SATURDAY’S DICKS SPORTING GOODS FINAL
Bonita vs. San Dimas at Mt. SAC, 7 p.m.

By John Honell
San Dimas got a two-hit pitching performance by junior Jacob Castillo and beat Etiwanda 3-0 in the semifinals of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Baseball Tournament Wednesday at Mt. Sac.
The Saints (4-0), the Tribune’s top-ranked team, will face arch-rival Bonita, a 4-1 winner over Alta Loma, in Saturday’s championship at Mt. SAC at 7 p.m.
The Saints struggled at the plate but used a hit batter, an error on a sacrifice bunt and a bases loaded single by centerfielder Jonathan Longtin that drove in pinch-runner Josh Aquilar and Peter Lambert with the first two runs of the game in the top of the sixth inning. Longtin scored the third run of the inning on a fielder’s choice and that was enough for Castillo to improve his record to 2-0.

“My heart was pounding,” Longtin said. “I was just trying to get the ball in the outfield and get a run. I haven’t been hitting the ball that well but, I tried to stay stacked and hit the ball up the middle.”
Castillo led off the sixth inning and was hit by a pitch. Aguilar ran for him and Lambert, the winning pitcher in the quarterfinals, laid down a sacrifice bunt but the throw went into right field giving the Saints runners at second and third with no outs.
The Eagles then walked Logan Murratalla intentionally to load the bases and set the table for Longtin.
“It’s been a different guy every game,” Saints coach Mike Regan said. “Longtin’s been struggling a little bit but then he squares a ball up. He was kind of due and it was big for him and his confidence.”
Castillo hit the first batter he faced then walked the next batter before getting a strikeout and a couple of lazy fly balls to get out of the first-inning jam.
“I struggled at first,” Castillo said. “I was trying to find the strike zone but with all the preparation we get from our pitching coach for those kind of situations, I just got after it after those first two batters.”
Castillo gave up two hits and struck out eight giving him 19 strikeouts in his two wins.
“Jacob has done a tremendous job for us,” Regan said. “He locates his pitches very well and he’s done a great job for us and we’re really happy with his last two performances. He’s been sick the last couple of days but he battled through it and once he found his rhthym, he did a very good job.”
Matt Corona got the only other hit for the Saints, a single in third inning, the first hit of the game by either team, but the Saints had four hit batters and also got three bases on balls to keep the Eagles back on their heels.
“Their guy (Grant Ashcraft) did a good job of keeping us off balance,” Regan said. “All our guys battled and we squared up some balls but hit them right at people.”