Last week marked my first trip to California in 18 months after the 2020 season was canceled and the Area Code Games moved to LakePoint for the summer. The weather rarely disappoints, but I mostly missed seeing Southern California programs compete on the field. At the JSerra Classic, we got to see several highly competitive games and an instant classic championship game between Orange Lutheran HS, CA, and Harvard-Westlake HS, CA.

Those match-ups wouldn’t be competitive without the deep rosters of talent and there were a few notable draft prospects in the middle of the action. OF Matt Polk (Orange Lutheran HS, CA) earned MVP honors at the tournament, leading the Lancers to the title win with a big week. In four games, he went 7-for-13 with two doubles, a home run, six runs scored, four RBIs and two stolen bases, while also turning in a couple web gems in center field with his plus-plus speed.