Busy times

One of my strengths has always been to respond well to pressure. Sometimes I would create the pressure by getting behind a batter in the pitch count. Sometimes I would create the pressure by procrastinating in my school work. While I like that I don’t shy away from pressure, I have gotten smarter in not encouraging it.

With my academic and athletic goals, keeping up (or getting ahead) is the only option. My senior year feels stacked. I think part of it is that this is my last year high school, and my last year being with some of my friends that I have been with since kindergarten. But what is most important to me is that I enjoy it all, and take none of it for granted.

Here are some of the things that are on my mind (in no particular order):

College search
ASB Student Leadership - Commissioner of Athletics
Neighborhood gardening job
Class load peppered with AP courses
Playing for So Cal Dirtbags
Playing for San Diego Halos
Baseball conditioning program at St. Augustine High School
Weekly bullpens sessions with Pt Loma Nazarene College coach Justin James

Last year I went to the Arizona Junior Fall Classic showcase, which was on the same weekend as the Homecoming Dance. I made a promise to myself that I would not miss it again this year. That’s on my mind too.

Recruiting video

I wanted to update my profile video. Here is what we taped on August 31st.



Thanks to Travis Wilkie for catching.

Feed the blog

This summer had a lot of baseball, and I know I went to the beach more this past summer than I probably had in all the previous summers combined. But what I haven’t done much of is feed the blog. So let me try to get caught up.

My Saints teammate Austin Shives recruited me to pitch for the Liberty Lions at the USD Invitational Tournament (July 25-28; San Diego, CA). It went well, throwing four innings of one hit ball against the San Diego Gamers. The Lions ended up winning the tourney. Here is video from my outing:

Immediately after the USD tourney, I was off to the Phil Singer Tournament (July 30- Aug 5; San Diego, CA) to pitch for the So Cal Dirtbags. I started the third game (I think), and pitched a complete game for the win. Going the distance is always a good test of physical and mental stamina, and I know it helps keep the other arms rested for the next games. Unfortunately, the Dirtbags flamed out after my outing.

And then it was off to Lake Powell for houseboat vacation. I had been looking forward to a week of wakeboarding in the warmth of the desert sun. It was perfect. I had tried wakeboarding only once before the trip, but by the end of the week I was feeling pretty good about my ability. It has been rough going back into the cold Pacific Ocean water. We were pretty spoiled at Lake Powell.

Probably my strategic hiccup this summer was pitching for the Liberty Lions at the USA Baseball - NTIS Selection Tournament (August 17-21; Impire City, CA). I had just got back from vacation, and while I thought I was ready to go, I wasn't as sharp as I should have been. I gave up only one run while surviving through five innings, but gave up two in the sixth. While we were still leading when I exited, our relief corp struggled in the seventh and gave up three runs for the loss.

It has been a summer of a lot of showcases and tournaments, and working out as much as my body would allow. I plan to step up the training this fall to lock in my change-up and speed up my fastball.

School started on August 24th. Yep, my senior year. There is a lot of college research going on, trying to find the best fit academically and athletically. Hopefully all the hard work will pay off.

Late bloomer

Hello:

The Scouting News has been updated with a new article of interest ...

Lars Leweck

Class of 2012 RHP Lars Leweck: late-bloomer coming on strong judging by the latest and greatest on the scouting grapevine.

Click here to read the article

Potential low round draft pick

I found my recruiting profile on the Perfect Game USA website. It said ...

Lars Leweck is a 2012 RHP/3B with a 6-2 160 lb. frame from San Diego, CA who attends St Augustine. Medium sized frame, slender build, 3/4 arm slot, long arm action, balanced delivery, has an idea, works ahead, 10/4 CB, throws CB with confidence, sets up hitters well, square stance at plate, rotational swing, contact approach, very good student.

The scouts gave me a PG Grade of 7 which according to their 1-10 scale means I am a ...

Potential low round (draft) pick, DI prospect or top level Juco, DII

Los Angeles

Last week my dad and I made the trip up to Los Angeles where I had the opportunity to visit with two colleges in Los Angeles.

