SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — Notre Dame pitcher Oliver Boone shut out JSerra 3-0 in the second round of the Boras Classic South Wednesday at JSerra High.
Boone, a Cal signee, pitched a complete game, allowed just two hits and struck out eight. JSerra had only one runner reach second base.
“My slider was working. I could throw my slider literally wherever I wanted the entire game,” Boone said. “I was just able to locate and throw the ball anywhere at any time.”
“He was a video game tonight,” JSerra coach Brett Kay said of Boone. “It’s the best performance we have seen all year where we felt we got beat. We had beaten ourselves a lot this year, but he flat out beat us. That guy can really pitch.”
JSerra (11-8) got an excellent pitching performance from its starting pitcher, Ben Reimers. The Stanford signee allowed just one hit and one unearned run over six innings with three strikeouts.
“I thought he got better as the game wore on,” Kay said of Reimers. “Ben was really good and has been all year for us. He pitched his tail off.”
Notre Dame (18-2) scored in the first inning. UCLA signee Dean West drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt.
Cal signee Ryan Limerick reached first on an error by the JSerra second baseman, which advanced West to third. West scored on a wild pitch during the ensuing at-bat to give the Knights a 1-0 lead.
Notre Dame got some insurance runs in the seventh inning against the JSerra bullpen. After an error and a walk, Greg Pierantoni reached on a bunt single to load the bases with no outs.
West hit a two-run single through the middle of the infield to give Notre Dame a 3-0 lead and some breathing room for Boone.
West went 2 for 3 with a double, a run scored and two RBIs.
“Those runs definitely made me more comfortable on the mound but I think having a one-run lead kept me on my game,” Boone said. “I couldn’t have any off pitches. It helped being in a pitchers’ duel, too.”
JSerra left-handed relief pitcher MacAllister Zawistoski was able to escape the seventh inning with no further damage after the single by West.
Trent Caraway and Dominic Smaldino each had one hit for JSerra.
The two teams met in the postseason twice in 2022. JSerra beat the Knights in the CIF-SS Division 1 championship game and also beat them in the CIF SoCal Regional playoffs.
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Notre Dame will play Orange Lutheran in the semifinals Thursday at 6 p.m. at JSerra High.
Orange Lutheran beat Norco 6-2 in the other second-round game at JSerra on Wednesday.
The Knights beat Orange Lutheran 5-4 in eight innings in the quarterfinals of the playoffs last season.
JSerra will play Norco Thursday.