CIF Central Section Division 5 Baseball: Shafter vs. Minarets
CIF CENTRAL SECTION BASEBALL
4 p.m. today
Valley Strong Ballpark, Visalia
Division 5 championship game: No. 2 seed Minarets Mustangs (23-8-1) vs. No. 1 Shafter Generals (19-6).
Head coaches: Jesse Darrah, Minarets; David Schwartz, Shafter.
How Shafter got here: Tied for second in South Sequoia League (9-3). CIF D-5 playoffs - Defeated No. 16 Kern Valley 11-1, first round; Beat No. 8 Dos Palos 9-1, quarterfinal; Beat No. 4 Sierra 6-2, semifinal. All Shafter playoff games were played at home.
How Minarets got here: Tied for Northwest Sequoia League title (10-3). CIF D-5 playoffs - beat No. 15 Firebaugh 12-1, first round; defeated No. 7 Santa Maria 7-6, quarterfinal; routed Chavez 14-1, semifinal. All playoff games were home games for the Mustangs.
Impact 2026 players for Shafter: Joaquin Garza, junior, third base/infielder/pitcher, .400 batting average, 28 hits, 27 runs, 26 RBIs, two home runs, 10 doubles, two triples; Andy Gomez, senior, center fielder/pitcher, 5-0 and an 0.90 ERA in eight appearances, 58 strikeouts in 39 innings. Offensively, he's hitting .397 with 27 hits, 14 RBIs, seven doubles; Lukas Pena, senior, pitcher/outfielder, hitting .373 with 28 hits, 23 RBIs, seven doubles and a home run. Nini Garcia, sophomore, shortstop/pitcher, hitting .297 with 27 hits, 18 RBIs and 26 runs scored. He has pitched 27.6 innings in 13 appearances and has struck out 34 batters.
Impact 2026 players for Minarets: Jamie Spurgeon, junior, pitcher/infielder/outfielder, .481 batting average, leads team in hits (52), runs (42), RBIs (43), steals (15), doubles (17), triples (six) and home runs (five). Pitching wise, he's 8-1 with a 2.46 ERA and has struck out 85 in 54 innings; Jaydon Von Wagner, junior, pitcher/infielder/utility, .433 average, 45 hits, 29 runs scored, 38 RBIs, 15 doubles. He is 2-1 in 29.3 innings, 26 strikeouts; Killian Paschall, junior, outfielder/utility, .343 average, 34 hits, 29 RBIs, 12 steals; Brody Rettig, junior, catcher/first base, .368 average, 25 hits, 15 RBIs.
History: David Schwartz is in his first year as head coach at Shafter, but today marks the Generals' third straight appearance in the CIF Central Section Division 5 championship game. The Generals won 8-0 over Torres in 2024, but lost to Corcoran 18-6 in the 2025 final, a game that went five innings. Minarets has not win a CIF baseball section title.
Schwartz's thoughts: Strength this year? "The biggest improvement this team has made is mental toughness. When we've been down in games or maintaining the lead, we're just tougher," he said. … Shafter is going to its third straight CIF title game, what do you see in this year's team? "This is a glued-together group. Our performance in playoff games has shown the team's hunger to get back to the title game. I've seen it, especially in the older guys. This was the goal."
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