week.
LJCD (8-7) lost 4-3 to Valley Center, beat Brawley 9-8, topped Foothill (Nev.) 5-3 and beat Granada Hills 6-4.
Kyle Reese, Greg Wisenberg, Mike McKenna and Zack Kusnir went 28-for-55 with 16 runs, 17 RBIs, four doubles and five home runs in the four games. Reese, Wisenberg and Kusnir all threw complete games over the course of the week.
“It was a great week of baseball,” LJCD head coach John Edman said.