Ydens finishes career with title
St. Francis standout repeats as player of year
Jeremy Ydens stood atop the mound at Municipal Stadium, reared his arm back and threw a high fastball right over the plate. Swing. And miss. With that, the UCLA-bound standout from St. Francis capped a sensational high school career with a second consecutive Central Coast Section Open Division title.
Ydens once again did it all for St. Francis — strong as a center fielder, clutch as a big-game pitcher and productive as a hitter. For this, he is the Mercury News baseball player of the year for the second consecutive season.
St. Francis coach Mike Oakland called Ydens “unbelievable,” adding, “I think he is going to go down as one of the best, if not the best, players in St. Francis history.”
Ydens led the West Catholic Athletic League in hitting (.453 average), on-base percentage (.550) and hits (48). On the mound, he went 8-0 with a 0.96 ERA, allowing nine earned runs in 652⁄3 innings. As an outfielder, where he expects to play in college, he was virtually flawless.
On the mound, Ydens was at his best in the biggest of games. He pitched 61⁄3 scoreless innings in a 4-0 CCS quarterfinal victory over Serra, which had beaten St. Francis in the WCAL tournament final nine days earlier, and then threw a complete game as St. Francis edged San Benito 1-0 in the championship game.
“It’s pretty amazing, to be able to go out on top,” Ydens said. “We faced a lot of adversity earlier in the year. To come back and kind of go on a roll and do it at the end of the year, win CCS, it’s surreal.”
SECOND TEAM
Giuseppe Benedetti , P, St. Francis, senior Ben Cleasby, OF, Palo Alto, junior Mark Gaffey, OF, Bellarmine, senior Jake Holton, IF/P, Los Gatos, senior Haydn King, utility, Archbishop Mitty, junior Connor Loucks , C, Carlmont, senior Andrew Martinez, IF, St. Francis, senior Thomas McCarthy , C, Serra, junior Jason Munsch , P, Westmont, senior Arman Sabouri, P/OF, Branham, senior
HONORABLE MENTION
Alex Athanacio, Aragon; Jack Banks, Mountain View; Derek Bauerle, Archbishop Mitty; Cullen Blanchfield, Mountain View; Coleman Brigman, Valley Christian; Cameron Castaneda, Piedmont Hills; Jayce Clark, Pioneer; Kyle Dean, Bellarmine; Ramon Enriquez, Capuchino; Michael Farace, Santa Teresa; Dominic Flocchini, Leland; Diego Gonzalez, Sacred Heart Cathedral; Harry Hibberd, Los Gatos; Albert Hsiao, Leland; Josh Huang, Monta Vista; Joe Hutchings, Willow Glen; Todd Jackson, Bellarmine; Kevin Jacobs, San Mateo; Israel Jaquez, Andrew Hill; Kyle Johnson, Leigh; Max Jung-Goldberg, Palo Alto; Kaleb Keelean, Burlingame; Chris Kiefer, Branham; Jamie Kruger, Woodside; Matt Lavorini, Terra Nova; Nate Loro, Los Gatos; Tyler Lunsford, Westmont; John Macaulay, Milpitas; Myles Marciel, Santa Teresa; Andrew Meggs, Leland; Johnny Mendoza, St. Francis; Jared Milch, Terra Nova; Robert Najar, Lincoln; Doug Neubauer, Los Gatos; Emilio Nogales, St. Francis; Jake Nowak, Gunderson; Brooks Olesek, Los Gatos; Alec Olmstead, Palo Alto; Laurence Palmer, Bellarmine; Evan Phillips, Westmont; Owen Plambeck, Palo Alto; Nick Prainito, Menlo-Atherton; Kyle Pruhsmeier, Sequoia; Tyler Rando, Willow Glen; Alex Reelfs, Los Altos; Matt Remmel, Leigh; Sam Robillos, Milpitas; Trevor Rogers, Los Altos; Grady Ryan, Oak Grove; Ryan Sambel, Serra; Kieran Shaw, Bellarmine; Carlos Solis, South San Francisco; Adam Spielman, Los Altos; Ethan Stern, Palo Alto; Spencer Stewart, Carlmont; Travis Sunseri, Silver Creek; RJ Teijeiro, St. Francis; Christopher Underwood, Serra; Riki Urata, Hillsdale; Vincenzo Venturi, Serra; Tobias Veyna, Lincoln; Tyler Villaroman, Serra; Alex Waldsmith, Burlingame; Brett Wetteland, Hillsdale; Ryan Wilcox, Los Gatos; Miles Wolf, Wilcox; Aiden Yarwood, Capuchino; Tyler Yoshihara, Saratoga; Chandler Yu, Menlo School Coach of the year: Mike Oakland, St. Francis