State Coach of the Year Andy Rojo from St. John Bosco of Bellflower receives CIF Southern California D1 regional championship plaque after team won its final game vs Patrick Henry of San Diego. Photo: Tom Connolly / For OC Sports Zone.
The St. John Bosco baseball program reached up to the level of success this season that the school has had in football and boys basketball and now baseball head coach Andy Rojo is a State Coach of the Year just like Jason Negro in football (2019) and Matt Dunn in basketball (2024). Rojo’s team made history by winning both the CIF Southern Section D1 title and the CIF SoCal D1 regional title.
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A funny thing happened along the way to the Corona High baseball team winning a second straight CIF Southern Section D1 title. And because it is the most talented high school team ever assembled (according to many Major League Baseball scouts), a win in those playoffs probably would have annointed the Panthers as the greatest high school team in state history.
The funny thing that happened is Corona lost. And the team that beat the Panthers wasn’t a fluke. St. John Bosco of Bellflower had rung up a 14-1 record in easily winning the Trinity League title, won over Corona, 2-0, in the CIFSS D1 semifinals and then won the title in a extra-inning thriller over Santa Margarita. And since the Braves later added the CIF SoCal D1 regional title, their head coach, Andy Rojo, has now collected the Cal-Hi Sports State Coach of the Year honor.
There were signs last year that the Bosco baseball program could get up to the elite status that has been established in football and basketball. It was just Rojo’s first season, but the Braves were competitive in the Trinity League and then won the CIF SoCal D3 regional title after losing in the CIF Southern Section D2 championship game.
St. John Bosco head coach Andy Rojo shows off CIF SoCal D3 title plaque won by the team in 2024 season. Photo: @SJBoscoBaseball / Twitter.com.
A state-of-the-art new home stadium also opened just this season. It’s the baseball equivalent of Panish Family Stadium being built several years ago to showcase the football team.
Rojo’s team this season finished with a 30-4 record and didn’t lose again after dropping a league game to Santa Margarita back on April 8. Two wins over the Eagles followed that loss, then there were 3-0 league sweeps vs Servite, Mater Dei and JSerra, followed by a non-league playoff tuneup win vs Torrance. The Braves then took four more games in the CIFSS D1 playoffs and three more to win the CIF SoCal D1 crown. There was the possibility that they could have played an unbeaten team, Granite Hills of El Cajon, in the semifinals of the regional playoffs, but the Eagles lost in the first round of those playoffs in extra innings to a Villa Park squad that Bosco had to beat in extra innings in one of its earlier playoff games.
It’s that uncanny ability for Rojo’s squad to win those close games that especially stood out.
“We’ve been on a tremendous high and just so happy for our players and our coaches, been grinding out not only this season but last season, just establishing a new culture, a new brand, a new set of standards,” Rojo told the Long Beach Press-Telegram when he was named that newspaper’s coach of the year. “Every single player and coach stepped up and fulfilled those goals.”
By being named State Coach of the Year, Rojo joins an all-time list of honorees that dates back almost 100 years. There have been many over the years from the Long Beach/Lakewood/Bellflower region of the CIFSS, but the last one was Walter “Spud” O’Neil of Lakewood for 2006.
The current head coaches at Bosco in football, Jason Negro, and in basketball, Matt Dunn, were state coaches of the year in their sports in 2019 and 2024, respectively. Assuming those two and Rojo are coaching for the 2025-26 school year, it is not going to be a shock and could happen that all three will have mythical national title teams. Bosco’s upcoming football team hasn’t beaten arch-rival Mater Dei of Santa Ana in its last three tries, but has a large majority of players returning from last season. Dunn’s team next season could have a group close to like Corona in baseball this year with returnees Brandon McCoy, Christian Collins and incoming transfer Tahj Ariza in the lineup. And Rojo’s team only loses two starters.
Long Beach Press-Telegram Player of the Year James Clark is one of those talented underclassmen. He led the team with a .411 batting average, 46 hits and 29 runs scored. It was not a team that won with power (only 12 homers), but speed on offense, speed on defense and of course pitching.
