Corona baseball team stages dramatic comeback in seventh to win National High School Invitational opener, Huntington Beach advances in eight innings

Reigning champion Corona High needed a three-run, seventh-inning rally Wednesday to outlast Casteel High of Arizona in the opening round of the National High School Invitational at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C.

Ethin Bingaman came through in the clutch with two outs, a two-strike count and bases loaded, delivering a two-run double to left-center to score Trey Ebel and Jesiah Andrade to lift the Panthers to a dramatic 8-7 victory.

Corona (15-0) trailed 7-5 entering the bottom of the seventh, before producing the dramatic comeback.

Ethin Bingaman | Photo courtesy of Corona baseball

The top-ranked Panthers entered the 16-team tournament having outscored opponents by a 120-4 margin in their first 14 contests.

Billy Carlson led off with a single for Corona, before Ryan Harwood recorded consecutive outs for Casteel (12-5).

Ebel walked and Andrade singled to load the bases for the Panthers, allowing leadoff hitter Anthony Murphy to come to the plate.

Murphy walked to score Carlson, cutting the deficit to 7-6.

Bingaman then produced the walk-off double for the Panthers, who extended their winning streak to 23 in a row, including Corona’s run to the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 title last season.

Corona is scheduled to face Columbus High of Florida (19-4), a 5-3 winner Wednesday against Edwardsville High from Illinois, at 1:30 p.m. EDT in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Columbus enters the matchup with a seven-game winning streak.

After Corona rallied from a three-run deficit in the third inning to eventually tie the score at 5-5 in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Andrade, Casteel regained the advantage in the top of the sixth.

Jose Bingochea doubled to score Ryne Barker and Andres Armenta followed with another RBI double to drive in pinch-runner Kobe Olivares to help Casteel build a 7-5 advantage.

Harwood retired Corona in order in the sixth, before the Panthers rallied in the seventh.

Corona trailed for the first time all season when Casteel scored in the top of the first, before the Panthers responded with two runs in the second for a 2-1 advantage.

The Colts scored four runs in the third, highlighted by run-scoring singles from Harwood and Barker, in addition to Casteel benefiting from a wild pitch and a Corona balk to take a 5-2 lead.

Bingaman produced a run-scoring groundout and Seth Hernandez had a bases-loaded walk in the fourth for Corona, cutting the deficit to 5-4.

Bingaman, who had the only extra-base hit for the Panthers, led Corona with three RBIs and Murphy drove in two runs.

Carlson and Ebel both had two hits apiece and scored twice for the Panthers, with Joshua Sur adding a pair of runs.

Huntington Beach 5, Poly Prep Country Day (New York) 4 (8 innings): The Oilers (13-2) overcame an early three-run deficit to tie the score following two runs in the sixth inning and another in the seventh, then benefited from an Ethan Porter single and a Cole Clark fielder’s choice in the eighth to advance to the quarterfinals at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C.

Huntington Beach, which has won the National High School Invitational in 2016 and 2023, received a two-run double by Porter in the sixth to close the gap to 3-2.

Matt Haidl produced a sacrifice fly in the seventh to tie the score and force extra innings.

Porter went 3 for 4 with three RBIs and earned the win in relief for Huntington Beach, which plays Collierville High of Tennessee (22-1) at 3 p.m. EDT in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Collierville, which has won five in a row, secured an 8-1 victory Wednesday against Holly Springs of North Carolina (9-5).

CJ Weinstein and Trent Grindlinger both scored twice for Huntington Beach, which surrendered a run on a passed ball to fall behind 4-3 in the top of the eighth.

Tanner Brown pitched four innings of two-hit relief and struck out three for the Oilers.

Corona del Sol (Arizona) 10, Livermore Granada 3: The Matadors (10-3) surrendered the first five runs and couldn’t recover in the opening-round setback at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C.

Tommy Brown helped Granada cut the deficit to 5-2 in the third with a single.

Chase Nadeau added a run-scoring single in the sixth to bring the Matadors within 7-3, but Corona del Sol (15-3) added three more runs in the top of the seventh to secure a berth in Thursday’s quarterfinals against Venice High from Florida (18-3), a 3-1 winner Wednesday against La Mirada (14-3).

Tyler Kennedy went 2 for 3 for the Matadors.

Venice (Florida) 3, La Mirada 1 (8 innings): The Indians (18-3) received a two-run walk-off homer from Eddie Zaun against La Mirada right-hander Kaden Corns in the eighth to secure the thrilling opening-round win at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C.

Kevin Jeon drove in the lone run to score Maverek Russell for the Matadores (14-3) in the third inning.

Jonathan Mauro tied the score in the fifth for Venice on an RBI single.