Zeke Cortez leads Kaiser baseball team past Santa Barbara, into Division 5 semifinals
FONTANA - Truthfully, the 2026 season might have been the worst regular season in the history of the Kaiser baseball program.
The playoffs are turning it into one of the most successful.
Zeke Cortez pitched a three-hitter, while Caleb Inzunza had three hits and drove in four runs as the Cats defeated Santa Barbara 7-0 on Friday in a CIF Southern Section Division 5 quarterfinal game.
Kaiser (18-13) advances to a CIF semifinal for the third time in program history and first time since 2016. That year, the Cats made their only CIF championship game appearance, losing in the Division 4 title game. They will host Irvine on Tuesday.
It's quite a turnaround from the regular season.
Coach Mike Spinuzzi, in his 27th season, said this is the first time the Cats finished as low as fourth place and with a losing league record (4-8). It was such a frustrating season that he threatened to kick all the seniors off the team at one point.
"We were not very good," Spinuzzi said. "We were not playing the way we should've been playing."
But Kaiser got into the playoffs as an at-large team and has hit its stride.
"I said this to them, ‘we are prepared for the playoffs, gentlemen. If we get in the playoffs, we're going to win games,'" Spinuzzi said.
Spinuzzi said the strength of the Sunkist League has been to Kaiser's benefit. League champ Summit made the Division 3 quarterfinals and runner-up Grand Terrace is in the Division 4 semifinals.
Friday, the Cats dominated behind the pitching of Cortez, a senior left-hander who pitched to only one batter more than the minimum in the first six innings. Before the seventh, he allowed only one infield hit and hit two batters.
After allowing two singles to start the seventh, he finished with a three-hitter, striking out 10 and walking none. He also picked off two base runners and would've picked off a third if not for an error.
"I struggled this year, if I'm going to be honest," Cortez said. "But I just have to keep my head down and keep trying.
"Today my fastball was on. I was able to locate inside, outside, spot up, dodge the barrel."
His pickoff move has proved to be quite a weapon, too.
"That's saved me in a lot of games. It's gotten me a lot of good outs. In a lot of close situations I get that out and I'm out of the inning," he said.
Spinuzzi said Cortez is rounding into form after playing a portion of the season with a fractured right hand.
While Cortez led the way, the offense pounded out 10 hits, including four for extra bases. Tino Cuellar (who reached 100 career hits Friday) and Alberto Arteaga each had multiple hits, but it was Inzunza, a freshman designated hitter batting eighth, who led the way by going 3-for-3 with a double, a run and four RBIs.
"I've been seeing the ball well all week, the entire playoffs," Inzunza said. "I've been working on my swing, staying back, just reacting and reading it out of the pitcher's hand."
Inzunza drove in the game's first run with a second-inning single against starter Jack Paskin. He capped a two-run fourth with another single that made it 3-0 and drove in the fifth and sixth runs with a sixth-inning double.
Kaiser put the ball in play Friday. While the Cats were hit by a pitch twice, they did not walk and did not strike out. Three of the scoring innings were keyed by Kaiser bunts.
"The last three (game) days, they have shown a lot of heart, playing without fear," Spinuzzi said.
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.