Pitcher with Poise

Brentwood’s Evan Alexander Had a Stellar Freshman Year

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

It is rare for a freshman to make as significant an impact on varsity as Evan Alexander did for the Brentwood School baseball team this spring.

The 6-foot-2, 160-pound right-handed pitcher is one of only four ninth-graders across all divisions who earned All-CIF Southern Section honors, doing so after leading the Eagles to their first playoff berth in 10 years.

Brentwood advanced all the way to the Division 7 semifinals, falling to eventual-champion Pomona Ganesha 3-0 on May 16, but Alexander impressed both his teammates and coaches on the way to being named Varsity MVP. His fastball has been clocked at 86 miles an hour and his velocity is on its way up under the tutelage of Brentwood pitching coach Tim Leary, a retired Major Leaguer who helped the Dodgers win the World Series in 1988.

Alexander made the Gold Coast League first team after leading the Eagles in earned run average and strikeouts. In 36.1 innings pitched he allowed 17 hits—all singles—four runs and 12 walks with 62 strikeouts.

He also played shortstop and batted .333 with 19 hits, 12 runs,10 RBIs, three steals and three doubles in 57 at-bats. He pitched five and two-thirds innings in the CIF quarterfinals and allowed only four hits with 12 strikeouts in the Eagles’ 3-2 triumph over Cornerstone Christian.

On offense he had two hits, two walks and four runs in a May 2 play-in game versus Coastal Christian, had two hits and an RBI in the second round at Littlerock, and got one of his team’s six hits against Ganesha.

Alexander lives in the El Medio Bluffs and arrived at Brentwood in seventh grade after attending Curtis School on Mulholland from kindergarten through sixth grade. He did not play in PPBA, rather he played in Encino Little League from ages 6 to 12, as well as travel ball for Legacy in Encino and Top Level in Santa Monica.

Growing up he played UTR tennis tournaments at The Riviera Country Club. He is also an avid golfer but does not compete in USGA events.

He is also a violinist in the school orchestra. His two older sisters play NCAA volleyball (Kat in Division I at Penn and Emily in Division III at Trinity College), and his dad Michael is the LA Rams’ team neurosurgeon.

Alexander’s star is on the rise and so too, it appears, is Brentwood.