FULLERTON – Cypress did it again.
The Centurions won the National Classic baseball tournament for the second straight season, capturing No. 2 with an 8-2 win over Servite in the championship game Thursday at Amerige Park.
Cypress senior catcher Max Senesac homered and drove in three runs. Junior left fielder Gabe Cobian hit a two-run triple. Senior right-hander Royce Roberts got the pitching start and struck out five over 3 2/3 innings and senior right-hander Matthew Morrell finished, striking out four in three scoreless innings.
Centurions senior pitcher/second baseball Luke Matlock was named tournament MVP. He threw a 1-0 shutout over El Dorado in Wednesday’s semifinals and had two hits Thursday.
Senesac, who was at St. John Bosco last season, enjoyed contributing to a second National Classic title.
“It is amazing to win this for the first time and to experience this with this group of guys,” Senesac said. “And to come together and beat a team like (Servite) and take them on the field and beat them in every aspect of the game, I really like that we did a great job.”
Whether it’s his school’s baseball field or his school’s baseball team, Cypress coach John Weber wants perfection, so he was able to nitpick a lack of execution here and there after Thursday’s win.
“We didn’t have 100 percent real quality team at-bats,” said Weber, but overall he liked what he saw over the four-game tournament.
“Matlock pitched really well yesterday and swung the bat well tonight,” he said. “For him to get moving offensively is huge for us. Morrell’s played well all season for us.”
Weber had special praise for senior shortstop Abbrie Covarrubias, who had two hits Thursday to push his team-leading total to 26 hits and made all the plays a USC-signed shortstop should make.
“Abbrie Covarrubias is the best shortstop in Orange County,” Weber said. “I know there are a lot of good ones, but he’s the best shortstop in Orange County.”
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