Cajon baseball duo earn All-CIF honors; Yucaipa's Von Kaenel named All-Inland first team

Two members of Cajon High School’s Citrus Belt League champion baseball team were selected to the CIF Southern Section Division 3 first team while Yucaipa’s Landyn Von Kaenel earned all-Inland Empire first team honors.

Junior utility player Steven Rubio led Cajon with a .453 batting average in 29 games and led the team with 39 hits, 30 runs scored and a .564 on-base percentage. He contributed seven doubles, two triples and produced 19 runs batted in for the Cowboys (20-10 overall, 12-3 in the CBL).

Senior Gavin Garcia, a University of Nevada Reno commit, was a two-way player for the Cowboys. On the mound, he was 8-2 in 11 starts among his 15 appearances that included three saves in relief. He pitched two complete games, both shutouts, posing a 1.41 earned run average in 64 innings pitched and striking out 84 batters. He walked 28.

The Cowboys won seven of their last eight regular season games to take the CBL title by one game over Yucaipa (20-11 overall, 11-4 CBL).

Cajon defeated San Dimas 4-0 in the first round of the Division 3 playoffs behind a four-hit shutout pitched by Garcia. Cajon lost its second-round game, 5-2, to St. Francis High. Rubio went 2-for-2 at the plate and drove in both Cajon runs in that season-ending loss.

Both players also joined with Von Kaenel on the all-Inland Area first team announced on Thursday. Von Kaenel was a key contributor for the Thunderbirds who won 12 straight games entering the CIF Division 2 quarterfinal game with the Foothill High. The streak ended in a 3-1 loss. Von Kaenel was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI for the team’s only run. YHS was held to just three hits by the Knights.

The senior led his team in six categories – batting average (.446), on- base percentage (.513), hits (45), slugging percentage (.693), doubles (15) and OPS (1.206). OPS stands for combined on-base percentage and slugging percentage. He also contributed two triples, two home runs, scored 28 runs and had 26 runs batted in. He ranked second on the team in fielding percentage at .978 with 42 putouts in 48 chances, three assists and only one error. The T-Birds also used the talented Von Kaenel as a pitcher.

In nine innings on the mound during the season, he didn’t allow an earned run, gave up only four hits and struck out six while walking seven and earned one win for the team.