Valencia out-hit Notre Dame nine to seven over nine innings in Sherman Oaks and lost by a run, in a game that turned on two plays at home plate.

The first came in the third. Notre Dame strung three two-out singles together for a run, and then, while Valencia ran a pickoff at first, Patrick Arranaga broke from third and stole home for the 2-0 lead, even as the rundown retired the runner at first. It was all the Knights earned: seven Valencia pitchers combined for seven hits, and from the fourth inning on, Steven Genovese threw two hitless frames with a pair of strikeouts, Justin Gaisford struck out two in the seventh, and left fielder Evan Conrad ended the fifth by catching a fly and doubling a runner off first for a 7-3 double play.

Valencia's offense kept knocking. Dylan Lapa singled and scored on JT Gurne's seventh-inning RBI single, though the trailing runner was cut down at third on an 8-9-5 relay on the same play. In the ninth, down 3-1 after an unearned Notre Dame run, Gurne walked, stole second, and took third on Carter Bennett's double; a passed ball brought him home to make it 3-2 with the tying run 90 feet away.

The second plate play ended it: Bennett broke for home with two outs and was cut down, catcher to pitcher, Valencia's fourth out on the bases in a game where the margin was one run. Conrad went 2-for-2, Gurne reached in both trips, and Bennett's double was one of nine Valencia hits on a day when the last 90 feet would not come.