Baseball: Lots of talent comes through in winter tournament

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Bring together Mater Dei, Harvard-Westlake, JSerra and Valencia in a winter baseball tournament and you expect to see lots of good players.

That’s what happened this past weekend at JSerra.

Among the players creating buzz among coaches:

Senior outfielder Tyler Adkison of Mater Dei showed he’s going to be a tough out in a very imposing batting order.

Senior pitcher Hans Hansen of Harvard-Westlake threw four shutout innings. He might not make radar guns go off, but he gets outs, and that’s important.

Senior first baseman Ryan Fitzpatrick of JSerra is going to be one of the best in the Trinity League.

Senior outfielder A.J. Balta of Valencia could be the best hitter in the Foothill League.

And give credit to Harvard-Westlake players and coaches. Some had to get up at 5 a.m. for the drive to San Juan Capistrano for an 8 a.m. game.

-- Eric Sondheimer