Reese plans on studying special education at Univ. of La Verne

a 7-5-3 record and advancing to the CIF-Southern Section Division 7 second round. Reese finished with 116 saves in eight games, averaging 14.5 saves per game.

Reese first attracted the attention of La Verne coaches his freshman year, but the discussion got serious after he attended a camp in late 2020.

“I met them at a camp, an ID camp,” Reese said. “A bunch of colleges come and watch you and they liked me and we started talking. Actually, they started looking at me freshman year and their coach said ‘Let’s see you down the road.’ They saw me at a camp and that was September, December in 2020.”

Reese had to adapt to the disruption of the college recruiting process during the COVID pandemic.

“You had to find new ways to get yourself out there and really connect with the coach and see if this was a perfect fit for you,” Reese said. “I knew (in the spring). We had a Zoom call and he explained everything to me and we just said this is the perfect fit and that was it.”

It was also a perfect fit since La Verne offers a major in special education.

Reese said it’s harder to find schools that offer a major in special education.

“Both my parents are special ed teachers, so it’s been in my family and I really want to do that,” Reese said. “The kids. The kids are the main reason. I love working with kids and just helping them.”

Reese was one of four Paraclete baseball players — along with Bryan Peck, Trevor Shepherd and Hunter Edwards — who all signed a National Letter of Intent to play baseball at the college Level on April 13. Peck will attend Westmont College, Shepherd will play at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Edwards will play both baseball and football at Pacific University in Oregon.

“It really is an honor to have this many kids, especially with the COVID shortened season,” Burnias said. “It’s just a testament to how much harder these kids and their parents had to work to get them seen, to ensure that they got the opportunity to play at the next level. It’s a continuation of a program that we’ve had for the past 10-15 years. It’s a testament to their willingness to work hard.”