CORONA — The bleachers at Centennial High School were packed with Major League Baseball scouts and front office personnel Thursday afternoon.
That usually means one thing: Corona senior Seth Hernandez was scheduled to be on the mound.
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Corona’s Joshua Sur misses a catch in a Big VIII League baseball game against Centennial during the bottom of the seventh inning on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
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Corona’s Joshua Sur misses a catch in a Big VIII League baseball game against Centennial during the bottom of the seventh inning on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
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Hernandez turned in five strong innings, allowing one hit and one unearned run while striking out 10. Billy Carlson, Anthony Murphy and Ethin Bingaman each belted a home run, as the Panthers defeated Centennial 10-5 to clinch at least a share of the program’s third straight Big VIII League championship.
Corona (22-2 overall, 11-1 in league) finishes with a three-game series against Roosevelt next week and needs one more win to make it an outright title.
“We have our goals every year, and one of them always is to win league,” Corona coach Andy Wise said. “The coaching staff has been together for a long time, and I think our message gets through to the players about those expectations. It’s fun to watch them do their thing without having to be overbearing.”
Hernandez’s fastball averaged 95.2 miles per hour and topped out at 97 during Thursday’s game. That is an impressive number, but that is not necessarily the reason why scouts are fawning over the 6-foot-5 right-hander. Hernandez’s command of three additional pitches — slider, change-up and curveball — is why he is projected to be the first high school pitcher taken in the July’s MLB Draft. All 10 of Hernandez’s strikeouts Thursday were on off-speed pitches.
“I felt pretty good warming up in the pen,” Hernandez, said. “I have been working on the slider a bit more recently to get that to be a more consistent pitch. Overall, I think things went pretty well. I hooked a few curves and sliders, so I have to work a bit on that. … I really want to be at my best for the playoffs.”
Corona grabbed the lead in the top of the second inning, when Carlson went the opposite way and smacked a two-run home run over the right field fence. And the Panthers doubled that lead early on the following inning, when Murphy turned on an inside pitch and curled a ball inside the foul pole in left field.
Murphy had a phenomenal series. He hit three homers in Monday’s 23-3 win at Centennial and finished the week 9 for 15 with four homers and 10 RBIs.
“This week felt great,” the junior center fielder said. “I’m seeing the ball well right now. I lowered my hands and I’m trying to stay more relaxed in the box.”
Corona added three more runs in the third inning to extend the advantage to 7-0. Gavin Flores capped that outburst for the Panthers with an RBI single.
Centennial’s first baserunner of the game came on a dropped third strike in the top of the fourth inning, one of four strikeouts for Hernandez in that frame.
The Huskies (14-8, 6-6) broke through in the fifth. Christian De La O led off the frame with a single to right-center field, and pinch runner Cade Paterson moved to third on wild pitch and ground out. Paterson later scored on an error, just the second run Hernandez has allowed in 37 1/3 innings this season.
Hernandez moved from the mound to first base in the bottom of the sixth inning, and several of the scouts in attendance headed for various parking lots. Hernandez threw 72 pitches in the game, 51 for strikes. He hit one batter but did not issue a walk en route to improving to 16-0 in his high school career.
“He’s so super-polished,” Wise said. “His presence is phenomenal. He has once-in-a-generation type stuff, but his make-up and the way he goes about business is still what impresses me most. He’s a great role model. There’s no flash about him. He’s not looking for pats on the back or anything like that.”
Hernandez was greeted by a handful of young ball players when he exited the field, and he signed autographs and posed for pictures with the admirers.
Bingaman hit Corona’s 11th home run of the three-game series, a towering three-run blast to left field to give the Panthers a 10-1 lead in the seventh.
Centennial looked for an improbable comeback in the bottom half of the seventh. Jesse Mendoza singled home the first run with one out, and pinch-hitter Ethan Miller followed with a three-run home run to left field. Charles Rogers lined a double to the wall in right-center field with one out, but a perfect relay from Bingaman to second-baseman Trey Ebel to catcher Jesiah Andrade was in time to get the speedy Jaden Walk-Green at the plate for the final out.
Corona heads to the University of San Diego on Saturday afternoon to face Stockton St. Mary in the North vs. South championship of the Boras Classic.
Centennial sits fourth in the Big VIII League standings, two behind Norco and one behind Santiago. The Huskies will close out league play against King.
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