Baseball Players Named All-City

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Palisades Charter High School senior outfielder Amari Yolas and senior pitcher Mason Edwards were named to the All-City Open Division baseball team last week—their reward for leading their team to the semifinals at USC and a 26-4 overall record.

Yolas, who has committed to Cal State Northridge, won the Post Cup Award as outstanding senior athlete at Pali High in 2022-23. He earned All-City Division I first team honors in football as a wide receiver and cornerback, finished second in the 100-meter dash at the City track finals May 18, and led the Dolphins’ baseball squad in batting average (.477), runs (41), hits (42) and steals (32) while posting a .925 fielding percentage.

Palisades’ starting center fielder, he played in 29 of 30 games, with 21 RBIs, seven doubles and five triples. He pitched 2 2/3 innings in relief, allowing four runs on two hits with six strikeouts.

The only other outfielders picked for the Open Division team were Jonathan Bogacz of El Camino Real and Owen Martin of Narbonne.

Edwards, a left-hander headed to USC, posted an 8-1 record with a 1.15 earned run average in 12 appearances on the mound for the Dolphins. In 55 innings he gave up 29 hits and nine earned runs with 23 walks and a team-high 103 strikeouts.

In two seasons since transferring from Culver City he had a 14-5 record, allowing 73 hits and 20 earned runs with 205 strikeouts pitching 119.1 innings. 

Co-Pitcher of the Year honors went to Birmingham seniors Daniel Flores and Kaden Taque. Flores no-hit Palisades in the Patriots’ 5-1 semifinal victory May 24 and Taque threw a complete game with nine strikeouts to beat Carson 3-1 three days later in the championship game at Dodger Stadium.   

Birmingham infielder JB Dalumpines was named Player of the Year while Matt Mowry was selected Coach of the Year after piloting the Patriots to their fourth City title in six seasons. 

For Yolas and Edwards, making the All-City squad was icing on the cake. Yolas was voted Co-MVP in the Western league with Canon King of Venice while Edwards shared Pitcher of the Year honors with Palisades teammate Ryan Higgins, who led the Dolphins’ staff with a 0.92 earned run average.

Six other Dolphins made first team All-League: junior pitcher John Iacono, senior utility Soren Apple, senior catcher Nate Sterling, senior shortstop Wesley Wells, senior third baseman Jack Woods and senior first baseman Zach Gresham, who led the team with 37 RBIs and two homers.

Earning All-League second team honors were Palisades freshman pitcher/infielder/outfielder Jimmy Levy, junior pitcher/shortstop Reece Frankel and junior outfielder Yonah Cohen.

The Dolphins went undefeated in league for the fifth time in a row.