Cole Winn Leads Orange Lutheran to NHSI Opening Win

Every year at the National High School Invitational Tournament, some player helps himself with a big performance.

Playing in front of numerous scouting directors, crosscheckers and scouts, each of Wednesday’s Opening Round games is a chance for teams and top players to show what they can do against top-level competition.

Orange Lutheran (Calif.) High righthander Cole Winn can do a lot, which he showed in a dominating 9-0 win over Florence (Ala.) High.

Winn, ranked  sat at 91-95 mph, but it was hit ability to mix in a slider and a curve to go with the fastball that kept Florence off balance all game.

“My goal is always to attack the zone and throw strikes. My stuff is sometimes unhittable so I just try to attack the zone with that,” Winn said.

Winn was in complete control. He struck out nine and allowed only one mishit infield single in six innings of work along with two walks. Winn’s outfielders could have taken the day off–Florence (Ala.) High managed only one fly out that left the infield against Winn.

Leadoff hitter Chad Born singled and scored in each of his first two at-bats for Orange Lutheran, giving the Lancers all the margin they needed, but the Lancers stayed aggressive on the base paths stealing six bags.

“We played the way we like to play,” We set the tone right away with Chad leading off with a single up the middle on the first pitch,”coach Eric Borba said. “We played pretty well today overall.”

They put the game away with two more runs in the fourth and another in the fifth.

Born, Max Rajcic, Elijah Buries and Jackson Cloyd each had two hits for the Lancer.s

“I’ve been coaching for 20 years and he’s the best I’ve seen,” Borba said. “The kid is just off the charts. There’s no stage too big for him and his stuff speaks for itself. He’s a mid-90s guy with a swing and miss breaking ball and a slider. His aptitude is off the charts.”