Teams in Ryan Lemmon Baseball Invitational transition back into league play this week

Canyon coaches and players meet after a Ryan Lemmon Invitational game. (PHOTO: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

After competing in the Ryan Lemmmon Invitational at the Great Park, some Orange County high school baseball teams return to league action this week …..

Canyon

The Comanches, led by Jason Smith, finished 2-2. Canyon (9-8, 3-1) returns to Freeway League play Tuesday at Crean Lutheran.

“Leaving the tournament 2-2 is good, good win today, we will take that going on our break and get ready to go into league next week,” Smith said after the 6-4 mid-week win over Woodbridge.

“I feel like we as a whole we got more consistent and we kind of figured out what we have to do as a team to win some ball games,” added Canyon’s Cam Goetz, who had a big day at the plate in the win.

Canyon hosts Crean Lutheran (10-16, 0-4) on Thursday in the final game of the series.

Woodbridge

Coach Ryan Brucker’s Woodbridge team struggled during the tournament, sponsored by the Ryan Lemmon Foundation, finishing 1-3. Woodbridge returns to Pacific Coast League play with a two game series against University beginning Wednesday at Uni. The teams play Friday at Ryan Lemmon Stadium.

Woodbridge (8-10 overall) is in a four-way tie for second place behind league leading Portola (6-5, 5-1).

“I like where we’re at, our pitching is usually pretty good,” Brucker said after the loss to Canyon. “It keeps us in games and if we can, down the stretch figure out how to compete a little better offensively, we will be right there.”

Northwood

The Timberwolves, coached by Ben Owens, made some strides going 2-2 in the tournament with victories over Chico and Downers Grove South, Ill. Northwood had a late lead in the final game of the tournament before losing to San Dimas 8-4.

Northwood has a non-league game Tuesday at Pacifica.

The Timberwolves (6-13, 1-5) meet Laguna Beach (11-6, 4-2) in a two-game Pacific Coast League series this week.

“Hopefully we can continue that as we go into the back end of the season and find ways to win more ball games” Owens said after one of the wins. “We have back to back league games against Laguna Beach and we will see where we’re at.”

Notes

…. Ganesha defeated St. Paul 17-0 in Wednesday night’s final at the Great Park. Despite being down big in the final inning, St. Paul players kept their heads high in the dugout and were having some fun as they tried to push across a run in the final inning.

“We have a couple days off to give the boys some good rest,” said St. Paul Coach RJ Lan. “This tournament was a great place for us to kind of get a reset.”

Parents and supporters of the program brought more smiles to the players with post-game cookies. Coaches told tournament organizers they loved having their team in the tournament. St. Paul start out 3-0.

St. Paul enters the week 1-4 in the Del Rey League.

…. Foothill wrapped up the tournament with a 7-2 victory over crosstown rival Tustin on Wednesday. Evrett Rycroft got the win pitching six innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs. He walked two and struck out seven.

Brayden Bianchi was 2 for 3 with a triple and two RBI, Aidan Gogley was 2 for 3 with a run scored, triple and two RBI, Peter Thatcher was 1 for 3 with a run scored and two RBI, Presley Gaborno was 2 for 2 with two runs scored and a walk and Evan Kim 2 for 3 with a run scored.

Foothill went 3-1, Tustin 1-3 with a win over Woodbridge.

…. Tourney champion Ganesha outscored opponents 39-4.

….. Ganesha and Linfield Christian finished as the only undefeated teams in the tournament with 4-0 records. St. Paul was undefeated before the final and earned the berth based on the first tie-breaker, runs allowed.

San Dimas, Brea Olinda, Foothill, El Modena and St. Paul finished 3-1. San Dimas was third after allowing just nine runs in the tournament.

….. Guy Lemmon, founder of the Ryan Lemmon Foundation, hosted the team from Illinois for a tour of Ryan Lemmon Stadium last week. Lemmon was hands on during the tournament. Dick Owens was tournament director. Rex Lyon was another key player in the tournament along with Eric Spivey, the public address announcer for the tournament.

…. Sophomore infielder Jourdan Garcia made some contributions at the plate for Northwood in games last week. He’s the son of Northwood assistant coach Aron Garcia.

…. Vincent DeMarco earned Woodbridge’s only win on the mound last week in a victory over Chico.

…..Weather was top-notch for the tournament with only light rain falling for some of the late games on Tuesday. Tournament organizers were able to get all the games in.

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com