Bonita baseball falls short against Harvard-Westlake and Bryce Rainer in CIF-SS playoffs

LA VERNE — Bonita’s baseball team nearly made the impossible possible in the bottom of the seventh inning Tuesday against Harvard-Westlake’s Bryce Rainer, arguably the top senior prospect in the country and who could be the No. 1 high school player taken in Major League Baseball draft this summer.

Rainer is a shortstop who also happens to possess a high-90s fastball, but Bonita made him sweat out the final three outs of the CIF-SS Division 1 playoff game.

With Harvard-Westlake leading 3-0, Bonita’s Andrew Sanchez, Cody White and Colton Perez fought off pitches and worked the counts, leading to three straight walks to load the bases and give the Bearcats life.

A wild pitch scored Sanchez and Austin Owens’ groundout scored White to make it a one-run game, and the Bearcats had the tying runner on third with two outs. But that’s as close as they would get, as Rainer got Diego Vasquez to ground out to second to end the game.

Harvard-Westlake, the No. 2 seed in the division, escaped with a 3-2 victory in the second-round contest.

Harvard Westlake’s Texas commit Bryce Rainer talks about battling through the 7th to hold on for a 3-2 win over Bonita pic.twitter.com/8pgX5VMTCl

— Fred J. Robledo (@SGVNSports) May 8, 2024

Harvard Westlake coach Jared Halpert was going to stick with Bryce Rainer in the 7th no matter what as they held on for a 3-2 win over Bonita. He chuckled at the thought of replacing him. pic.twitter.com/pWom6ClfWy

— Fred J. Robledo (@SGVNSports) May 8, 2024

Harvard-Westlake (25-5-1) advances to host San Dimas (25-5) in Friday’s quarterfinals.

The Saints pulled off a miracle comeback Tuesday, scoring four runs in the bottom of the seventh, capped by a two-run, walk-off hit by Rocco Regan to beat Cypress 7-6.

Harvard-Westlake coach Jared Halpert kind of chuckled at the thought of replacing Rainer in the seventh because of is control problems.

“Well, sticking with Bryce Rainer is not really a difficult thing to do,” Halpert joked. “But credit to that baseball team across the field from us. They never gave up and they had a bunch of steam there when we kind of let the door open. But the ball rolled our way and we found a way to come out on top.”

Rainer remained calm through it all.

“Not going to say it was nerve-rattling, but it was a little scary,” Rainer said of the seventh. “I’m not going to lie, but my team backed me up and made some plays for me.”

The game looked like it might get out of hand early.

In the first inning, Rainer, a Texas commit, walked on four pitches and Stanford commit James Tronstein drove him in with a double. Jack Laffitte’s double scored Tronstein as the Wolverines grabbed a 2-0 lead.

Bonita coach Ryan Marcos talks about their near comeback in 3-2 loss to Harvard Westalke pic.twitter.com/vEKtRi8baH

— Fred J. Robledo (@SGVNSports) May 8, 2024

It stayed that way until Cade Goldstein’s groundout in the fourth inning scored Ira Wootman to extend Harvard-Westlake’s lead to 3-0.

But that’s all the run the Wolverines would get off Bonita left-hander Gavin Reeve, who gave up six hits over six innings.

Bonita (19-8) had trouble against Harvard Westlake starter Jacob Magna, who gave up three hits in 4 2/3 innings.

Bearcats coach Ryan Marcos said he was proud of his team’s effort, especially against Rainer, who pitched the sixth and seventh innings to get the save.

“We were trying to take until we got something good to put something together,” Marcos said of their rally in the seventh inning. “That hit at the end from Diego was so close to being a hit. I’m just so proud of my guys to go out and do what they did this year. They competed and showed all heart and showed out.”

SCORES FROM TUESDAY’S GAMES

SECOND ROUND

DIVISION 1

La Mirada 5, Foothill 2

San Dimas 7, Cypress 6

Harvard-Westlake 3, Bonita 2

DIVISION 2

Arcadia 9, Yorba Linda 1

Ayala 11, Maranatha 0

DIVISION 3

Los Alamitos 7, La Salle 2

Beckman 7, La Habra 5

DIVISION 4

Oak Hills 9, San Marino 6

St. Francis 2, San Juan Hills 1

DIVISION 5

Oxnard Pacifica 3, Whittier Christian 1

Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 4, Monrovia 2

Montebello 5, Liberty 4

DIVISION 6

West Covina 14, Costa Mesa 3

Diamond Bar 9, St. Paul 0

Alhambra 6, Grand Terrace 4

Salesian 5, Schurr 3

DIVISION 7

South El Monte 6, Artesia 1

DIVISION 8

Coachella Valley 8, Bosco Tech 7

Edgewood 9, Beverly Hills 4

Azusa 15, Academy Career 1

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