Keeping tabs: College baseball teams relying on Southern California connection

Future Hall of Famers can always be found in Southern California high school baseball, which makes it a popular area for college baseball coaches to recruit. The 2021 college season is seeing its share of former high school players standing out.

At Georgia Tech, the leading hitter is freshman catcher Kevin Parada from Loyola. He’s batting .410 with three home runs and 19 RBIs.

At Stanford, freshman Drew Bowser from Harvard-Westlake is batting .341 with 12 RBIs. Brendan Beck from Corona is 3-0 with a 3.71 ERA.

At UCLA, Kevin Kendall from La Mirada is leading the team in hitting with a .347 average. Ace Zach Pettway from Long Beach Wilson has a 2.84 ERA after recovering from an injury.

At USC, John Thomas from Harvard-Westlake leads the team in hitting with a .333 average. Isaac Esqueda from Bishop Amat is 2-1 with a 2.52 ERA.

At UC Irvine, freshman Luke Spillane from Mission Viejo has led his team to an 8-0 start in league play hitting .348 with seven stolen bases. Michael Frias from Servite is 3-0 with a 1.65 ERA.

At Mississippi, freshman Jacob Gonzalez from Glendora is hitting .283 with three home runs.

At Arizona State, freshman Sean McLain from Beckman leads the team in hitting with a .414 average, four home runs and 11 RBIs.

At Loyola Marymount, Kenny Oyama from El Toro leads the team in hitting with a .345 average. Holden Christian from Oaks Christian has given up no earned runs in 18 innings.