The baseball team officially began their spring season with the Mission League Baseball Media Day in Ahmanson Lecture Hall on Jan 31. Local reporters were present and asked players and coaches questions about their offseason training in club baseball, their hopes for the upcoming season and details regarding specific players on their team.
All Mission League teams — Chaminade, St. Francis, Loyola, Alemany, Notre Dame, Sierra Canyon, Crespi, including the school — were represented at the event by their most notable players and their head coach. The school was represented by standout players Tommy Bridges ’24, Duncan Marsten ’24 and Bryce Rainer ’24, and Baseball Program Head Jared Halpert.
The three are committed to play Division 1 collegiate baseball at Texas Christian University (TCU), Wake Forest University and the University of Texas, respectively. According to Halpert, Bridges and Marsten are set to be two of the team’s three starting pitchers. With Rainer starting at shortstop, he will pitch in relief. Halpert said the third starting spot is yet to be determined.
“Right now it’s Jackson Alex [’25],” Halpert said. “I say that with some slight uncertainty, because there are some other young men in our program, specifically Jacob Magna [’24], who had a really strong finish in our winter season. [Alex] is likely to [start] when we do have our third game, but it’s not set yet. There’s some other kids that are competing, and we’d like to keep that alive and going.”
Marsten is set to fully return to playing after missing significant time early in his high school career. He sustained a back injury and underwent Tommy John surgery on his right elbow, missing almost all of his sophomore and junior seasons. Rainer said his attitude toward recovery has been admirable.
“Quite frankly, I don’t think I’ve ever met somebody with a stronger mental side to their baseball and personal life,” Rainer said. “I don’t know where I would be if I missed my first two and a half years of playing high school baseball. To see the amount of work he’s put in, even while being hurt and to stay mentally strong, and come back and be as good as he is, I’m really happy for him.”
Last year, the Wolverines finished second in the league, five games behind Notre Dame. They were swept in a three-game series with the Knights, and also accrued single losses to Chaminade, Crespi, Loyola and St. Francis. In the postseason, they advanced to the second round of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section Division 1 Playoffs, where they lost to Orange Lutheran 1-0.
Throughout the winter, Halpert said the coaching staff has emphasized the importance of not being mediocre following last year’s results.
“We remind them that it didn’t go the way that we wanted it to last year,” Halpert said. “Like everyone else, we put in an immense amount of work and our expectations are high. Amongst each other, they’re pretty unsatisfied. So, we’ve got some things to accomplish this year.”
Bridges said he and the senior class are striving to win games and ultimately a CIF title this year.
“We just want to win,” Bridges said. “I think the mark that we all want to leave is a CIF championship, so I’m gonna do whatever I need to do to lead the other guys, the juniors and sophomores.”
The team’s schedule this year features the same Mission League series format. But additionally, Halpert has added a single home game with Marcus High School (TX) in late February, a team that was ranked eighth in Texas in 2023 by MaxPreps. And in April, the team will go to USA Baseball headquarters in North Carolina for the National High School Invite (NHSI), a showcase featuring the nation’s highest ranked teams.
The invitation is their fourth, and their first in several years, according to Halpert. They made it to the finals in 2019, led by standout Pete Crow-Armstrong ’20. Halpert said the team, now given the opportunity to compete nationally, is striving to win the tournament.
“We know how to go out there and come in second,” Halpert said. “So we’re going to try to do something we’ve never done, which is come in first.”
The team will begin their season in the Prep Baseball Report (PBR) tournament Feb 10. through Feb 20.
