Redwood High School baseball coach Dan Hydash has the utmost confidence in Carson Garcia.
How much?
After the No. 11 Rangers’ 7-1 upset victory over sixth-ranked Clovis in their 2026 Central Section Division I playoff opener, Hydash told Garcia he was going to start their next game — a quarterfinal showdown against defending D-I section champion Centennial.
How did Garcia, a junior right-handed pitcher, respond despite having no playoff experience?
By backing up his coach with his play and delivering a 12-0 shutout performance victory in five mercy-rule innings against the Golden Hawks on Tuesday, May 19 at Aaron Hill Field in Visalia.
“I had some time to prepare, and I prepared really well,” Garcia said. “It felt great. I was a little nervous. I had never thrown in the playoffs before, but I was ready to go. I couldn’t wait to get out there.”
Garcia set the tone right away, striking out Centennial lead-off hitter Alex Hughes, who entered the game hitting over .400 on the season, but went 0-for-2 against the Rangers’ starting pitcher.
That strong start led to a quick 1-2-3 first inning. Of the five innings Garcia pitched, four of them were 1-2-3 frames.
Garcia allowed just three hits, all singles in the fourth stanza, and hurled three strikeouts. He faced just 17 batters.
“He’s been throwing the ball well for us all year,” Hydash said of Garcia. “He’s that guy that I know can give us some length. He has a really good breaking ball. When you have a good fastball like him and a good breaking ball, that’s going to keep guys off balanced. We knew that they like to pull the ball a lot, and we knew a guy with a good breaking ball, he’s got a very good change-up as well, it was going to keep them off-balance, and that was the case today.
“We kept them off balance with the breaking stuff, the off-speed stuff, and he was able to get them inside with the fastball. He played well. It was a good game for him.”
Garcia’s performance is even more remarkable, considering Centennial (15-15-1) has won two of the past three Central Section Division I baseball championships. The Golden Hawks even beat Redwood 8-1 on the Rangers’ home turf in the 2023 semifinals to advance to the section title game. Centennial won it all that year.
That history did not affect Garcia, though, who was a freshman at the time.
Dialed in, Garcia shut out Centennial for the first time this season. The Golden Hawks entered the quarterfinal playoff game averaging nearly six runs per game and were coming off a 6-5 win over No. 3 San Joaquin Memorial (23-6) in the first-round playoffs.
After the game, Garcia credited his postseason success to his teammates.
“I feel like they kind of pushed me to be the best that I could be today,” Garcia said. “I feel like, knowing that they were going to have my back behind me, in the infield, it felt a lot easier.”
How did the Rangers beat the defending D-I section champions by 12 runs?
“I think our game last week against Clovis kind of got us going,” said Garcia, who had a run and walk in that 7-1 victory. “We were hot early, and I’m very glad we were able to keep that going against this team. We just have to be ready to go, thrive in practice, and we’ll be good.”
Redwood exploded for seven runs in the third inning.
How much did that offensive onslaught cement his confidence?
“It eases up on my part for sure,” Garcia said. “It’s also a big confidence thing, too, I feel like. I know that my teammates are going to go out there and put the ball in play and see where it goes from there.”
Garcia was in command all game. He induced nine groundouts and three popouts to go along with his three strikeouts.
“It felt really great,” Garcia said. “I just felt like everything was working today. Me and my catcher were on good terms and on good calls today.”
Redwood, who won its fifth straight league championship this year, will now play at No. 2 Bullard (18-7) on Thursday, May 21 in Fresno for a semifinal showdown. The Knights defeated seventh-ranked Clovis North 9-1 in their quarterfinal victory.
“We have a lot of close connections on and off the field,” Garcia said. “I feel like we’re a lot closer in the dugout and outside of baseball. I feel like that really helps us do well in communication and being there for each other.”
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Redwood’s Carson Garcia shuts out defending champs in playoff win
Reporting by Vongni Yang, Visalia Times-Delta / Visalia Times-Delta
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