Senior Trevor Heishman was the hero of the win vs Corona as he shut down that team on a one-hitter. Junior Jack Champlin not only got the final two outs in that game, but also had scoreless innings vs St. Augustine, Villa Park and Patrick Henry in the regionals. A 1.26 team ERA would likely rank among the lowest of any of our recent State Teams of the Year. Harvard-Westlake of Studio City, for example, in 2013 when it went 28-4 (and had State Player of the Year Jack Flaherty) had a 1.31 team ERA.
“Believe it or not, we don’t talk about winning,” Rojo told the Press-Telegram. “We talk about the process. We talk about just putting in the work every single day, doing your job, focusing on you getting better as an individual and if we can get 30 guys to pull in that type of same attitude then collectively the team will get better.”
St. John Bosco is the first high school head coaching job of Rojo’s career, but he has been an assistant at Long Beach State and was associate head coach at Riverside City College. He graduated from Cal Poly Pomona in 1996 Magna Cum Laude with a degree in history. He also completed his playing career there. As a player himself in high school, Andy went to Etiwanda (not far from Corona) where he was the MVP of the 1992 baseball team.
Rojo also has used his years of serving as USA Baseball’s Regional Director of the National Team Identification Series for the Southwest Region and South Region to help with building the same type of program that Bosco fans have seen in football and hoops. Players are going to want to come to an elite program. Sorry, folks, but Bosco Baseball may be here to stay for awhile near the the top of the state rankings.
All-Time List Cal-Hi Sports
State Baseball Coaches Of The Year
Legendary Lakewood High baseball coach Spud O’Neil was the 2006 State Coach of the Year. Photo: the562.org.
2025 – Andy Rojo, Bellflower St. John Bosco (30-4)
2024 – Corrigan Willis, Livermore Granada (32-1)
2023 – David Jeans, Concord De La Salle (27-5)
2022 – Benji Medure, Huntington Beach (25-9)
2021 – Jared Halpert,
Studio City Harvard-Westlake (30-4)
2020 – No selection (pandemic)
2019 – John Weber, Cypress (31-3)
2018 – Bob Zamora,
Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley (25-10)
2017 – Mike Gonzales, Lake Forest El Toro (27-7-1)
2016 – Gary Remiker,
San Diego Cathedral Catholic (25-9)
2015 – John Donohue, San Francisco Lowell (25-8)
2014 – James Davis, El Cajon Granite Hills (26-7)
2013 – Jeff Carlson, Elk Grove (29-5)
2012 – Steve Vickery, Lakeside El Capitan (31-7)
2011 – John Goulding, Union City James Logan (24-4)
2010 – Tom Donald, Clovis Buchanan (29-5)
2009 – Pete Jensen, San Mateo Serra (30-6)
2008 – Jeff Phillips, La Mesa Grossmont (29-7)
2007 – John Diatte, San Jose Valley Christian (33-4)
2006 – Spud O’Neil, Lakewood (29-5-1)
2005 – Bill Hutton, San Jose Archbishop Mitty (28-6)
2004 – Rick Steen, Danville San Ramon Valley (25-8)
2003 – Justin Machado, Carlsbad La Costa Canyon (32-1)
2002 – Dave Currie, Santa Clara Wilcox (34-3)
2001 – Tom Muesborn, Chatsworth (31-2)
2000 – Harry Jenkins, Torrance West (29-2)
1999 – Joe Walters, Santa Ana Calvary Chapel (27-1-1)
