Seesaw Battle Sides Against Oilers In Rematch versus Harvard-Westlake

The Huntington Beach Oilers (22-7-1) drop their first game of the 2026 CIF Southern Section Division 1 Playoffs versus the Harvard-Westlake Wolverines (25-5) by the final of 6-5, Friday afternoon from HBHS Stadium. This is the second loss of the year at the hands of the Wolverines for the Oilers, while also suffering their first loss at home at any point of the season.  

Scoring was sprinkled in throughout the afternoon as Harvard-Westlake took the lead right out of the gate, with a passed by scoring James Tronstein from third. The Wolverines shortstop had his way with the Oilers pitching staff, finishing with three hits, including a solo home run, two runs batted in and three runs scored (plus a triple shy of the cycle). Without blinking an eye, the Huntington Beach bats took the lead right back in the bottom of the first as Ely Mason, coming off a 7-RBI performance on Tuesday at Temecula Valley, nearly crushed his second home run in as many games as a deep fly ball tipped off the top netting in left-center field, scoring Jared Grindlinger from first who reached on a one out single. The very next batter, Dane Cunningham, lifted a deep sacrifice fly to center, bringing in the aforementioned Mason for a 2-1 lead.  

Tanner Brown, picking up his eighth start of the year, navigated around the Harvard-Westlake lineup well in innings two through four, with the only blemish being a first pitch solo shot by Tronstein to lead off the third. On the opposite side for Wolverines starter Evan Alexander, he went straight into cruise control after the first, retiring nine of 11 and picking up six strikeouts. 

With a 2-2 score into the fifth, Brown nearly escaped danger following a Tronstein one out double. The southpaw forced first baseman Jake Kim into a two strike count, but the fellow lefty flexed his muscles driving a two-run blast off the scoreboard in right. This became the final batter Brown would see, finishing the day with a line of: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R (3 ER), 1 BB and 4 K. 

The Oilers countered with one in the home half of the fifth as Jason Dunham roped a double to left following a leadoff walk to Brayden Wood and stolen base by pinch-runner Eddie Lucero. Within one heading into the sixth, Harvard-Westlake managed to continue their scoring ways even with reliever Cayden Hammond on the bump. Pinch-hitter Max Hong lined a single to right, scoring Ryan Nestor, while Tronstein added insurance with a sacrifice fly.

The never say die attitude of the Oilers broke out in the sixth while down 6-3, as the middle of the order found ways to get on base against reliever James Venick, who could not record a single out. Back-to-back singles from Cunningham and Maxx Hopkins led to back-to-back walks to Rex Fox and Tanner Brown, with the last bringing home a run. Huntington Beach tallied another run with Dunham slicing a single to right for his second hit and RBI of the day, keeping the bases loaded for the top of the order. Down 6-5 with the bases full and only one out, Wolverines right-hander Jake Chung put a stop to the rally as he struck out Parker Leoff and popped Grindlinger out to third. 

Steel Kurtz, out of the bullpen, tossed a quick and clean seventh inning to hold the Oilers deficit at one heading to the bottom of the seventh. The only walkoff for the Oilers in 2026 was during the Boras Classic on April 9th in extra innings against Corona. With the tying run aboard with one out, Chung once again evaded disaster, rolling Hopkins into a 6-4-3 game ending double play.         

With this loss, the Oilers find themselves with air still in their lungs heading into a winner take all game three in Pool B against La Mirada (on the road) on Tuesday. Huntington Beach falls to 5-5-1 when the opposition scores first and yields just their second loss in 20 games when scoring four or more runs.   

Oilers Scoring Plays: 

Bot 1: Ely Mason Triples to LF, Jared Grindlinger Scores (1-1 TIE)

Bot 1: Dane Cunningham Sac-Fly, Ely Mason Scores (2-1 HB)

Bot 5: Jason Dunham Doubles to LF, Eddie Lucero Scores (4-3 HW)

Bot 6: Tanner Brown Walks, Dane Cunningham Scores (6-4 HW)

Bot 6: Jason Dunham Singles to RF, Maxx Hopkins Scores (6-5 HW)

Stars of the Game: 

Jason Dunham: 2-3, 2 RBI

Ely Mason: 1-4, RBI Triple

Dane Cunningham: 1-1, RBI, 2 BB

Steel Kurtz: 1 IP, 0 ER

On deck for the Oilers, they hit the road for a winner take all matchup in Pool B against the La Mirada Matadores on Tuesday, May 19. The winner will finish second in Pool B and advance to the Elite 8 Knockout Round (single elimination) to play St. John Bosco (Pool C Winner) on Friday, May 22. You'll be able to listen to all the CIF-SS Division 1 action on hbhsathletics.mixlr.com with the "Voice of the Oilers" Dominick Lorenz, with the pregame show at 3:00 PM, followed by first pitch at 3:15 PM (projected times).