Baseball & Softball Staff

Rainel Caranto 
Rainel is a personal baseball and softball instructor, teaching students as 8 years old all the way up to the collegiate ranks. His 10 years of teaching experience helped him develop the four core principles that he hands down to his students: discipline, perserverence, competitiveness, and most of all respect for the game.

A native of Southern California, Rainel grew up in the Santa Clarita Valley and attended Saugus High School, where he played baseball all 4 years. He earned All Golden League honors as a utility player (1983) and shortstop (1984). He was named to the 1984 All-SCV High School Baseball Team as a shortstop and was considered a dangerous lead-off hitter stealing 27 bases in 29 attempts in a single season.

Rainel began his collegiate career at College of the Canyons, but he left after being offered an athletic scholarship to play for University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines. He was named Rookie of the Year his freshman year and voted co-MVP his final year at UST.   In 1988, he was selected to play for the Philippine National Baseball Team and competed in the International Baseball Association, Asian Olympics, and the Asian Baseball Championship Series in Seoul, South Korea.

Rainel played in parts of Asia (Philippines, Japan, Korea, China, and Taipei) from 1987 - 1994. 

Sean Thompson
Sean Thompson is the owner of On Deck Baseball School, which was formerly named and among the family of West Coast Baseball Schools established in 1988 with the help of Cy Young Award winner Bret Saberhagen. On Deck is one of the most respected baseball schools in the area and has served the community since 1994 with more than 1,000 students to its credit. 

A 1988 draft pick of the San Francisco Giants and an assistant coach at Mission College, Sean has more than 20 years experience as a personal baseball instructor. He has managed more than 15 travel teams and earned an appearance in the 2005 Junior Olympics. Sean has also brought 10 teams to the 12U tournament at Cooperstown Dreams Park.

Sean’s former students include James Shields (Tampa Bay Rays), Ryan Braun (Milwaukee Brewers), Jerry Owens (Chicago White Sox), Nick Hundley (San Diego Padres), Jim Rohan (Los Angeles Dodgers), Sean Clark (Clemson University, starting pitcher 2006 College World Series), Ed Degerman (St. Louis Cardinals), Bryan Petersen (Florida Marlins), and Virgil Hill (St. Louis Cardinals).

Andy Allanson
Andy Allanson is the owner and founder of AVBA (Antelope Valley Baseball Academy), located in Lancaster, California.  Andy is a former professional baseball catcher who played in the Majors for eight seasons from 1986 to 1995. He played college ball for Richmond before he was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the second-round of the 1983 amateur draft. A lithe, take-charge catcher, Andy was an exceptional defensive receiver with a powerful throwing arm and would sometimes throw to the bases without standing up. His handling of the 1986 Indians pitching staff was partially responsible for the team's resurgent 84-78 mark. Andy was also named an All-Rookie catcher by Topps baseball cards.

Sara Gonzales
Sara lettered four seasons at Paraclete High School, 1998 - 2002, earning first team all-league honors three times, two-time defensive player of the year, first-team All-CIF selection and was the Alpha League MVP as a junior.  She was named to the Los Angeles Times All-Valley Team.  Sara graduated with six school records.  In high school, Sara was ranked as one of the top 10 pitchers in the nation in 2002.  Sara also played for one of the top travel softball teams in California, OC Batbusters.  Out of high school, she attended University of Wisconsin.  Sara played for two seasons.  As a sophomore she made 17 appearances with a 1.97 ERA. 

Strength & Conditioning

Matt Hank, MS, CSCS
Matt has been developing cutting-edge sports performance programs for the last seven years. He has worked with youth, high school, college, and professional athletes. His knowledge and passion for sports performance makes him a highly respected strength and conditioning coach.

Matt is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). He is also certified through USA Weightlifting (USAW), specializing in Olympic Lifting. Matt earned his Bachelors degree from San Diego State University in 2004, where he worked with the fitness programs on campus and began personal training. He then went on to earn his Master’s degree from Cal State Northridge in 2006, where he worked as a strength and conditioning coach for the athletic department during graduate school.

After finishing graduate school, Matt moved back to San Diego to work as a strength and conditioning coach for the University of San Diego (USD). After a stint with the Toreros, Matt took on a great opportunity and worked at the Sports Performance Combine as a strength and conditioning coach training local high schools teams and individual athletes. In 2007, Matt took a position with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim as a strength and conditioning coach for Cedar Rapids Kernels minor league baseball team.

Matt now resides in Valencia where he trains a wide variety of clientele looking to improve their fitness and sports performance goals.