CIF-SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL PLAYOFFS PREVIEW: Six area baseball teams keep their seasons going as playoffs begin

May 13, 2026

By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X

The CIF-Southern Section released its 2026 baseball playoff brackets last Friday and six of the area’s eight programs will be extending their seasons. This season, there is a new twist in the Division 1 bracket as 16 teams, in four pools of four teams, will play in a double elimination format with the top two teams in each pool and the 1-1 teams in each pool advancing to the knockout stage. La Mirada High, which is the 15^th seeded team, is the only area team in the division and began this past Tuesday while the even-numbered divisions begin on May 14 and the odd-numbered divisions commence on Friday.

DIVISION 1

#7 Temecula Valley High (24-5, 15-0 in the Southwestern League, champions) @ #15 La Mirada (22-6 overall, 10-2 in the Gateway League, champions)-La Mirada fell to second-ranked Harvard-Westlake High 3-0 this past Tuesday and now must beat Temecula Valley, which lost to #10 Huntington Beach High 11-0, on Friday to keep its season going. La Mirada was held to a hit by Justin Kirchner, who struck out five and walked a pair of batters.

The Matadores are coming off an 11^th straight league championship in probably one of the program’s most challenging season given the number of everyday players who graduated from the 2025 squad. La Mirada eclipsed the 20-victory plateau for the fifth straight season, won nine of its last 12 games in the regular season with two of those setbacks coming to Gateway League rival Downey High by a combined three runs. Three other losses were by a combined four runs while the team’s worst loss came to Norco High, the division’s top-seeded team, by seven runs in the third game of the season.

The strength of La Mirada’s pitching staff is its pitching department, especially with senior Kevin Corns (7-1, 2.38 earned run average, 46 strikeouts), junior Luke Armijo (5-0, 0.75 ERA, 37 strikeouts) and sophomore Julian Pardinas (7-1, 1.14 ERA, 34 strikeouts). As a staff, La Mirada’s ERA is 1.30 as nearly half of the runs allowed were earned.

Offensively, junior second baseman Michael Burgueno leads the team with a .402 average with 35 hits, 19 runs batted in and five doubles while only one other player has 20 hits; senior catcher Justin Torres (.267 average, 12 RBI, five doubles). Freshman third baseman Blake Barberena is making his mark as a high school baseball player as he batted .321 with 25 hits and eight doubles.

DIVISION 2

El Segundo High (19-7, 10-2 in the Pioneer League, second place) @ #4 Gahr High (17-10-1, 9-3 in the Gateway League, second place)-Gahr is one of the hottest teams entering the playoffs, winners of 12 of its last 15 games since getting swept by La Mirada in late March. Of the three setbacks during this time, two have been by a run in low scoring games and the other two was a 6-4 decision to Ayala High on Apr. 10. In fact, Gahr has lost five games by a run, two by a pair of runs and two more by three runs. It’s worst loss was a 5-1 defeat to La Mirada on Mar. 24.

Senior Bryce Morrison leads the Gladiators with a .458 average, 33 hits and 19 RBI while senior Andres Gonzalez is batting .412 with 33 hits, 17 RBI and eight doubles. The two have also hit a pair of home runs.

Senior Jake Ourique and junior Juan Munoz are the leaders of a stacked pitching staff that has an ERA of 1.90. Munoz is 5-0 in five starts with a pair of complete games and an ERA of 1.64. His first two victories came in relief of Ourique within the first five games of the season while Ourique has started 10 games and sports a 4-0 record with an ERA of 0.86 and has 66 strikeouts.

The winner will face either Aquinas High or Dana Hills High in the second round on Tuesday. The Gladiators defeated Aquinas 6-5 in the last game of the regular season.

DIVISION 5

Bishop Montgomery High (13-12-1, 6-5-1 in the Camino Real League, fourth place) @ Cerritos High (18-8, 10-0 in the 605 League, champions)-Cerritos completed an eight-year stay in the 605 League with its sixth league championship. The 2020 season was cut short because of the pandemic and Oxford Academy claimed the league title last season. The Dons breezed through the league this season by outscoring their opponents 100-6 and posting five shutouts.

Offensively, Cerritos is batting .336 and has eight players batting over .320, led by seniors Eli Sarno (.455, 30 hits and 24 runs), Ryan Salas (.397, 29 hits, 23 RBI) and Jayce Aragon (.378, 28 hits, 13 runs, 22 RBI). Aragon (9-2, 1.94 ERA 78 strikeouts) and senior Jacob Hoosac (5-1, 1.26 ERA, 54 strikeouts) are the leaders of a pitching staff that has an ERA of 2.25. The Dons had 17 games in which the pitching staff allowed five runs or fewer.

The winner will face either Rancho Verde High or second-ranked St. Bernard High in the second round on Tuesday.

Culver City High (12-15-1, 6-1 in the Ocean League, second place) @ Valley Christian High, 15-10, 6-6 in the Olympic League, third place)-Midway through the Olympic League slate, V.C. was sitting pretty in second place of the circuit, winners of five of its first six league games and 14 of its first 19 games overall. But the Defenders limp into the postseason having lost two of three games to Heritage Christian High by a combined three runs, then being swept by league champion Maranatha High in which they were outscored 39-9.

Still, the Defenders are in the playoffs in consecutive seasons since getting there from 2011-2015. Since then, the program has been to the postseason four times. The team has been somewhat of a mixed bag, going 10-1 when it scores at least 10 runs but 0-6 when it allows more than 10 runs.

Junior Mack Lynott (.407, 33 hits, 29 runs, 22 RBI) and seniors Cole Hefner (.405, 30 hits, 22 RBI) and Max Douglas (.403, 27 hits, 19 RBI) are the only everyday players batting over .400 while junior John Cardenas is the ace of the pitching staff, sporting a 6-2 mark with a 2.64 ERA and 32 strikeouts.

The winner will face either Mayfair High or St. Bonaventure High in the second round on Tuesday. Two wins by Cerritos and V.C. will see a quarterfinal game between the city schools.

DIVISION 7

San Jacinto Valley Academy (20-8, 13-1 in the South Valley League, champions) @ #2 Norwalk High (14-7, 10-5 in the Mid-Cities League, third place)-Norwalk, which has been to the quarterfinals in two of the past three seasons, enters the playoffs having won nine straight games after a 5-7 start. This is also the fourth time in the past five seasons the program has been to the playoffs after being absent for the previous seven straight seasons. The Lancers, who began this season with four straight losses, have allowed less than five runs in all but three games and the most it has allowed was eight runs in an 8-5 loss to Kennedy High on Mar. 12.

The winner will face either Garden Grove High or Nogales High in the second round on Tuesday.

DIVISION 8

Banning High (15-5, 11-1 in the Sun Valley League, champions) @ Artesia High (10-15, 6-4 in the 605 League, third place)-At one point in the season. Artesia was sporting a 2-10 record and were outscored 99-41. But the Pioneers won six straight league games to put them in a position to get no worse than third place in the 605 League. Still, Artesia is the only area baseball team with a losing record and having been outscored by its opponents.

This is the fifth straight season Artesia has finished in third place in the league and has gone to the quarterfinals twice in the past three seasons. Look for senior Josue Lugo, who has a pair of complete games, and junior Jorge Vidal, who has the team’s other complete game, to be two frontline starting pitchers. Those two have a combined 6-4 record on the mound.

The winner will face either Indian Springs High or Magnolia High in the second round on Tuesday.