We drove up Thursday night to beat the traffic and then stayed at my cousin’s house, which is about 15 minutes from my first appointment on Friday morning: Occidental College’s baseball camp.

At the camp, myself and another player named Riley Sissung were the only true pitchers so we worked out together for the majority of the day. The pregame ritual of the starting pitcher at Oxy is to play the PS3 that they have in their clubhouse; Coach Wetmore gave us the full treatment and let us play video games before we both pitched. I pitched three half innings and did very well, striking out 5 and not letting up a hit.

After the camp, all of the upcoming seniors were provided a tour of the campus by one of the senior players at Oxy; we even went to the ‘all you can eat’ dining house where I took full advantage. I really enjoyed playing there ... Oxy really captured my interest.

Later that day, my dad and I drove about a half hour to Claremont McKenna College where we met with Coach Town for ninety minutes at the baseball field. He gave us some insight into the school, the team and the league and then showed us around the facility. This was my second visit to the school, and it is also one I am interested in.

Both Oxy and Claremont McKenna compete in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for Division III schools. All in all, it was a great day and well worth the hours of traffic going home.



Oxy Baseball Field




Oxy Clubhouse - home of the PS3




Claremont McKenna Baseball Field



2011 Team One West Showcase

I was invited to the Team One West Showcase in Costa Mesa, CA on July 9-10. When the pitching schedule was announced, I was really happy to have the starting slot in the very first game. Since I would only be pitching at the showcase, my commitment was to drive up Saturday morning, throw my two innings at the 10:00am game, and then would get back to San Diego by noon. Pretty sweet!

As much as I want to do well at these showcases, so do the batters. I didn’t see the other team during their batting practice, but the first batter gave me a wakeup call that they came to hit. I tried to get ahead with a low fast ball on the first pitch, which he promptly sent into center field. Okay, time to sharpen up!

It went well after that, and I nearly got through my two innings without a run scored. With runners on first and third, I caught the runner on first off the bag, but the defense bit too hard on him and let the runner on third score. I am pretty sure my high school coach would have had ‘words’ for the infield on that play.

I have been working with my pitching coach on my fastball, and we made a slight change to my delivery. The adjustment has proven itself in practice, but I have not had enough repetition yet and tend to take a little pace off my fastball in games to help with placement. I guess there is never a good time to work on things, but I must keep improving my game.

Here are videos of the two innings I pitched.

First inning

Second inning

2011 Firecracker Classic Tournament

The So Cal Dirtbags played in the 2011 Firecracker Classic Tournament (18U), hosted by USA Premier Baseball. The schedule was for July 1-6, which falls on top of my favorite holiday of the year... Fourth of July.

Since I am now a starting pitcher, my weekend schedule improved dramatically when my coach said I just needed to be at the third game on July 3rd. And it gets better. Even though this is an Orange County tournament, the third game would be at San Diego State University... in my town of San Diego.

The first three games were pool play, and the Dirtbags had lost their first two games. For the third game we were matched against the ASD Bulldogs, and they were 2-0. We were going to have to win by a lot, and pray a bit as only two teams from our pool would advance.

I pitched the first three innings, where the only run I gave up was in the second inning after hitting the leadoff batter. It was looking like a very costly mistake when we had yet to score a run, but luckily our bats came alive in the bottom of the third inning, and we rolled to a 3-2 victory.

Unfortunately, our game score wasn’t enough for our team to advance out of pool play, but it was a privilege for me to pitch on the same mound as Stephen Strasburg and countless other Division 1 players. After sitting in the stands at Tony Gwynn Stadium, I was pretty stoked to be on the other side of the fence.

Oh, and the Bulldogs went on to the Finals where they lost to the San Diego Gamers.

First start

I have working to become a starter for the So Cal Dirtbags, and my good relief performances over the past couple weeks earned me the opportunity against the San Diego Gamers on June 25.

