The Los Amigos baseball team is 11-0.
The Lobos are not playing against teams that would be found high in the Orange County top 25, or against teams in the lower regions of the county rankings.
“We’re a Division 7 team,” said Los Amigos coach Aaron Pines, “so we’re playing Division 7 teams.”
Pines and Los Amigos have plenty of challenges, though.
Pines has been fighting cancer since 2019. It started in his neck and has spread through his torso. Pines, 34, recently had surgery to remove tumors from a hip.
“So far, I haven’t missed any games,” he said. “I’m between chemotherarpy treatments right now, and I’m looking for a new clinical trial.”
A GoFundMe.com page was started to help Pines and his wife Deriah with medical expenses. That GoFundMe page includes a video of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson cheering for Pines’ recovery. Justin Turner, third baseman for the Dodgers of whom Pines is a huge fan, also sent his well wishes via a video.
Coaching Los Amigos is therapy, too. The Lobos took doubleheader sweeps against Santa Ana Valley, Saddleback and Magnolia. Like Pines said, Los Amigos is not playing against top upper-division teams; Valley, Saddleback and Magnolia are, respectively, 3-5, 0-6 and 1-9 through Tuesday.
Los Amigos won its Garden Grove League opener against Loara 6-4 on Friday and on Tuesday beat Bolsa Grande 15-4 in a league game. The Lobos are home for league games Friday against Santiago and Tuesday against La Quinta.
Pines’ brother, Greg Pines, is an athletic director at Rancho Alamitos. Greg was the Rancho Alamitos baseball coach last season. Los Amigos beat Rancho Alamitos in the two Pines vs. Pines games.
Their father, Myron Pines, was the head coach at Santiago for many years and now is an assistant coach for Aaron at Los Amigos.
“He’s doing so much for us,” Aaron said. “He helps plan our practices. He’s 73 and he threw all four rounds of batting practice yesterday, and once or twice a week he drives me to my appointments at the City of Hope (in Duarte).
“Marvin Reyes, our assistant coach, has been amazing how he’s picked up the slack. He’s there every day to run the show when I can’t be there.”
Los Amigos sophomore pitcher JP Gutierrez is 4-0 with three complete games. He plays shortstop when he is not pitching, and hits second in the batting order.
Josiah Alvarez, a senior, is the Lobos’ No. 2 pitcher. He is the catcher when Gutierrez pitches. Freshman third baseman Steven Esteves is one of their better hitters, Pines said.
Los Amigos is No. 1 in the CIF Southern Section Division 7 rankings. Pines thinks the Lobos just might be able to stay there.
“We’ve got a really good combination of talent this year,” Pines said of the Lobos, who so far have used that talent to win games and, like their coach, confront the challenges.
ORANGE LUTHERAN BEATS JSERRA
Orange Lutheran started its Trinity League-opening three-game series against JSerra with a 9-0 win Tuesday. Senior pitcher Louis Rodriguez, who signed with Texas Chrstian University, threw six scoreless innings in which he gave up four hits and struck out seven.
Sophomore outfielder Derek Curiel went 1 for 2 with an RBI and two walks and sophomore outfielder Ben Reiland had two hits with an RBI.
The Orange Lutheran-JSerra series continued Wednesday at Hart Park in Orange and concludes Friday with a 6 p.m. game at JSerra.
JSerra coach Brett Kay is recovering from COVID-19 so he is not attending this week’s games.
NOTES
Orange Lutheran is No. 1 in the CIF-SS Division 1 rankings, and Servite is at No. 3, JSerra at No. 5, Santa Margarita at No. 6, Huntington Beach at No. 7 and Villa Park at No. 10.
Mater Dei is No. 2 in Division 2, Newport Harbor is No. 3 in Division 3, Tesoro is No. 4 in Division 4, Estancia is No. 3 in Division 6 and Buena Park is No. 2, behind Los Amigos, in Division 7. …
The Angels won’t play there for a while, it seems, but baseball still will be played at Angel Stadium this spring. Fourteen regular-season high school games will be played there. The first two games there are on March 15 when Marina plays Fountain Valley at 3 p.m. followed by Canyon vs. Newport Harbor at 6 p.m.
