Baseball:

There have been a number of reports from Los Angeles media entities like KTLA 5, Fox 11 and others after the news broke about the Upland High School baseball hazing scandal.

And I’ll do my best to illustrate the most up-to-date info that I’ve been able to gather as of Friday afternoon.

But I have to warn this site’s readers that these allegations, the video footage at the bottom of this story, and the real-life toll it’s taking is devastating.

As most of you know, a video surfaced from an incident in which its alleged that some UHS players physically and sexually hazed a freshman baseball player.

The family withdrew the student-athlete from Upland High School and their lawyer filed a $3,000,000 lawsuit against the Upland School District.

Here’s where things get a little murky.

The incident that was captured on video has been reported by multiple sources to have taken place in mid-February, which means it occurred during the first week or two of the 2024 season.

And yet it took the powers-that-be nearly 65 days to take any action.

The Highlanders edged Chino Hills, 3-2, in eight innings on March 17th.

But when Saturday’s (March 20) three-game Baseline League series finale between CHHS and UHS was played at Quakes Stadium in Rancho Cucamonga, the Highlanders dugout did not include the presence of Upland coach AJ Garbick, his son, and seven other players.

The freshman baseball coach led the program into battle on that Saturday.

Upland finished the final week of the 2024 regular season by taking its three-game series with Rancho Cucamonga, 2-1.

Their 5-5 record landed the Highlanders in fifth place, which was one-game ahead of last-place RCHS.

For the record, the school district, UHS itself and Coach Garbick could not comment on a pending investigation, especially one in which crimes are alleged.

It is our understanding that Coach Garbick has been removed as the UHS baseball coach, but that his teaching job is still intact while the investigatory process plays itself out.

I reached out to the Upland Police Department this afternoon, but as of 3pm, the Watch Commander has yet to return the call.

If he/she does, I will update this story.

Lastly, I reached out to the CIF Southern Section office to ask two questions.

First of all, considering the ugliness and the potential of serious ramifications for the program and some of those inside of it, would CIF-SS make it easy for current Upland baseball players who want to transfer to another local school?

Secondly, if in the end of the investigation, the overwhelming consensus was to disband the program for a season or two, and then start over, who would make that call?

And the great Thom Simmons got back to me in a timely and helpful manner.

“Bylaw 207.2.(c) – Individual Student Safety Incidents:

Unlimited eligibility may be granted by the CIF Section in which the student’s new school is located when a student is transferring as a result of a specific, documented safety incident in which the student was involved, and all provisions listed above in c.(i‐vii) are met. The student may be determined to have unlimited residential eligibility upon receipt of the CIF application (please use local CIF Section Form) and sufficient documentation is submitted to satisfy that CIF Section Commissioner that the circumstances meet this criteria. Required documentation may include, but is not limited to, administrative records and documentation from the former school about the specific safety incident that occurred at the former school and/or police records (if any). The student will become eligible for varsity competition.

Correct. That would be a school decision. We have no jurisdiction over such.”

To view KTLA’s video report from Thursday, click on the YouTube link here: Disturbing video shows Southern California student being assaulted in hazing incident (youtube.com)