High School

National High School Invitational: No. 1 Corona, Huntington Beach win in walk-off fashion

America's top high school baseball team escapes in dramatic fashion to advance in the opening round of the National Invitational.

Tarek Fattal

Corona baseball team celebrates at the Boras Classic.
Corona baseball team celebrates at the Boras Classic. / Greg Stein

The National High School Invitational is the most heralded high school baseball event in the country. The tournament puts all the best prep baseball programs in America into one bracket, which brings the MLB scouts out in droves with radar guns ... and saliva.

The lede for Day 1 of the tournament came from No. 1-ranked Corona (Calif.) vs. Casteel (Ariz.). The Panthers, who won the Boras Classic in Southern California two weekends ago, rolled into the first-round matchup 11-0.

The unbeaten streak was in jeopardy when Corona was trailing by two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning before Ethin Bingaman hit a walk-off single to clinch a dramatic 8-7 victory Wednesday afternoon in Cary, North Carolina.

Bingaman's clutch moment came with two outs on a 2-and-2 count.

Corona started Mason Sims on the bump, the team's No. 4 pitcher, to preserve standouts like Seth Hernandez and Jason Gerfers the rest of the way.

Corona will play Columbus (Fla.) in the quarterfinal Thursday. Corona is the defending NHSI champion after defeating Huntington Beach in the 2024 final.

HUNTINGTON BEACH WALKS OFF

Huntington Beach, another marquee Southern California program, needed some magic in Wednesday's 5-4 victory in eight innings over Poly Prep Country Day (N.Y.).

The Oilers overcame a three-run deficit before Cole Clark delivered a walk-off hit in extras to advance Huntington Beach to the quarterfinals against Collierville (Tenn.).

WEDNESDAY'S 1ST ROUND SCORES

Christopher Columbus 5, Edwardsville 3

Huntington Beach 5, Poly Prep 4

Corona del Sol 10, Granda 3

Venice 3, La Mirada 1

Trinity Christian Academy 8, The Stony Brook School 2

Corona 8, Casteel 7

Regis Jesuit 3, Wesleyan Christian 1

Collierville 8, Holly Springs 1

THURSDAY'S QUARTERFINALS SCHEDULE

Regis Jesuit vs. Trinity Christian Academy

Christopher Columbus vs. Corona

Collierville vs. Huntington Beach

Corona del Sol vs. Venice

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Tarek Fattal, SBLive Sports
TAREK FATTAL

Tarek Fattal has been covering high school sports since 2015 in Southern California and primarily in Los Angeles, covering notable athletes such as Bronny James, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Alyssa Thompson. He was with the LA Daily News for eight years, which included being the beat reporter for the UCLA men's basketball team. Tarek can be seen on TV regularly on CBS/KCAL as a sports analyst with Jim Hill.

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