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The 2024 California high school baseball season is quickly approaching and, as usual, excitement is abound throughout the state. Players and coaches have been working in preparation for the upcoming season and, as is the case each year, there are some very talented players and teams across California.

Teams across the state have goals and aspirations to finish their seasons in their respective CIF Section Championship Game, but there is plenty of work to be done before that becomes reality. We hope to familiarize our readers with many of the teams across the state as we preview individual teams across California. We will take you right up to first pitch this season with these team previews, eventually releasing our Preseason Power 25 rankings that’ll carry us into the opening week of action and the Third Annual Prep Baseball California Spring Invitational.

Please keep checking back throughout the season as we will be your one-stop shop for everything related to high school baseball across California. Each week we will be releasing our Power 25, Players of the Week, Diamond Notes, Podcasts and much more.

Our 2024 preseason coverage continues today.

High School: West Ranch Wildcats
Head Coach: Ryan Lindgreen
CIF Section: CIF-SS, Division 2
Conference League: Foothill League
2023 Record: 22-8
Team X Handle: @wrbaseball

Team Strengths: We have experience on the mound.
No. of Returning Starters: 6
No. of Returning Pitchers: 4
Areas of Improvement: Replacing our key hitters who graduated from a year ago

 

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COMMITTED PLAYERS

+ ‘24 LHP Jackson Banuelos - CSUN - 6’0 180 lbs.
+ ‘ 24 LHP Ben Cushnie - Southern California - 6’3 185 lbs.
+ ‘25 OF Ryan Oh - Loyola Marymount - 5’10 175 lbs.

+ '25 C Nolan Stoll - Stanford - 6'4 200 lbs.

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TOP UNCOMMITTED SENIORS

+ ‘24 OF/INF Aidan Bunitch - 6’0 180 lbs.
+ ‘24 INF Brett Ishikawa - 5’11 170 lbs.

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TOP UNCOMMITTED JUNIORS

+ ‘ 25 INF Landon Hu - 5’11 170 lbs.
+ ‘25 RHP/1B Hunter Manning - 6’4 190 lbs.
+ ‘25 OF/1B/LHP Mikey Murr - 5’11 170 lbs.

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TOP UNDERCLASS FOLLOWS

Class of 2026

+ ‘26 INF Ty Diaz - 6’1 170 lbs.

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TEAM OUTLOOK

On the mound the Wildcats will be led by southpaws ‘24 Jackson Banuelos and ‘24 Ben Cushnie, both of whom are Division 1 commits. Another arm expected to make some big contributions on the mound is ‘25 Hunter Manning who will also see time at first base when not on the mound. At the plate ‘24 Aidan Bunitch who brings back a .398 batting average from last season and ‘24 Brett Ishikawa are a pair of uncommitted seniors that will be leaned on throughout the season.

Other than the aforementioned Manning and Oh, a number of juniors with varsity experience will be taking even larger roles as they enter the back half of their prep careers. ‘25 Landon Hu returns a .323 average and ‘25 Mikey Murr will play a number of positions according to Coach Lindgreen, including some time on the mound, too. When it comes to underclassmen, ‘26 Ty Diaz will take a big role for the Wildcats, especially on the defensive side of things. 

Coach Ryan Lindgreen’s Expectations: “Our expectations are to compete for a Foothill League title and make a strong playoff run. We have a great group and we are ready to compete. ”

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