Blue Wave baseball team wins Under Armour Southwest Championships

They might have to call the Under Armour Southwest Championships the “Blue Wave Invitational” after the Irvine, Newport/Corona del Mar-based club baseball team captured the title Sunday at the prestigious showcase tournament for high school and incoming college players for the second time in the past three years.

Having won the title in 2011 and finishing second in 2012, Blue Wave posted a perfect 8-0 record in capturing the seventh annual Under Armour 2013 Southwest Championship held Wednesday through Sunday (July 31-Aug. 4) at Azusa Pacific, Citrus College and surrounding West Los Angeles-area high school fields.

The team featured Newport Harbor High’s Shaun Vetrovec and TK McWhertor. Vetrovec recently verbally committed to play baseball at UC Irvine.

“The team played very well, I am extremely proud of them,” Blue Wave Coach Rich Pohle said after winning his second UA title. “This is one of the most competitive tournaments we play each year and we had some close games where things went our way at the end.”

More than 60 top clubs from throughout the Western Region, including Mexico, competed in the five-day event for players 18-and-under that played in four pool games for seeding into the single-elimination round.

Irvine area players on the team include Jake Hazard (Beckman), Brennan Guniet (Beckman), Tyler Evert (Beckman) and Chandler Gaspar (Northwood).

— Reader submission