Fred J. Robledo, SGVN
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ARCADIA — Bonita’s bats didn’t let pitcher Justin Garza down this time.

After losing to South Hills 2-0 in the championship game of the Dicks Sporting Goods tournament last month and ending Garza’s 18-game winning streak that dated back to the 2010 season, Garza had more than enough support against Glendora in the championship of the Arcadia High School Baseball Tournament on Wednesday.

Justin Row’s homer to left and Tyler Heslop’s two-run double to right capped a five-run inning in the third and Garza did the rest to lead Bonita to a 7-2 victory to capture the Arcadia tournament title for the second straight year

It was Bonita’s (15-1) tenth straight victory since losing to the Huskies, and Garza, who entered with a 0.40 ERA after allowing just two earned runs in 35 innings, improved to 5-1 and has won 21 of his last 22 decisions.

Garza went the distance, but lost his shutout with two-outs in the seventh inning. Glendora’s Johnny Juarez singled in Nick Kaye from third and D.J. Peters scored on a throwing error to bring in the Tartans’ only runs.

Garza allowed four hits with 11 strikeouts in what was just another day at the park for the Cal State Fullerton commit. It was his fourth complete game.

The loss snapped the Tartans’ six-game win streak as they dropped to 10-5.

Bonita’s Tyler Heslop led off the second with a walk, took second on a wild pitch and moved to third on Nolan Henley’s ground out. Tanner Diebold singled up the middle to bring in Heslop to give the Bearcats a 1-0 lead.

Row turned and belted a towering home run to left that was heading toward Santa Anita Blvd., in the third inning, doubling the Bearcats’ lead to 2-0.

Garza kept the inning going with a double and Thomas Castro’s grounder toward first skidded into right for an error, allowing Garza to score to go up 3-0.

After Jacob Blunt’s single, Anthony Gonzalez’s sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third. Heslop followed with a double to right, scoring Castro and Blunt, and Heslop later scored on a throwing error to give Bonita a commanding 6-0 lead.

Castro’s single in the fourth scored Woody Reyes to go up 7-0.

Glendora’s Martin Gallegos, who belted Garza’s 94 MPH fastball to right and was thrown out at first in the first inning, smacked a lead-off double to left in the fourth. But it was wasted after Garza picked him off and retired the next two to end the inning.

fred.robledo@sgvn.com
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