HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL / CITY CHAMPIONSHIPS : Chavez Gets a Big Start for Banning

The Banning High baseball team has been led most of the season by Mike Busby, a senior right-hander with an 11-0 record and two no-hitters.

But Mark Chavez will start tonight at 7:30 when the Pilots (20-6) play San Fernando (16-10) in the City 4-A Division championship game at Dodger Stadium. The 3-A Division final between Franklin (22-9) and Narbonne (21-7) will be played at 4.

Chavez, also a senior right-hander, is 7-3 with a 1.81 earned-run average. He pitched a one-hitter in a 5-0 victory over Monroe in the quarterfinals.

Busby pitched a no-hitter in a 5-0 first-round victory over Van Nuys and had a two-hitter Tuesday to lead Banning past Poly, 5-1, in the semifinals.

Because of a California Interscholastic Federation rule limiting pitchers to 10 innings a week, Busby can pitch only three innings in tonight’s game.

“Mike is a great pitcher and this is a big game, but I think I’m ready to go the distance,” Chavez said.

Banning, making its first title-game appearance since 1985, last won a City title in 1961. A victory would be the first in the large-school division by a team outside the San Fernando Valley since 1972, when Venice won.

Senior left-hander Canto Franco (5-4, 3.18 ERA) is expected to start for San Fernando, which lost in the final to Monroe in 1988 and has never won a championship.

Franklin, which won the championship in 1989, defeated Roosevelt, Fairfax and Wilson to reach the 3-A final.

Senior first baseman Andy Aguilar, batting .424 with five homers, leads a team that has five junior and two sophomore starters.

Narbonne has come from behind in all three playoff games, including a semifinal 9-8 victory in 11 innings over Hamilton in which it scored five runs in the bottom of the 10th inning.