They’ve done it — your Rocklin High School (RHS) varsity baseball team is league champion. This team is a marvel to see and is arguably one of the best teams RHS has had in the last decade.
RHS has had a remarkable season that will be remembered, going into the final series to win league. The team’s record was 18-7. RHS was also ranked 24th in California and dominated teams like Whitney, Oakridge, and Folsom. The team had over 170 runs scored, over 150 RBIs, and seven total home runs.
The team RHS had to face was Granite Bay (GB), which is ranked 12th in California and second in Sacramento. During their season, they accumulated 195 runs, over 250 hits, and seven home runs. They as well have had a dominant season with a record of 17-8 before they played RHS.
RHS and GB were in the hunt for the accomplishment of winning league and whoever took the series would win and become league champs. Senior Tucker Baird said, “It’s just one of those things that you just had to prepare mentally and just keep on fighting for because we lost the first game and we took a punch but we can throw a punch right back.”
The team lost the first game against GB, and as said by one of the coaches, the team had to have an “iron chin.” The team, now behind in the series, had to battle back and take the hit and move forward. “Baseball is an up and down sport, but I don’t think I’ve really lost confidence in us. I always knew that we’ve had a lot of comeback wins this season, so being down is nothing new to us, we are always confident in ourselves and trust in our abilities,” junior Dylan Nusz said.
With RHS being down the team had to battle back. There were only two games left in the series to decide who would be league champs. The second game was close; RHS was tied throughout the game until the sixth inning, and GB took the lead by batting in two runs. RHS rallied back and responded by putting up five runs in the bottom of the sixth, winning and tying the series.
One last game to decide who is the league champion, the winner takes all. The final game of the series was played at GB’s home field, giving them the advantage, but that didn’t matter. RHS dominated the game putting up eight runs beating GB 8-6. Some key players included Cash Brennan, who put up two RBIs; Daniel Panteloglow, who pitched five innings and walked away with the win; and Colby Pudge, who had three hits out of four at-bats, giving him a .750 average for that game.
The team celebrated and were happy to become league champions and solidify their spot in history, but with that win now come playoffs. When asked how it felt to become league champs Nusz said, “At first it felt very good, but about 10 minutes after we all kinda realized that this was just one part of what we were really going for.”
What are they going for? They’re going for it all — they want a title bigger than league, they want to be the Division I section champs. Rocklin dominated their playoff run, beating teams like Downey, Lincoln of Stockton, and — in a very exciting series — Franklin. With this dominant run, they will now advance to sections.
RHS played St. Mary’s for the section title at Sac City College on May 23rd, 2024. When asking junior Daniel Panteloglow his thoughts on how the team should take the playoffs he said, “You know, we just got to go in there and try to take their starting guys out early. Get on them and show them that we can do the same thing as them”.
Sadly, RHS came short and lost the game against St. Mary’s. The team only batted in one running, losing 6-1. RHS season is not over though — they are still very much alive in the playoffs and will still play on. They will play at De la Salle for the Norcal championship and to advance to state. We all wish our boys luck and hope they continue to state and make this accomplishment.
