The Santa Clarita Valley will be well-represented in the 2023 Tyler Skaggs Foundation All-Star games as 15 local stars have been selected to rosters.
The foundation will host a senior all-star game and an undergraduate showcase game on Saturday at UCLA’s Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Teams have been split up randomly into a Red team and a Blue team and now several players who have been teammates for at least the last four years will go head-to-head.
The Blue team will showcase Valencia’s Ricky Ojeda and Evan Jaquez, West Ranch’s Ryan Shalkevich and Castaic’s Aaron Gonzalez.
The Red team will field Wildcats Drew Greenburg and Matthew Lloyd, Saugus’ Justin Rankin, and Coyotes ace Kyler Freude.
Ojeda and Freude were two of the better left-handed pitchers in the Foothill League and will now face off again on Saturday. The Valencia ace took home the league’s crown and the Pitcher of the Year award, while Freude earned All-CIF honors as well as a couple of titles.
Shalkevich and Greenberg were both standouts in relief on the mound for West Ranch. The pair each made 15 appearances this season and finished with ERA’s under 3.00.
Jaquez was reliable at the plate all year for the Vikes and batted .318.
Gonzalez will play in his final varsity-level game Saturday before heading up north to join the Cal State Monterey Bay team.
The Blue team will once again be coached by former big leaguers Trevor Plouffe, a Castaic native, and Ryan Braun.
The Red team will be led by Trevor Koons, Jake Hirabayashi and Scott Heineman.
The senior game begins at 10 a.m. at Jackie Robinson Stadium with Ojeda set to start. Following the game, the Skaggs Foundation will present four $2,000 scholarships to seniors.
The Undergraduate showcase is set to begin at 3 p.m. with even more of the Foothill League’s best on display.
The non-seniors will again be broken up into a Red team and a Blue team.
The Red team will showcase just two local kids in Castaic’s James Lafferty and Saugus’ Zachary Hebert.
The Blue team rosters five SCV stars with Hart’s Brayden Jefferis and Ryan De La Maza, Valencia’s Noah Jaquez and Will Verlaque as well as CIF title game winning pitcher Tyler Hawn of Castaic.
De La Maza and Jefferis have both been vital bats for the Indians for a few seasons now. Jefferis, a Michigan commit, led Hart at the plate with a .345 batting average and 13 stolen bases.
Verlaque and Jaquez made strides this season on varsity and were key in the Vikings’ return to the top of the Foothill League.
Hawn put together a terrific junior season and delivered a complete-game shutout to lead the Coyotes to victory in the CIF Division 6 championship game.
The Undergraduate Red team will be coached by Andy Nieto, Cesar Bermejo, Evan O’Meara, Mike Lujan and Jeff Hoff.
The opposing Blues will be coached by Tim Leary, Tony Nieto, Moises Gonzales and Noah Nieto.
The Undergraduate showcase players take the field at 3 p.m.
