In Pre-Season Opener, Bonita Gets the Best of Damien, 8-1

J&J: While the photo is a little fuzzy, the performances turned in by Justin Garza and Justin Rowe were not. It appears J&J no longer stands for health-care corporation Johnson & Johnson, but Justin and Justin.

In his first varsity at-bat, sophomore newcomer Justin Rowe blasted a triple into the alley to drive in Bonita’s first two runs of the season as the Bearcats cruised to a convincing 8-1 victory over Damien at Mt. Sac’s Mazmanian Field Friday night behind the strong right arm of junior Justin Garza, who scattered six hits while not giving up a run.

Bonita looked every bit the team that made it to the CIF finals last year.

Rowe also collected a single in four plate appearances.

“We all know what a heckofa sophomore he is,” Bonita head coach John Knott said after the game. “We know he can swing the bat. The kid’s got a lot of confidence. He’s coachable. He listens. He works on things. He’s got a big passion to play baseball. He’s going to be a fine player out of this program in the next couple of years. He’s going to help us this year, too.”

Rowe even sparkled on defense, starting the front end of a difficult 6-4-3 double play in the bottom of the sixth. He ranged far to his right on a sharply hit grounder up the middle and dove and snagged it before flipping to Robert Mier who completed the twin killing. Rowe hurt his shoulder on the play, and could be day to day. “That was one of the best infield plays I’ve seen,” Knott added.

Coach Mitch Newell, give yourself an A+ for calling a perfect game. Newell's other job when he's not charting and calling pictures is teaching math at Ramona Middle School.

Meanwhille, Garza showed why some people think Bonita might have the best one-two pitching punch in the Valley with him and Arizona-state bound Adam McCreery.

“Justin did a great job of controlling the tempo,” Knott said. “He put a lot of pressure on those guys tonight. He had a good fastball. He was pretty much in command of all his pitches. Anytime, you have all that it, it makes it pretty easy for your defense.”

Something new for Bonita fans to watch this season is third baseman Thomas Castro in the lead-off spot. Castro doubled and singled with one RBI.

“Castro started off well,” Knott said. “In the first inning, he hit the ball hard. He hit the double to left field. He smoked the ball at the first baseman. We just got to keep him patient because he’s really aggressive.”

Last year’s lead-off hitter, Mier, now batting third in the line-up, and Matt Rodriguez, batting in the clean-up spot, also were productive. In the top of the fifth, Rodriguez hit a two-run triple. KC Huth also chipped in with an RBI to go with a single and double on the evening.

Damien’s lone run came in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI double by leadoff hitter Jonathan Chodzko.

As well as Bonita played in its own showcase tournament, Knott knows better than to get too high or too low after just one game in the books.

“It’s nice to see where you’re at,” Knott admitted. “Teams are going to come after us.”

The Bonita Pre-Season Tournament features 18 teams in the varsity bracket. Today, the Bearcats are home at 4 p.m.

“It’s kind of exciting that this many teams wanted to support the tournament this year,” Knott said.

It’s just one game, but Bonita already appears to have made a statement about the kind of season it expects to have.

The Bonita faithful loved what they saw.

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