The Santa Rosa Junior College baseball team’s season ended prematurely in the CCCAA Super Regional playoffs. Though the team didn’t accomplish their ultimate goal of winning a state championship, there is much to celebrate after another winning season.
The Bear Cubs finished the season with a 31-15 overall record, good for second in the Big 8 conference, and the teams second straight season with more than 30 wins.
The lineup did not disappoint, as the Bear Cubs had eight hitters hit over .280 and six hitters with five or more home runs. While less of a strength than the lineup, there were three Bear Cubs pitchers with ERAs at 2.50 or below.
Oak Leaf Awards
MVP – Alex Leopard
With a .364 average, 12 home runs, 56 RBIs and excellent defense in center field, Leopard was an obvious choice for MVP. The UCSD commit was near the top of every offensive category and a consistently tough out in every at bat of 2024.
Cy Young – Hekili Robello
In a whopping 104 innings, Robello posted a 2.16 ERA with 94 strikeouts. He excelled most at keeping the ball in the zone, only walking 14 batters all season.
Gold Glove – Keenan Morris
While only six errors in 124 total chances is impressive, the stats don’t quite do Morris justice. He excelled at making the difficult plays look routine and you could usually count on a diving catch over at third every game.
Freshman of the Year – Josh Martin
Martin wasn’t flashy by any means, but he did everything exceptionally well. As a true freshman he hit .295 with five home runs and 38 RBIs. Most impressive is his only eight strikeouts all season, while playing all nine innings at first base every single game.
Honorable Mentions – Jake McCoy, Zane Bennett, Aidan Lombardi, Cameron Duran, Mason Cox, Collin Medeiros, Luke Schat
To the Grave
In a final team meeting of the season, several sophomores spoke about what the team has meant to them.
Alex Leopard: “I’m gonna miss playing with those guys and I’ve made friendships that will last a lifetime. I really enjoyed the time I had at Santa Rosa and it will always have a special place in my heart.”
Hekili Robello: “It’s emotional. What we’ve built these past two years, the brotherhood. We’ve been fighting so hard. The coaching staff and the learning experiences. Damon was probably one of the best coaches I’ve ever had. He’s taught me many things, and all of us, we grew.”
Aidan Lombardi: “I’m definitely sad that it’s over. It took some time to sink in after the loss, for sure. It didn’t feel real when we first lost at first. The last couple days of not coming out here with the routine we had every day, it’s definitely starting to hit harder.”
Quinn Medin: “It was a very surreal moment when we lost. We ended in a pretty devastating fashion, but I’m always going to cherish my time I had here, and everything I learned from Damon [Neidlinger], the coaches, my teammates, just all the lessons. I’ll take that into wherever I end up and face adversity with the same mindset.”
Jake McCoy: “Losing the way we did hurts a lot more.The whole team just dropped to the ground, and it was just about everything we put into it just coming to an end like that. It definitely doesn’t feel the best. But, you know, hindsight can’t change anything that happened. Now we all just got to move on.”
Zane Bennett: “It hurts, but I’m super grateful for what we all had here, all the relationships that we made, what we learned from Damon and what we learned from the game. I’m just grateful for my time here. This sucks, but that’s what life is, so I’m grateful for it.”
Keenan Morris: “The program has meant a lot to me over the last three years and I think it will continue to mean a lot to me. Everyone involved in the program has worked so hard and we’ve spent so much time together. I think that’s created a special bond between everyone on the team.”
