14th ANNUAL BORAS BASEBALL CLASSIC OF CALIFORNIA: Gahr’s early four-run inning countered by one from Ayala as Gladiators fall to Bulldogs

 April 14, 2026

By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X

SANTA ANA-In last season’s third place game of the Boras Baseball Classic, Gahr High rallied for five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat Ayala High 6-5. Last Friday, the teams met again in a consolation tilt of one of the most prestigious tournaments in California with the winner leaving the four-day event with three victories.

Despite scoring four runs in the bottom of the second and having the tying run at second base in the seventh, the Gladiators couldn’t repeat the same success they had over a year ago as the Bulldogs held on for a 6-4 win at Mater Dei High.

Senior third baseman Julian Lucero led off the bottom of the seventh with a single to right on a 2-2 count and Jake Zandbergen walked junior pinch hitter Roman Molino on four pitches. However, after a pitching change, Aiden Granados struck out senior second baseman Oscar Grijalva, a California State University, Northridge commit, and senior left fielder Zander Brown on a called third strike that appeared to be inside before getting senior first baseman Jake Ourique to fly out to right to end the game.

“Down by two and we’re at the bottom part of the order and we had a decision to make,” said Gahr head coach Gerardo Perez. “Do you try to execute and move runners; put them in scoring position? But if you noticed, the last three hitters in our batting order were pitchers earlier in the year. Now it’s Zander Brown, now it’s Jake Ourique, and now it’s [senior right fielder] Anthony Ward, and they’ve done a great job.

“It doesn’t matter,” Perez later said on the called third strike. “The whole game doesn’t come down to Zander Brown’s check swing. We had opportunities to get some runs earlier in the game and we didn’t do it.”

The first of those opportunities came in the bottom of the first when Nolan Chuang walked leadoff batter and senior shortstop Andres Gonzalez, who is committed to the University of Southern California. After a wild pitch and a sacrifice from senior catcher Nathan Guangorena (CSUN), Chuang walked senior center fielder Bryce Morrison (USC) before getting a line drive out and a groundout.

Ayala grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second as Easton Sarmiento laced a one-out home run over the right field fence. But the Gladiators responded with their second inning of at least four runs in the tournament and eighth of the season.

Chuang walked Grijalva, marking the end of his outing, and that was followed by infield singles from Brown and Ourique off Isaac Serrano to load the bases with none out. Then with one out, Serrano walked Gonzalez before Guangorena doubled down the left field line to drive in a pair. Morrison would reach on an error with Gonzalez scoring and just like that, Gahr was up 4-1.

But the Gladiators would strand six runners on base over the next five innings, including one at third, and ran themselves out of the third inning. Grijalva singled to lead off the frame but was caught stealing second. Brown doubled to the right field gap but veered too far off second when Ourique, a University of Oregon commit and was doubled up. After that, Gahr would get six baserunners with one getting to third and another to second.

“I don’t know if it’s not cashing in or just running ourselves into outs; shortening the game for them,” said Perez. “I thought Oscar was thrown out by 15 feet and then Zander forgot how many outs there were. He’s playing hard, he’s playing hard. It’s just that we need to do a better job of checks and balances.”

Ayala matched Gahr’s second inning production in the top of the fourth as it loaded the bases with one out, then got a bases loaded single from Dylan Wood, a run-scoring groundout from Granados and a two-run double from Jaden Valenzuela. The last Ayala run came in the seventh when a sacrifice fly from Elijah Duarte plated Eric Hernandez.

“I think if we execute; we do the things that we try to do at practice and we’re able to do them in the games…but we’ve also haven’t done a good job of running the bases or the short game,” said Perez. “Our defense has been taking care of the baseball. That’s a complement to our coaches and they’ve done a great job.”

Brown and Grijalva each had a pair of hits while four others all picked up a hit. But the story of the game was the pitching in which sophomore Matt Galvin was making his first start of the season. He worked into the third inning, giving up just the home run and walking one. Four other pitchers followed him, none of whom have more than three appearances this season. Gahr also entered the game winners of five out of its last seven games in which the pitching staff allowed 10 runs.

“Our pitching has been the strength of the program for the whole year,” said Perez. “It’s only gotten better with Bryce pitching more. Jake has been arguably the best pitcher anywhere. Carlos Munoz, who beat JSerra yesterday, had a really effective outing for about five plus. Today’s was Galvin’s first start of the year; he’s a sophomore sit-out kid.”

This was the third season Gahr (10-9-1) has participated in the Boras Classic. Last season it lost to Corona High in the first round before winning the next three games, and in 2017, three straight losses was followed by a win over Bishop Amat High. This was also the first loss in four meetings with Ayala.

The Gladiators, who have lost four games by a run, two games by two runs, and another two games by three runs, do not play again until they visit Warren High on Tuesday in the first of three games against the Bears in the tough Gateway League. The Gladiators are sitting in third place with a 3-3 mark while Warren is 5-1.

“I think if I can make practice more of a gauntlet, I think we’ll be prepared,” said Perez. “It’s my job; I have a week of work ahead of us, which we need, and we’ll go from there.”