With all Mission League teams eliminated from the CIF Southern Section Division I baseball playoff bracket, the first-team all-league selections were released to the public on Wednesday afternoon, and a pair of Wolverines were among the 15 players honored throughout the seven-team league.
Cameron Deere ’16 was adequately recognized for his phenomenal junior season, being named the Mission League Pitcher of the Year by the voting committee of coaches. Deere had been a relief pitcher during his sophomore season, but was forced to the starting rotation after the graduations of Jack Flaherty ’14, Michael Vokulich ’14 and Logan Simon ’14, and immediately dominated his competition on both sides of the ball.
Deere’s regular season pitching record of 7-1 was tied with teammate Paul Giacomazzi ’16 for the best in the Mission League, while his regular season ERA of 1.63 was also near the league’s elite. Offensively, Deere was arguably even more impressive, leading the league in home runs (five), slugging percentage (.785) and runs batted in (35) while finishing third in batting average (at .440) behind only Notre Dame’s Lucas Surbeck ’15 and teammate Chase Aldridge ’15. Although Deere took his second loss of the season in the team’s 3-0 playoff defeat to El Dorado, he still finished the year with an overall record of 7-2 with a 2.51 ERA and 52 strikeouts (fourth most in the league), proving worthy of his recognition by the league’s coaches. Deere will spearhead a Wolverine pitching staff in which the top six pitchers (in terms of total innings) will all be returning for the 2015-16 season.
Aldridge, who primarily played second base for Harvard-Westlake, was the second Wolverine to be honored, also being named first-team all-league for his efforts at the plate and in the field. In addition to being second in the league in batting average (at .444), Aldridge’s fielding percentage of 0.991 was the sixth highest in the Mission League, and the best out of any positions aside from catchers and first basemen. Aldridge also led the Wolverines in OBP at 0.594, which was the third best in the league behind Surbeck and Chaminade’s Blake Rutherford ’16. Aldridge will continue his career at Harvard University during the 2015-16 season.
Notre Dame pitcher Hunter Greene ’17 earned the honors for Overall Player of the Year. The full list of selections can be seen here:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/highschool/varsity-times/la-sp-vi-baseball-sophomore-hunter-greene-is-mission-league-mvp-20150527-story.html