CENTURY LEAGUE

VILLA PARK (5-2, 1-1) VS. EL DORADO (4-2-1, 2-0)

Where, when: Valencia High, Friday, 7 p.m.

Outlook: Villa Park simply could not match Tustin’s excellent team speed in its 35-20 loss to the Tillers last week. While El Dorado does not have that speed, and few teams do, the Golden Hawks still look like the superior team.

They won their league games with shutouts over Brea Olinda and El Modena, and that offense is among the few balanced ones in the league. This could be a close game, setting up an interesting Tustin-El Dorado clash next week.

Winner: El Dorado

Frankly Fryer: Valencia vs. Kennedy

Frankly Fryer: San Clemente vs. Tesoro

Frankly Fryer: Fountain Valley vs. Newport Harbor

Frankly Fryer: Orange vs. Segerstrom

Frankly Fryer: Los Alamitos vs. Edison

Frankly Fryer: Mater Dei vs. JSerra

Play the OCVarsity.com football challenge

The Tillers' Anthony Wilkerson ran for 204 yards and two TDs, and AJ Rafter returned an interception for a touchdown. Check out highlights from the contest and postgame interviews in this video by OCVarsity.com's Jonathan Khamis.

Click here to read the full game story.

Brea Olinda (11-9, 6-3) vs. Villa Park (12-9, 5-4)

When: Wednesday at Villa Park; Friday at Brea Olinda

Outlook: Brea Olinda enters the week tied with El Dorado for second place in the Century League, one game behind leader Canyon.

Essentially, Brea Olinda is in third, because it lost the season series to El Dorado. However, here comes Villa Park.

The Spartans bounced back after getting swept by Tustin, by sweeping El Modena.

Villa Park now finds itself one-game behind Brea Olinda and El Dorado. The Spartans won the first meeting, 8-2, on March 25.

Shane Fessel leads Villa Park with a .400 batting average. Nolan Hoppie and Daniel Warwick are both 4-2 for the Spartans and Chase Yamashiro is 3-1.

Brea Olinda swept Tustin last week. Tyler Kern leads the Wildcats with a .448 batting average. Hayden Greene (.417) and Trenton Broadsheet (.413) are both having good years.

Travis McGee is 5-3 with a 2.53 ERA for Brea Olinda.

Will Villa Park still be in the race after this week?

(All games at 3:15 p.m., unless noted)

RELATED:

• Baseball games of the week: Orange vs. Ocean View
• Baseball games of the week: Tesoro vs. Capo Valley
• Baseball games of the week: Edison vs. Marina
• Baseball games of the week: Santa Margarita vs. Mater Dei

Here are his picks for 16-20:

16. Mission Viejo (9-7)

17. Villa Park (9-5)

18. Pacifica (10-5)

19. Cypress (9-5)

20. Brea Olinda (8-8)

*Records through April 12

Teams 21-25

21. Villa Park (7-5)

22. Mission Viejo (6-6)

23. Corona del Mar (7-5)

24. Loara (8-4)

25. Laguna Hills (9-4)

(Records through April 5)

Here are the links to the rest of the poll:

MVP – Jessica Prange (Canyon, Sr.)

First Team – Caroline Pattillo (Canyon, Sr.); Erin Abrams (Canyon, Sr.); Brittany Maag (Canyon, Sr.); Taylor Morton (Villa Park, Jr.); Claire Thatcher (Villa Park, Jr.); Kaitlin Borden (El Modena, Sr.); Madison Pinto (El Modena, Sr.); Ariel Lockshaw (El Dorado, Sr.); Madelyn Penman (Tustin)

Second Team – Ariel Vidovich (Canyon, Sr.); Madison Tanner (Canyon, So.); Brooke Learmouth (Villa Park, So.); Kerri Long (Villa Park, Jr.); Emily Premo (El Modena, Sr.); Marissa Brittain (El Dorado, Jr.); Ally Sparks (El Dorado, Jr.); Samantha Rivas (Tustin); Carly Jones (Brea, Sr.)

Outlook: This is a big week for Villa Park … a very big week.

First, the Spartans have to face El Dorado on Wednesday and then they have to take on Canyon.

Assuming both teams get past their midweek games, this game will be for sole possession of first place in the Century League.

The Comanches have won three consecutive games since losing a doubleheader to top-ranked Mater Dei. Phil Ferragamo, who was on the CIF championship basketball team, has made the transition to baseball rather smoothly. Ferragamo is 3-0 this season.

Canyon is a work in progress, definitely a team I wouldn’t want to play once the playoffs roll around.

The Spartans are on a three-game winning streak after splitting a doubleheader with Santa Margarita.

Will Villa Park survive this week?

RELATED:

• Baseball games of the week: Tesoro vs. Dana Hills
• Baseball games of the week: Edison vs. Los Alamitos
• Baseball games of the week: Foothill vs. El Toro
• Baseball games of the week: Fullerton vs. La Habra

“Doubles played better every game,” Villa Park coach Mike Lee said. “Where we were last year at this point compared to where we are now this year, I see a lot more experience. It’s all the same guys.”

Villa Park won five of six sets in each of the first two rounds and clinched the match before sweeping in the final round. Bryan Chung and Nathan Pratt won all three sets at No. 1 doubles. Eric Wilson and Brandon Mazarra and Brandon Kim and Adam Ditowski swept at No. 2 and 3 doubles respectively.
Esperanza’s No. 1 singles player Sean Robles won both sets for his team. He trailed Villa Park’s No. 1 singles player Matt Chung 1-4 before rallying for the 6-4 victory.

“I’m hoping it’ll be a huge confidence booster for him,” Aztecs coach Rey Lejano said of the sophomore. “That was a great player and a great comeback. We had him in doubles last year. I’m excited about his future.”

Chung trailed against Aztecs No. 2 singles player Nathan Woznick before pulling off a comeback of his own. He won the set 6-4.

Jimmy Fernandez swept at No. 3 singles for the Aztecs, including a 6-0 victory over Robles.

“Jimmy played incredible,” Lee said. “He can be on and off, but when he plays like that he’s on fire. I really think he held his composure well in the pressure situations.”

Lee is counting on his doubles strength this year and Thursday’s performance didn’t disappoint. The Spartans were without No. 2 doubles player Bhavik Patel but it didn’t slow them down.“We’ve really been focusing on doubles,” Lee said. “We are looking for them to carry us in CIF.”

The Aztecs showed up without five regulars starters who were unavailable. Lejano said his team will learn from Thursday’s loss, and with the way the Spartans played, having a full lineup wouldn’t have made much difference.
“Villa Park is an excellent team,” Lejano said. “They are so solid and deep.”

Thursday, 7:30 p.m.

What happened the first time they met: Canyon won, 51-36

Why is this so important: Let me be the first to welcome the Comanches into the county Top 10. I don’t know about anybody else, but I’ve voted Canyon seventh in each of the previous two county polls.

Am I crazy?

Now, this game will not have any playoff implications, but wouldn’t Villa Park love to hand Canyon its first league loss?

If it happens, I bet the fans rush the court.

(Rankings and records as of Feb. 9)

MORE CALHOUN FAB FIVE:

• Mater Dei vs. Orange Luteran
• Aliso Niguel vs. Capistrano Valley
• Tustin vs. El Dorado
• JSerra vs. Santa Margarita

Reynolds in early December served a two-day suspension, assessed by the Orange Unified School District and Villa Park, when the section found that the coach had violated undue influence rules. The section had recommended a 10-game suspension.

Reynolds was unavailable for comment Thursday night. He has maintained he did not violate section rules.