Baseball CIF

In just the second year under coach John Franklin, the Titans turned around from a 1-15 record the year before Franklin came into San Marino to a 17-6 record in the regular season this year. Led by star pitchers Michael Liquori and Tomas Bilvado, along with talented bats in Truman Koch, Tyler Giddings, Sid Danenhauer, Ryan Park, and many others, the Titans turnaround was unprecedented, and something many in San Marino loved to watch. 

The Titans started off hot, winning eight of their first nine games including a shutout victory over division two opponent Royal. Though they were winning almost every non-league game they played, the Titans started off 0-4 in league play, losing one game to each of their four league opponents. However, as league play progressed, the Titans turned on a second gear, taking their second and third matchups against rival South Pasadena, along with their next two games against Temple City, putting them at 4-4 and only one game back from the league lead. These next games against La Cañada were pivotal, and the Titans managed to pick up two more wins. This tied them for the league lead with Monrovia and South Pasadena, and since they already held the tiebreaker against South Pasadena, a win on senior night for San Marino would mean winning their first league title since 2014. Tomas Bilvado took the mound in this pivotal matchup against the Monrovia Wildcats, and the stakes could not have been higher, as Monrovia too would have claimed a championship with a win as well. Bilvado, safe to say, pitched one of the best games of his high school career up to that point, allowing only one run, and senior Nico Osegueda came in to close the game out. Osegueda did his job, and the Titans secured what could be a program changing title. 

With that league championship brought berth into the CIF Division Six Playoffs, and the first matchup was against Palm Desert’s Xavier Prep. They were 18-10 going into this game, and managed to get here after winning a wild card game to even qualify for the tournament. Unfortunately for the Saints, their two hour drive from the desert was for nothing, as the Titans managed to push across three runs without getting out in the bottom of the first, and the game ended up an 11-3 blowout. The second round brought a matchup against Alhambra, and the 20-8 Moors also won their first game in a blowout. But the Titans brought their bats on the short trip to Moor Field, and after yet another gem on the mound from Bilvado, the Titans secured a matchup in the third round against Campbell Hall, their first trip this far in years.

This season brought the best baseball San Marino has seen from their Titans in years, and things are only trending up in the Titan baseball program.