Baseball: Santa Margarita’s Tolentino named D-2 Player of the Year

Santa Margarita’s Milan Tolentino, sophomore pitcher and shortstop for the Eagles’ CIF-Southern Section Division 2 baseball champions, was named D-2 Player of the Year by the CIF-SS Baseball Coaches' Association.

Tolentino is the first Santa Margarita player to receive a Player of the Year honor, and the first from a local Catholic school to earn that award since Chaminade’s Blake Rutherford was the Division 1 Player of the Year in 2016.

Also honored for the 2019 season were the Eagles’ Chris Malec as Coach of the Year, and junior Connor Bane as a first team selection. Altogether, 13 Catholic school players received All-CIF first team honors in their respective divisions for 2019.

Selected by the Coaches' Association, and presented by the LA84 Foundation, the first-team honorees in other divisions from local Catholic high schools included the following:

• Division 1: Blake Archuleta, Bishop Amat.
• Division 3: Joseph Estes Jr., Paraclete, and Kelvin Bender, Serra/Gardena.
• Division 4: Brian Park, Cathedral; Andy Vega and Ryne Lina, Mary Star of the Sea; Julian Tellez and Sebastian Garcia, St Paul.
• Division 5: Luis Ramirez, Salesian.
• Division 6: Andrew Donini, St Anthony; Robbie Treto, St Genevieve
• Division 7: Charles Sousamian and Carlos Potrero, Don Bosco Tech.

Mike Nelson is the former editor of The Tidings (predecessor of Angelus News). 

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