I had been working with my pitching coach this past week, and this game was the first chance I had to try some of the adjustments we had made. Well, it didn’t go so well, and I gave up a couple runs in the first inning. The adjustment was to speed up my fast ball, and while it definitely worked, I will need more repetition to improve on my location.

I ditched the delivery change for the second inning and didn’t give up any more runs. It felt good to pitch five straight innings and throw 74 pitches.

BaseballWebTV.com

On June 11-12, I attended the Perfect Game Sunshine West Showcase in Chula Vista, CA. And today I got an email saying that video clips from the event had been posted to BaseballWebTV.com.

Skillshow, Inc. was contracted by Perfect Game to video all participants, and they can provide a recruiting video for an additional fee. Since we felt we had enough video, we passed on the $275 fee.

If you don't pay the fee, you get an email pointing you to their site where these three clips are posted:

Running

Hitting

Pitching

On a tear

I have been on a bit of tear since the high school season ended. I’m probably jinxing myself by this post, but I have to report on the good and bad results. And these have been good.

In two weeks I have pitched in four games or showcases, throwing nine innings with no earned runs.

Class of 2012 showcase - one inning

Perfect Game Sunshine West Showcase - three innings

So Cal Dirtbags league game - two innings

Prospect Wire West Coast Finals 18U - three innings

Prospect Wire West Coast Finals 18U

On Friday morning, my dad and I left San Diego and made the 6 hour drive to Scottsdale, Arizona for the Prospect Wire West Coast Finals 18U (June 17-21, 2011). With the temperature now having climbed over 30 degrees, the So Cal Dirtbags met at the team hotel for our meeting at 5:15 pm to go over the tournament schedule, and then departed to the Arizona Diamondbacks Spring Training facility for our first game at at 7 pm.

Because this was only my second game with the team, I knew my role was only going to be as a reliever. As the first game went on, our starting pitcher, Kiki Medina, pitched exceptionally well but our defense had a little trouble and we lost 5-3. The second game was at 4 pm on Saturday the 18th, where both offenses were really on point and both team’s run total exceeded double digits. Eventually, the tie breaker rule came into effect and we won the game.

As both games rolled on, I was kind of disappointed that I was not put in the game but this was just like my high school season and I knew I had to be patient and make sure I took advantage of all the opportunities I was given. The last game of the pool play was when I finally got my shot. As our starting pitcher, Robbie Schmit threw four innings of one run baseball, I was called upon in the 5^th to finish the game off; and that’s exactly what I did.

I threw three innings, struck out six, let up one hit, no walks and no runs scored. We won that game 9-1, but our previous games kept us from advancing to the playoffs of the tournament. While I was disappointed for our team, I knew that I had completely seized my moment. Throughout this tournament, my patience was further tested, but I feel like I continue to succeed so that if I do become one of the starters, I will not look back.

Below are some photos and video.

This game went extra innings before we won. I'm #42.

Either I'm pitiching really fast or my dad has the camera on the wrong setting.

Fifth inning


Sixth inning


Seventh inning





Good meeting

After countless conflicts, I finally got to my first game with the So Cal Dirtbags on Tuesday, June 14th. We rotated through four pitchers during the game, and I was the third to take the mound.

At one pont after I got away with hanging a curve ball, a coach I hadn't met came to the mound. He introduced himself as Greg McSparran, and said he was my pitching coach. It was kind of a funny time to be meeting him for the first time, but he gave me some good advice that helped me finish off two scoreless innings.

Overall it was a good outing and a chance to meet my teammates prior to the Prospect Wire West Coast Finals 18U this weekend.

2011 summer schedule - updated

Here is an updated summer schedule:

June 17-21, PW 18U (Scottsdale, AZ), So Cal Dirtbags

July 1-6, OC Firecracker (Orange County, CA), So Cal Dirtbags

July 9-10, Team One West Showcase (Costa Mesa, CA)

July 25-28, USD Invitational Camp/ Tournament (San Diego, CA), So Cal Dirtbags*

July 30- Aug 5, Phil Singer (San Diego, CA), So Cal Dirtbags

* Dates not yet finalized.

