U.S. Vs. Israel, Northridge Alumn Pitches In Tokyo Olympics

NORTHRIDGE, CA — The Southland's baseball players made their mark against Team Israel to win their opening round at the Tokyo Olympics, with a former Cal State Northridge pitcher taking the mound. The U.S. began their play in the Olympic baseball tournament, with both teams' rosters including players from Los Angeles and Orange counties and a resounding victory over team Israel with a score of 8-1.

Edison High School and UCLA alumnus Eric Filia made his mark known. He made two of the 11 U.S. hits and scored one run.

Joe Ryan, who pitched for Cal State Northridge from 2015-17, was the winning pitcher for Team U.S., allowing one run and five hits over six innings with five strikeouts and not walking a batter.

Nearly the entire Israel roster consists of Americans who became Israeli citizens under the nation's Law of Return, giving Jewish Americans the right to come and live in Israel and gain Israeli citizenship.

Also on Team Israel, Ryan Lavarnway, a 2005 graduate of El Camino Real Charter High School, hit a fourth-inning home run. Lavarnway hit two runs and drove in three runs in Israel's 6-5 10-inning loss to South Korea Thursday.

A third Southlander played for Israel: El Camino Real graduate Blake Gailen. He singled for Israel with two outs in the first inning, advancing Ty Kelly, who doubled to third. However, Lavarnway grounded out to end the inning.

Israel qualified for the Olympics by winning the 2019 Europe/Africa continental tournament.

The U.S. qualified by winning the Americas qualification event in Florida in June after failing in its first attempt to qualify for the six-team field in 2019.

The U.S. will next play at 3 a.m., Pacific Time, Saturday against South Korea in another opening-round game in Yokohama, Japan.

City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.