Wednesday afternoon, April 22, 2026, Buena’s varsity boys’ baseball shutout Shadow Hills High School 15-0 at The Dog House. As the season began to wind down, Buena put on a show, not just winning the game itself but also on Senior Night that celebrated the hard work and dedication the seniors have given to the team.

With the stands packed with friends and family eager to support the players and a blue sky overlooking the field, the first inning started with Shadow Hills on the plate but they swung and missed with no runs on the board. The Bulldogs started with a strike out before senior catcher and right fielder Gabe Alonzo got the first hit for Buena out to left field and advanced to first base, followed by a few more hits that led to bases loaded. Ultimately, Buena ended the inning with no runs, tied with Shadow Hills.  

The top of the second followed with the Knights advancing to first base on the first play of the inning, but a strong defensive effort by the Bulldogs, led by a double play from senior centerfielder Jacob Del Rio and senior shortstop Brody Kaylor, quickly shut down any chance of scoring, and allowed the Bulldogs offense to take over. 

Starting the bottom of the second, Buena started strong with a walk by senior first baseman Evan Schall, a bunt hit Del Rio to advance runners to first and second base, and a hit to far left field by senior second baseman Issac Speer to secure the first run of the game.

The bottom of the third saw Buena explode for an electric nine runs started by Kaylor’s home run early in the inning that earned two runs for the Bulldogs. The home run became the spark for the rest of the team, as the Bulldogs kept swinging and could not miss. Notably, Del Rio’s hit out to far centerfield allowed two runners to score and a player error from the defense by Speer’s hit added two more runs. The Knight’s defense continued to struggle as they allowed a walk after a player was hit by the pitch and a couple of hits to the far left field. By the end of the third inning, the Bulldogs were up 10-0.

An inning later, the offense started to slow down but continued to consistently hit the ball and pile up the runs, aided by a line drive to third base and a hit down the middle of centerfield. The Bulldogs were able to get runners on all bases before unfortunately getting three consecutive outs and ending the inning. While the offense was piling on the runs, the Bulldogs’ defense remained disciplined for the rest of the game, with senior pitcher AJ Chavez retiring in the fifth after an impressive performance filled with strikeouts. Senior pitcher Anthony Tapia relieved Chavez and managed to prevent Shadow Hills from scoring with the bases loaded in the fifth.

The Bulldogs would go on to score two more times before the end of the game, thanks to another home run by Kaylor allowing Speer and him to score in the bottom of the sixth. By the bottom of the seventh, the game ended with Buena comfortably in the lead. 

“I think we need to win out, so we are going to continue to just keep swinging and pitching,” Kaylor said.

After some tough losses recently, Buena was able to respond with a resounding win and gain some confidence going into the last few games of the season. 

“We had a funky week last week where we lost three times, so morale was definitely down, but practice yesterday and the day before, I just tried to get them up and positive. Try and forget about it, use it as fuel, and play a little angry a little bit and it looks like it worked,” head coach Bryson Wallet said.