Perfect Game Sunshine West Showcase

From June 11-12th, I attended the Perfect Game Sunshine West Showcase in Chula Vista, CA. Because of how many great players have gone to and go to this specific showcase, I knew I would be facing some of the beat competition in the western portion of the United States.

As I looked at the roster the night before, I was pumped to see my Saints teammate Eliot Stepanof and former travel ball teammate Evan Cassolato on my team for the showcase. For the first day, I, along with about 150 other potential prospects, showed up bright and early at 7 am at Southwestern College and stretched, threw, and ran the 60 yard dash. Although I did not take part on the outfield and infield skills part, that went on as well.

Our first game was at 10:45 am. Because I was a pitcher only for my high school season, I was a little out of my element when I went up and hit for the first time in a while. But I ended up going 1 for 3 with a high chopper that was perfectly placed. Although I did not appear on the mound the first day, the second day was my turn to throw. I threw for three innings allowing only one hit and striking out four against the 10 batters I faced.

This showcase was a real eye opener to the talent that I am competing against for a college roster spot, and is going to make me work even harder.

My dad took some photos and video from the three innings I pitched.

First inning


Second inning


Third inning

High School Baseball Banquet

The St. Augustine High School Baseball Banquet was on June 8th.

Here is the bling I received.

Class of 2012 showcase

On June 7th, I attended a showcase at Granite Hills High School. This showcase was more of an All Star Game for all of the juniors in San Diego County. Along with three of my teammates that were selected from St. Augustine HS, I played on the West team as we battled the East team.

Prior to the start of the game, each player on their respective teams ran the 60 yard dash and took batting practice which gave it the "all star" feel. Because there were so many players on each team, pitchers only threw one inning and position players and hitters played about half the game. In order to make sure everyone got enough opportunities to show what they had, the rules for defense were five batters per inning.

As the 10 inning game went along, I finally got my opportunity late in the game. Although the first batter from El Capitan High School reached first, I followed with a double play, two strikeouts, and then a line out to center that was missed and resulted in a triple.

Although I was somewhat nervous going into the showcase, it turned out to be a very rewarding and challenging experience because none of the hitters were easy outs and I had to bring my best stuff every pitch.

Here are some photos my mom took and video from Mrs. Shives.

All-Academic Team

The San Diego newspaper Union-Tribune announced on Sunday their All-Academic Team for spring sports. I was pleased to be listed along with 11 of my teammates.

Junior showcase

The coaches from all the San Diego area high school teams elect the top junior classmen from their teams to attend a showecase event. A note like this one below is what makes all the hard work of the baseball season worthwhile.

Lars has been selected to be in the Junior showcase on Tuesday June 7 at Granite Hills High School.  He needs to be there at 3pm wearing grey pants and his gold BP top. 

Craig J. da Luz 

Head Baseball Coach  

2011 Playoffs - Week 2

We knew we would have our hands full to beat El Capitan High School twice (5/31 and 6/2) to advance to the finals at Tony Gwynn Stadium on June 4^th. Our first game got away from us pretty quickly, and by the time we rallied for four runs in the 6th inning, the game was nearly out of reach. Final score: 13-6.

The Division 3 finals will see Cathedral Catholic HS against El Capitan HS. The stats give El Capitan a slight edge, but both teams have some amazing talent so who knows. Not sure if I will be watching as final exams at St. Augustine HS start are June 6-8, and I need to study.

2011 Playoffs - Week 1

We got off on the wrong foot in our first round game on May 25^th against Brawley HS. This was a game we expected to win, and with a 4-0 lead after four innings, it was looking like we would. But those were all the runs we scored, while Brawley got three runs in the fifth and then two more in the seventh to win 5-4... sending us now to the loser’s bracket.

After Montgomery HS lost to El Capitan HS in the first round, we played Montgomery on May 27^th in the second round. Winner advances, loser goes home. Montgomery jumped to a 2-1 lead in the first inning, but our bats came alive to score four runs in the third inning to coast to an 8-3 win. Complete game by senior Evan Crower.