1998 – James Patrick, Clovis (33-2)
1997 – Dave Brunell, Santa Maria St. Joseph (29-0)
1996 – Dennis Pugh, San Diego Mission Bay (29-5)
1995 – Dave Demarest, Westminster La Quinta (28-3-1)
1994 – Ron LaRuffa, Fountain Valley (27-3-1)
1993 – Mike Maio, Woodland Hills El Camino Real (24-2)
1992 – Dan Peters, Long Beach Millikan (22-5-1)
1991 – Jeff Meredith, La Mesa Grossmont (28-1)
1990 – Mickey McNamee, San Marino (23-2-1)
1989 – Sam Blalock, San Diego Mt. Carmel (25-2)
1988 – Chris Sims, Moraga Campolindo (24-5)
1987 – Don Ardissone, San Jose Bellarmine (26-7)
1986 – Mike Curran, Anaheim Esperanza (25-3-1)
1985 – Dave Perkins, Hanford (23-5)
1984 – Darryl Stroh, Granada Hills (16-2-1)
1983 – Larry Quirico, El Cerrito (27-1)
1982 – Jim Garrett, Tulare (21-5)
1981 – Guy Anderson, Rancho Cordova (28-8)
1980 – Mike Noakes, Fresno Bullard (29-2)
1979 – John Bachman, Covina (27-3)
1978 – Al Endriss, Larkspur Redwood (30-5)
1977 – Lou Zuardo, South S.F. El Camino (28-1)
1976 – John Herbold, Lakewood (22-4-1)
1975 – Jack Hannah, Fresno Hoover (29-2)
1974 – Jim O’Brien, Torrance North (26-6-1)
1973 – John Stevenson, El Segundo (30-5)
1972 – Hi LaValle, Compton Dominguez (22-4-1)
1971 – Denny Holt, Sepulveda Monroe (19-0)
1970 – Dan Bodary, Lompoc (27-1)
1969 – Bob Myers, Long Beach Millikan (21-6)
1968 – Bill Sandback, San Diego Crawford (21-7)
1967 – Marvin Wood, Torrance Bishop Montgomery (27-3)
1966 – Bill Cox, Oakland St. Elizabeth (23-5)
1965 – Al Exton, Arcadia (21-4)
1964 – Bob Zuber, Van Nuys Birmingham (18-1)
1963 – Bill Kelly, Redondo Beach Aviation (20-3)
1962 – Dick Sperbeck, Sacramento Bishop Armstrong (22-2)
1961 – Elmo Ferrari, Ojai Villanova (17-0)
1960 – Jake Abbott, Fresno Roosevelt (20-2)
1959 – Howard Johnson, Inglewood Morningside (20-6)
1958 – Ken Proctor, Ontario Chaffey (20-5)
1957 – Ollie Bidwell, Fresno (22-2)
1956 – Bill Ziegler, Eureka (18-0)
1955 – Bob Patterson, Vallejo (20-1)
1954 – Ed Grimm, Redding Shasta (14-0)
1953 – Charles Doyle, Compton (23-2)
1952 – George Powles, Oakland McClymonds (16-0)
1951 – Cliff Perry, Sacramento McClatchy (22-0-1)
1950 – Harry Brubaker, L.A. Dorsey (17-0*)
1949 – Al Kyte, Oakland Technical (8-2, League)
1948 – Len Porterfield, Santa Maria (16-2)
1947 – Cliff Meyer, Long Beach Wilson (20-3)
1946 – Walt Williams, San Jose (17-2)
1945 – Pop Elder, S.F. Mission (10-0, League)
1944 – Bob Fatjo, San Jose Bellarmine (13-2)
1943 – Les Haserot, L.A. Fremont (13-1)
1942 – Roy Engle, San Diego Hoover (13-0 vs. Prep Teams)
1941 – Ras Johnson, S.F. Galileo (12-1*)
1940 – George Wolfman, S.F. Mission (11-1*)
1939 – Dewey Morrow, San Diego (22-5)
1938 – George Sperry, Glendale
1937 – Bernie Baumeister, S.F. Commerce (12-2, League)
1936 – Lyle Kinnear, Long Beach Polytechnic (23-2)
1935 – Ed Combatalade, Sacramento (20-1)
1934 – Myles Regan, L.A. Cathedral (13-5-1)
1933 – Kit Carlson, Santa Maria (9-1)
*League and playoff record
Note: Selections prior to 1980 made retroactively by our founder, the late Nelson Tennis. Coaches are only chosen once in their careers, which has never been a problem in such a great baseball state as California.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
