The 2018 San Pedro Prep Baseball season ended on May 24, but it still had noteworthy moments.

San Pedro High baseball may not have had a winning season if you base it on overall record, but the Pirates still managed to finish with a second straight Marine League championship sharing it with Banning of Wilmington and Carson in a three-way tie, also posting solid victories over San Fernando and Cleveland of Reseda during the season before San Fernando got their retribution with a 3-1, ten-inning victory over the Pirates, eliminating them in the first round of the inaugural CIF-Los Angeles City Section Open Division playoffs.

Who knows how the Pirates' season would have turned out if they had sophomore P/INF Travis Connelly from the start?

Connelly missed the first month of the season with an injury but was cleared to begin at the Blazer Spring Bash Tournament in Las Vegas, then he truly stepped up his game in the Marine League, especially against Banning, Carson and Narbonne. In those six games against those three schools, Connelly hit .389 and had a 0.00 ERA in 19 1/3 innings in league after starts against the Pilots, Colts and Gauchos, ending up being chosen as one of three Marine League Players Of The Year.

Now Connelly can add another honor to his resume... the 2018 San Pedro News Pilot Prep Baseball Player Of The Year.

San Pedro went 13-17-1 overall, 8-2 in the Marine League, splitting with Banning and Carson but earned the top spot out of the league for the CIF-LACS Open Division playoffs thanks to owning the score differential tiebreaker due to a stunning 14-1 victory at Carson, the eventual CIF-LACS Division 1 runner-up, on April 30.

Head coach Steve Tedesco had a whopping ten All-Marine League selections for San Pedro in 2018, paced by Connelly but also including sophomores Josh Duarte and Alex Pacheco, freshmen Cain Lusic and Jake Harper, junior pitcher Anthony Scognamillo, and seniors Kai Kaneshiro, Ryan Zamudio, Daniel Lopez and Devon Zardeneta.

Mary Star had the best record of anyone in town at 19-8 overall, but finished second in the Camino Real League to Cantwell Sacred Heart of Montebello, and was unceremoniously bounced in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 5 playoffs with an 8-1 loss to Sunny Hills of Fullerton on May 18 at Fromhold Field in San Pedro.

Another talented sophomore in P/INF Marco Ibarra was named the Camino Real League Pitcher Of The Year and is also the SPNP Prep Baseball Most Outstanding Player. Ibarra went 6-3 with a 1.29 ERA and 71 strikeouts, while also hitting .389 with 22 RBIs and 7 doubles. Ibarra is one of seven All-CRL selections for the Stars, including a slew of juniors in Andy Vega, Ryne Lina, Nathan Trudnich and Joe James, sophomore Carlos Vega and senior Chris Alvarez

Port Of Los Angeles went 14-13 overall, and finished second in the Coliseum League to Dorsey of Los Angeles with a 7-3 mark, but was the only team in town to advance out of the first round of the playoffs, when they knocked off Legacy of South Gate, 6-0 in the first round of the CIF-LACS Division 3 playoffs on May 22. 

Rudy Rios emerged as one of, if not the best freshmen in town as an outfielder and pitcher for POLA, who was also paced by junior Dylann Renn, senior Nick Skrumbis and sophomores Anthony D'Anna and Justin Bales.

(Note: Photo courtesy of Melissa Harper)

Here is the full All-San Pedro News Pilot Baseball Team for 2018...

FIRST TEAM
INFIELDERS

Josh Duarte (San Pedro, soph.)

Ryne Lina (Mary Star, jr.)

Nick Skrumbis (POLA, sr.)

Andy Vega (Mary Star, jr.)

Ryan Zamudio (San Pedro, sr.)

OUTFIELDERS

Jake Harper (San Pedro, fr.)

Rudy Rios (POLA, fr.)

Kai Kaneshiro (San Pedro, sr.)

Joe James (Mary Star, jr.)

CATCHER

Carlos Vega (Mary Star, soph.)

Anthony D’Anna (POLA, soph.)

Devon Zardeneta (San Pedro, sr.)

PITCHER

Anthony Scognamillo (San Pedro, jr.)

Justin Bales (POLA, soph.)

Daniel Lopez (San Pedro, sr.)

UTILITY

Cain Lusic (San Pedro, fr.)

Dylann Renn (POLA, jr.)

Alex Pacheco (San Pedro, soph.)

Nathan Trudnich (Mary Star, jr.)

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Travis Connelly (San Pedro, P, soph.)

MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER

Marco Ibarra (Mary Star, P/INF, soph.)

COACH OF THE YEAR
Rick Ibarra (Mary Star)

SAN PEDRO NEWS PILOT PAST PREP BASEBALL PLAYERS OF THE YEAR

2012: Blake Mendoza, San Pedro

2013: Richard Samudio, San Pedro

2014: Augie Encinas, Mary Star

2015: Derrick Edwards, Mary Star

2016: Fernando Rivas, Port Of Los Angeles

2017: Isaiah Bumgarner, San Pedro