High End Returns | Whitney Baseball Is Running It Back

Rocklin’s Whitney Baseball Begins 2023 As The Sac-Joaquin Section’s Top Team After Bringing Back Just About Everyone From Its 28-Win Team •

Whitney High is playing baseball with boomerangs.

Everything comes back — including 2022 Sac-Joaquin Section championship coach and Whitney baseball alum Jackson Watt.

Also back, nearly every starter from last year’s 28-win squad. It’s why the Wildcats are undoubtably the team to beat in the SJS.

“We know we are going to see a lot of teams’ No. 1 (pitchers),” Watt said. “The target is on our back.

“You got to embrace it. It’s something this group of players has earned, and something they will have to rise up to.”

It’s a team well equipped for such challenges. They are battle-tested, and tough to outscore.

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Graduation took away arms responsible for less than nine innings of a staff that threw 219.1 frames with a collective 2.36 earned run average last year.

The top returner on the hill, Jace Gillmore, pitched a seven-inning 2-1 victory over McClatchy-Sacramento in the SJS Div. I championships last year. Gillmore finished the year 11-0 with four complete games, a shutout and 67 strikeouts across 76.2 innings with a 1.55 ERA.

“I’ve always handled pressure well,” Gillmore said. “We work a lot on our mental game, self talk, and it’s all good for you.

“We know we are going to be viewed as a big team this year, but we are just going to play our game like we did last year. Nobody believed in us, but we all believed in ourselves and the team morale is off the charts.”

Gillmore, who sports a 91 miles-per-hour fastball with a curveball, slider and changeup, is committed to Santa Clara University. Last year’s No. 2, Gavin McLendon (four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball, changeup and curveball), is bound for San Diego State. 

McLendon picked up three of Whitney’s five postseason wins last year, and finished the season 9-1 with a save, shutout and 60 strikeouts in 54 innings of work with a 0.91 ERA.

He’s not a hulking presence on the mound like Gillmore, but is especially accurate and uses all of his pitches.

“Obviously I am not the biggest guy, so I am not going to blow anyone away, but I focus on hitting my spots,” McLendon said.

McLendon also spoke to one of Whitney’s biggest strengths, a special connection that has crafted a lasting bond.

“I feel like every guy I talk to, I can have a genuine conversation with,” McLendon said. “Everyone gets along great, and it’s the best team I have ever been a part of.”

The returning bullpen also includes Luke Oyler (3.86 ERA, 41.2 innings pitched), Tanner Dykstra (3.82 ERA, 29 IP), Tyler Allen (2.03 ERA, 10.1 IP) and Tyler Streight (3.71 ERA, 5.2 IP). Oyler is committed to Saint Mary’s College.

Whitney returns all but one of the hitters who appeared in last year’s SJS finale, and seven of the eight most active bats in its lineup. Last year’s hit leader, Allen, is back after hitting .351 across 112 plate appearances, amassing 34 knocks, 23 RBI, nine doubles, 21 runs and 12 stolen bases.

Gillmore and McLendon also helped their own cause plenty in 2022. Gillmore hit .337 in a team-high 113 trips to the dish, with 31 hits, 31 runs, 23 RBI and three triples. McLendon tallied a .326 average across 108 appearances with 28 hits, 18 RBI and five triples. Shane Saunders also hit .287 at the plate with a team-high 26 RBI and 27 hits.

Three players, Oyler, Nathan Erickson and Jax Gimenez, made Whitney’s regular lineup as sophomores last year. They combined to bat .283 with 70 hits, 39 RBI, four triples, and 46 runs scored.

Oyler will start at shortstop and resume duties as the No. 3 pitcher for the second straight year.

“Last year I was just a wild-eyed sophomore looking to play every day,” Oyler said. “I think I have grown into a leadership role on the team, looking to coach other players and help the team more.”

It’s not a squad with a shortage of leaders, and Watt said Allen, one of six key seniors, is probably the team’s biggest influence, on and off the field.

“He’s the hardest working guy in our program,” Watt added. “He’s one of the guys to make sure everything gets done, no matter what — even setting up the field and tearing it down.”

It’s a disciplined approach that has helped him at the plate.

“He gets good pitches to swing at and battles up there,” Watt said.

Gillmore and Saunders, heard bellowing lyrics from Cole Swindell into the late afternoon Rocklin sky last week, seem to charge up the team energy. Whitney started off a batting practice session by blasting “Love You Too Late” from the field speakers.

It’s the kind of training that helps the team play loose.

“Our goal is to create a great student-athlete experience, and as long as our kids are taking care of business, doing things the right way, that’s the kind of practice you can expect,” Watt said. “Of course before that we had 20 minutes of silent meditation work. So we work hard and play hard, and check every box.

“It’s a different kind of vibe.”

Whitney is a vibe, one powered by historic connections of many players (Gillmore, McLendon and Gimenez made it to the Pony League Western Regionals in San Jose when they were eight), and the energetic support of many coaches, teachers and administrators.

In the program, Watt highlighted Greg Burgeson (hitting), Scott Seffens (third base), Bill Carr (bullpen), Lance Antonicic (junior varsity), John Gonzales (junior varsity, spirit leader) and Colin Stewart (freshmen). Each coach carries a remarkable resume of experience, and collectively they help the program thrive.

It also helps to share a tradition of success with former college baseballer Joel Williams, now the Whitney boys soccer coach in the SJS semifinals, and assistant principal Jeff Dietrich, who won section titles with the Del Oro-Loomis football program.

The program is also supported by former Whitney baseball head coaches Rob Dorchak and Bret Hunter, who, like everyone else, came back to campus.

It’s a habit that Whitney’s village of prep baseball hopes will be echoed by the SJS banner this spring.