College Baseball:

By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor

Former Rancho Cucamonga High School baseball coach Tony Garcia is back in the dugout where he belongs.

The 51-year old skipper now leads the Community Christian College baseball program in Redlands.

A selling point for many student-athletes will be the fact that CCC classes are taken online.

That saves a lot of time, hassle and gas money.

The school is working on finalizing a deal with Arroyo Valley High School in San Bernardino to use their state of the art facilities as their practice and home field.

The Saints have a 56-game JC schedule, with 40 of those being played in the six-team Scenic West Conference.

Other schools within the conference include College of Southern Nevada, Colorado Northwestern, Salt Lake City CC, Utah State Eastern University and College of Southern Idaho.

Community Christian College is in the NJCAA division 1.

Their schedule is unique in that they play four-game conference series on weekends, which mean doubleheaders on both Fridays and Saturdays.

At the end of the regular season, a Scenic West Conference Tournament will be played, and the winner earns an automatic bid into the playoffs.

Because the Saints will play in several states, parents, family and friends can watch their loved one as all games will be streamed online.

There will be an open house this coming Saturday (July 8th) between 11-3 at Community Christian College in Redlands.

The address is: 1174 Nevada Street in Redlands.

The school offers academic, athletic and financial aid, and the program will provide a study hall to help its student-athletes keep up with their school work.

Garcia was an assistant at Citrus Valley and Carter before becoming the head coach at AB Miller.

Tony Garcia would go on to make his greatest strides in 2020 and 2021 at RCHS.

Garcia led the Cougars to a record-breaking season in 2021.

RCHS finished fourth in the Baseline League, but as all good coaches aim to do, he had the Cougars playing their best at playoff time.

Rancho Cucamonga made its first appearance in school history in the CIF-SS finals, and went on to set another record as the Cougars earned a spot in the semifinal round of the CIF State playoffs.

The 23 wins in 2021 was also a program best.

Perhaps Garcia’s best stat is that in two years at RCHS, he saw 15 of his 18 seniors go on to play college baseball.

He’s known for having an aggressive approach on the bases and taking advantage of his program’s strengths.

I’ve seen firsthand as a writer how much time and care he puts into making sure his athletes get the media attention they both earn and deserve.

Garcia has been married to his wife Rosy Garcia for 26 years.

Tony and Rosy have three kids.

Tony Garcia III is 25 and the oldest, followed by 21-year-old Abraham, and Rosyvette, is 17, and soon to start her senior year at RCHS.

Tony III is an all-time defensive record holding catcher at Concordia in Irvine.

Abraham, known in the baseball circles as “Bam,” is a talented catcher at UC Irvine, and is playing summer ball for his father.

To fill out the family trifecta, Rosyvette Garcia catches for the RCHS softball program.

Another side note from this reporter’s perspective is that Garcia cares far more about his athletes becoming solid men, husbands and fathers before anything that happens on a baseball field.

CCC’s Twitter handle is @cccbaseball. 

A contact for Coach Garcia is at the bottom of this story. 

Below is an open letter from Garcia to prospective parents and players.

Dear prospective CCC baseball recruit:

At Community Christian College, we are looking for players that first and foremost are good people; good human beings that are coachable and willing to be part of our baseball family.

We want players that want to be part of a bond that will continue with you for the rest of your life.

As a coaching staff, we take great pride in being the role models our student-athletes deserve.

Each day, we strive to mold our young men into positive and productive members of our society that will understand work-ethic, leadership and passion to one day be the head of household as a father when creating their own family.

Our goal is to have each of our players earn their Associate Degree and transfer to a four-year institution to earn a BA or BS degree, and continue to play collegiate baseball.

Community Christian College is an online-year-round private junior college.

Students can complete their associate degree in as little as 18 months.

We welcome players that are competitive and wish to develop into the best young men and baseball player one can be; players that have the passion to put in the work on and off the field to the best of their God-given talents.

We return four players and have 10 commits from across the country.

I have 10 scholarships and roster spots available.

This is an opportunity to come in as one of the 24-28 players recruited and compete for playing time and a starting spot.

We are building the program from the ground up and this is an opportunity to be part of something special and earn a baseball scholarship.

We welcome players that are looking for a junior college baseball opportunity, would like to earn a baseball scholarship, and want to be part of the history we are building here at Community Christian College.

I look forward to meeting you, helping you achieve your academic and baseball goals, and developing a life-lasting mentorship.

My best,

Tony García Jr.
CCC Head Baseball coach
[email protected]
(951) 203-1292