Yucaipa falls in CIF baseball quarterfinals, finishes 20-11

Yucaipa High School’s bid for another CIF Southern Section baseball championship ended Friday, May 22, with a 3-1 defeat to Foothill High School of Tustin in the Division 2 quarterfinals.

The Thunderbirds finished the season 20-11 overall and 11-4 in the Citrus Belt League, good for second place.

The loss ended Yucaipa’s 12-game winning streak.

Foothill pitcher Evan Rycroft pitched five innings of three-hit ball, allowing the Thunderbirds their only run in the fifth inning. Grady Wright relieved Rycroft and did not give up a hit in the final two innings to earn the save.

The Knights had eight hits off senior Yucaipa starter Logan Pashman and one hit off reliever Zach Scribner to improve to 20-11 overall after finishing third in the Crestview League with a 5-7 record.

Jaxon Foshay, Presley Gaborno and Patrick Petossi drove in the three Foothill runs, two of them in the third inning.

Yucaipa scored its only run in the fifth when Jimmy Cole reached base on an error and came around to score on a double by Landyn Von Kaenel, who was 2-for-3 in the game. Xavier Romero had the other hit for YHS.

The Thunderbirds have been an annual presence in the CIF playoffs for more than two decades. They also lost in the quarterfinals in 2021, 2019, 2016, 2013, 2009 and 2006.

YHS was a division championship finalist in 2018, 2010 and 2005.

The team’s No. 1 pitcher, Pashman, has signed a letter of intent to attend Texas A&M University-Texarkana. Pashman posted a 3.17 earned run average with 57 strikeouts in 57 innings pitched this season.

Also graduating in 2026 are Von Kaenel, the team’s leading hitter at .446 who led the team in on-base percentage (.513), hits (45), doubles (15), and runs scored (28) while driving in 26 runs, along with senior Logan Altenhof, who had a 2.67 earned run average in 15 innings on the mound.

Returning in 2027 will be Scribner, who had a 3.00 ERA on the mound and batted .358 with a team-high five home runs and 39 RBI. Also returning will be Romero, who went 4-0 on the mound for YHS and batted .333; Jason Franco, who batted .353 with 26 RBI; and Damien Cordero, the team’s second-leading hitter at .390, who led the team with three triples.