Gabriel González

Earlier this season, Sandler (Head Coach at Ganesha) was asked how important the high school season was to him and his players. The team doesn’t post a roster or stats on MaxPreps. His response was telling given the recent developments. “Most of them (players) have never played high school before and really don’t care too much about it so we don’t bother with (posting) stats,” Sandler explained. “They are all committed to college, so they are playing to get ready for that. We just play the games to get some work in so they keep developing their skills. Really, all we are focused on is player development. We are just trying to get them ready for college and the draft.”

There are travel pipelines all over, baseball, softball, soccer, basketball, volleyball, that’s not a secret or anything new. Ganesha is unique in that you’ve never seen an entire travel team take over an entire HS program, and even more unique that virtually every player is an online students. The kids I feel bad for are the neighborhood Ganesha kids that grew up playing youth baseball in Pomona. They may not be high level players, but certainly good enough to play for their high school varsity team in normal circumstances like Pomona, Garey and other lMiramonte League schools. Not everything is about a scholarship, I feel bad for those kids who never had a chance to play varsity baseball at their hometown school, where they take classes and with their friends. This is why you have HS sports, for those guys who make up the majority of the participation, not the 3-5 percent of the elite.

Newport Harbor baseball coach Josh Lee: "This is a shame. Our program and every other program in the CIF playoffs have seniors who've spent four years working for this moment. It's sad to see it go down this way."