The first two games were at home, but the third round game on May 28^th was at Granite Hills HS. After El Capitan overwhelmed Brawley 11-0 in the second round, it provided us a chance to make up for our first round loss. After a scoreless first inning, we scored five runs in the second inning to cruise behind a complete game by senior Kiki Medina to win 5-2.

We entered the Division 3 playoffs ranked third behind Cathedral Catholic HS and El Capitan. Cathedral is on the other side of the bracket, have been undefeated so far in the playoffs, and now verse Monte Vista HS for the right to advance to the finals. On our side, we must now beat El Capitan twice (5/31 and 6/2) to advance to the finals at Tony Gwynn Stadium on June 4^th at 1:00pm.

Here are some of the faithful Saints fans.

Nick Ruppert

Congratulations to Nick Ruppert for being selected as Player of the Week (5/15). Junior Ruppert went a combined 4 for 7 with 2 homeruns over league rival Mira Mesa during the final week of the regular season. Nick's consistent play and big hits have helped the Saints win the Eastern League.

Recruiting

This past week we finished my online recruiting profile with Student-Athlete Showcase, and sent an email to schools that might fit my academic and athletic needs. I have been very flattered by the number of schools that have replied so far, and will now be reviewing these schools more closely to determine which ones are the best fit.

Growing up in San Diego, when I first considered where I would want to go to school, my initial thought was to stay in Southern California. However, through this process I have come to realize how many great schools are in the United States, and how I should not limit my school selection.

2011 Playoff schedule

Saints is the smallest Division 3 school listed in the CIF San Diego section. We are listed to have an enrollment of 1440, but that’s doubled because we are an all boy’s school. Most of the schools in the Eastern League are either Div 1 or 2. But now the playoffs brings all the Div 3 schools together again.

We are ranked third behind Cathedral Catholic and El Capitan, which gives us a first round bye. Here is our game schedule:

May 25 - First round *

May 27 - Second round *

May 28 - Third round

May 31 - Fourth round

June 2 - If necessary

June 4 - Finals

* Guaranteed. All other games rely on us to win.

2011 Season - Week 11

It was the final week for Saints in the Eastern League. We would be facing Division 1 school Mira Mesa HS on Tuesday (5/17) and Thursday (5/19), and we needed to win one of the two games to guarantee at least a share of the league title with MMHS.

We got up early in the first game and cruised to a 6-4 win. However, we dug a big hole early in the second game, trailing 7-2 after two innings. We got the score to 9-5 after six, and then I pitched a scoreless inning at the top of the seventh to set up our bats for the bottom of the inning. And it nearly happened, scoring two more runs, but with the bases loaded and two outs, our final batter struck out. We lost 9-7, so ended the league season sharing the title with MMHS.

Here is the video from the seventh inning that I pitched:

2011 summer schedule

Here is the schedule for the bigger events I will be at this summer:

June 11-12, Perfect Game Sunshine West Showcase (Chula Vista, CA)

June 17-21, PW 18U (Scottsdale, AZ), So Cal Dirtbags

July 1-6, OC Firecracker (Orange County, CA), So Cal Dirtbags

July 9-10, Team One West Showcase (Costa Mesa, CA)

July 30- Aug 5, Phil Singer (San Diego, CA), So Cal Dirtbags

2011 Season - Week 10

It was a busy week for Saints in the Eastern League. We had a game on Monday against Morse HS (5/9), then games against Patrick Henry HS on Tuesday and Thursday (5/10 and 12). We won all three games, and I can’t think of another more productive week for the offense than this one. Our bats accounted for nearly 12 runs a game, and strong pitching helped us manage a seven run margin in each game.

Our team has a lot of arms, and it is weeks like this that we can take advantage of this strength. My turn came in the first game against Patrick Henry. Lately my role has been to relieve the starter, and after starter Evan Crower cruised through five innings, my turn came in the sixth.

