Above: Chad Hockin, a pitcher and third baseman for Damien last season, batted .264 with 17 RBIs. In 13 innings pitched he had a 3.07 ERA.

Bonita added two dynamite baseball transfers last semester when Charter Oak’s Jon Reid and Damien’s Chad Hockin transferred to the school, instantly upgrading the Bearcats’ roster after graduating pitcher and area player of the year Justin Garza, who is now at Cal State Fullerton.

Bonita coach John Knott talked about inheriting two Division I senior recruits. Reid is a left-handed pitcher and outfielder committed to Pepperdine and Hockin, who is the grandson of late Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, is a right-hander committed to Cal State Fullerton who also plays third base.

Reid already has been cleared by CIF to join the team immediately. Reid batted .333 for the Chargers last season and had a 2.76 ERA in 25 innings pitched.

Hockin has paperwork to complete before getting the green light from CIF to start immediately. Ironically, Chad’s younger brother Grant Hockin, a junior, remained at Damien.

“It’s kind of how things have changed in terms of high school sports where kids change schools,” Knott said. “While we’re excited about the talent they bring, there is still the big challenge of how we become cohesive as a group. When people come over it’s not always super easy to fit it, it takes some time. But both of them grew up in the travel community and all the kids know each other, so we think it will work out just fine.”