Newport Harbor baseball team stuns Huntington Beach, 17-2, yes, 17-2

The final score even shocked the winning pitcher Matt Weiss, who belted his first home run of the season, a grand slam, against one of the best high school baseball teams in the nation.

Weiss played a key role in Newport Harbor’s shocking 17-2 Sunset League win at Huntington Beach on Tuesday, the Oilers’ senior day.

“Honestly I wasn’t really expecting that,” said Weiss, who allowed three hits in five scoreless innings against the Oilers (25-4), ranked No. 1 in the nation by PerfectGame.org. “I was kind of shocked myself that we put 17 runs up on one of the best teams in the nation.”

To put things in perspective, however, the Oilers did not have their usual pitching and lineup, wanting to give their seniors playing time in their final regular-season home game.

“We threw some guys that haven’t thrown a ton of innings but that’s no excuse,” said Huntington Beach coach Benji Medure, whose team was fresh off winning the Boras Classic state tournament final on Saturday in Los Angeles. “The pitchers competed well but Newport Harbor had a great approach at the plate. I tip my hat to them. They did a great job.”

Medure said he hopes Thursday at Newport Harbor will be a different story, as the Oilers want to enter the playoffs with momentum during the final regular-season game. Medure wouldn’t say who he’ll start at the mound, but the Sailors are expecting Nick Pratto, a USC commit.

“We’ll be getting guys ready for the playoffs,” Medure said.

Weiss’ grand slam came in the second inning, as the Sailors never looked back. Clay Liolios also hammered a grand slam, one of the Sailors’ three home runs and part of their 13-hit attack. Liolios went two for three with five RBIs. Cade Seabold went three for four with three RBIs and a two-run home run and Max Crabbe was three for four with two RBIs for Newport Harbor (13-15, 4-10 in league), the last place team in the Sunset League.

The Oilers fell to 12-2 in league.

“Our guys are excited to play when they go over there,” Newport Harbor coach Evan Chalmers said. “They have really good players. They had their senior day and they were not pitching their top two guys. But we went over there and played aggressive. It just felt good to play well and have a great pitching performance.

“I’m sure they are going to get in full playoff form now,” he said. “They are going to give us their guys and top tier pitchers. It’s going to be a great challenge for us. We’re just trying to get back on track and end the season on a positive note so we can build on that.”

— Compiled by Steve Virgen