This may have been my best inning with my worst stuff. My location was too often low, and there were times my curve came in head high. But I battled. I struck out the first batter, but walked the second batter. Then after going 3-0 with the third batter, I struck him out and then got the fourth batter on a soft grounder to Austin Shives at second for the 4 to 3 out.

Here is video of the first strike out:

Tyler Hofstee

Congratulations to Tyler Hofstee for being selected as Player of the Week (May 8, 2011). The Saints continued their barrage on opposing pitching this week led by sophomore DH/IF Tyler Hofstee who went 3 for 5 with 4 runs scored, 1 sac, 1 BB, 1-2B, a huge grandslam homerun and 6 RBI helping the Saints sweep 2 game Eastern League series with Patrick Henry.

Here's a photo from 2006 of Tyler that I found online.

Beating the baseball angels

I was scraping the bottom of the strike zone during my relief outing today against Patrick Henry High School. Not ideal, and it tested an axiom I had been taught.

After stiking out the first batter in the 6th inning, I walked the next. Ugh! A past coach of mine, Justin James, used to talk about how the baseball angels like to penalize the pitcher at times like this. But I struck out the next batter and the fourth batter tinked one to second for the third out. Take that, angels.

My dad took some photos, and while these were not of the same pitch, he put them in the order to make it seem that way... hopefully.

2011 Season - Week 9

I had been on a roll recently but that stopped this week. I hope everyone gets a bad outing as I now have had my turn.

Our non-league game against Mater Dei Catholic on Tuesday (5/3) hadn’t been going well, with our starter giving up some runs early, and then I came in and didn’t do any better.

I got the first batter out with three pitches, but then struggled with a new ball that was given to me. It didn't seem like it had gotten the pre-game scuffing, and the ump wouldn't give me another one. Well, that slippery ball went into the side of the next batter, and it didn't get much better after that. At least I got out of the inning, but unfortunately the run tally didn’t stop after me either. Our bats nearly saved us in the late innings but we came up short.

Our league game against Morse High School on Thursday (5/5) was much more of a fiesta. We jumped ahead early, converting 16 hits into an eight run shut out.

My redemption outing came on Friday during an intrasquad scrimmage. I have a hard time with our bullpen mounds because they are low, so I was stoked to be throwing from our field’s mound during practice. My pitches looked great, particularly the curve that was ‘PlayStation’ like.

Hopefully I earned back some confidence from the coaches.

Eliot Lowell

Congratulations to Eliot Lowell for being selected as Player of the Week (5/1/11). Junior short stop Eliot Lowell Goes 4 for 5 with a 2b, 3b and 6 RBI on the week.

2011 Season - Week 8

This week was spring break but we still had two league games and a non-league doubleheader. And I pitched in two of the first three games, giving up zero runs.

We had league games against Scripps Ranch HS on Monday (4/25) and Tuesday (4/26), splitting the series with them. After Evan Crower pitched five innings in the Monday game, I came into close, getting three batters on eight pitches.

On Saturday (4/30) we had a non-league doubleheader against San Diego HS. I came in to relieve Kiko Garcia in the fifth inning, getting two stikeouts. Here is a video of the strikeouts:

Evan Crower

Congratulations to Evan Crower for being selected as Player of the Week (April 24, 2011). Seniors Evan Crower and Michael Coyne both go 5 for 10 at the plate on the week

Claremont McKenna College

My cousin Sean McKaveney received a football scholarship at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont CA, and is enrolled to begin in the fall. It's a really good academic school, and it also has a baseball team.

My dad had spoken to Coach Town of the baseball team, and he had encouraged us to attend a game. CMC was playing Occidental on Friday (4/29) during Spring Break so we drove up to meet Coach Town, watch the game and tour the school.

I didn't realize how small the enrollment was, about 1200, but the campus seemed nice and our tour guide did a good job of telling us how wonderful it was.

Looking toward the north dorms.

Our tour guide was really good at walking backwards.

CMC dugout.

CMC home field.