Los Angeles City high school baseball playoffs; semifinals for Dodger Stadium set

Sylmar, Venice, Birmingham and El Camino Real are set to play in the Open semifinals at CSUN Tuesday.

The Sylmar High baseball team is one win away from playing in the LA City Section Open Division title game at Dodger Stadium. / Courtesy Sylmar baseball

The Los Angeles City Section will produce another newcomer to the Open Division baseball final on Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

One half of Tuesday's semifinal at Cal State Northridge is made up of two teams that've never reached the Open Division final since the division's creation in 2018. Sylmar (22-6) won a Division I title in 2023. No. 1-seeded Venice (27-2) hasn't been to a City final since 2010, losing in the Division II championship.

The other half is between two blue bloods: Birmingham and El Camino Real. Birmingham has been to the Open City final five times since 2018 and won three, the last victory coming in 2023. ECR has been to the Open final twice in the same window (2018, 2021), losing both times.

Birmingham has eight City titles in program history. ECR has nine, according to the City Section's history records.

Birmingham plays El Camino Real at 3 p.m.. Sylmar and Venice play at 6 p.m.

For so many years, the Open final has included two San Fernando Valley teams at Chavez Ravine. In fact, when San Pedro won the Open Division City crown in 2021 it broke a long streak of San Fernando Valley schools winning the City's top baseball division, which started in 1993. Bell High joined that group in 2024, stunning Birmingham in last year's Open final, 4-1.

To put it simply, just two non-San Fernando Valley teams have won the City's top division since 1993. Could Venice be the third — and maybe, the second in a row?

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PLAYERS TO WATCH

No. 1 Venice is led by senior Canon King who is batting .452 with 42 hits, 37 RBIs, nine doubles, six homers and 39 runs scored in 29 games this spring. Daniel Quiroz and Jesse Dominguez are two more seniors that are batting .494 and .474, respectively.

From the bump, the Gondoliers have Noel Moreno, who's 11-1 this season with an impressive 0.54 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 65 1/3 innings.

Sylmar is led by two non-seniors in junior Matthew Torres and sophomore Timothy Sepulveda, each with 34 and 33 hits, respectively, through 28 games. Junior Alex Martinez is 7-1 from the mound. Luis Mendoza is 6-0 with a 0.52 ERA.

El Camino Real has two senior pitchers in Devin Gonor and Luke Howe, both are combined 15-4 from the mound and over 100 strikeouts.

Birmingham's top players include Carlos Esparza, Cristian Martinez and Sebastian Valadez with pitchers Allen Olmos (who started last year's semifinal game) and freshman Carlos Acuna.

OTHER SEMIFINALS

In Division I, Banning is taking on Verdugo Hills. Taft is playing Carson. Winner of those games will play at Dodger Stadium, too. If history is any indicator, Dodger Stadium will host the Division I final at 10 a.m. and the Open final at 1 p.m. on May 24.

In Division II, it's Maywood CES vs. Chavez and Sotomayor vs. Port of Los Angels. In Division III, it's Jefferson vs. WISH Academy and Triumph Charter vs. University.

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