Big Red male Athlete of the Year Jack FLAHERTY C By Sam Sachs
oach Matt LaCour is in his eighth year as the head baseball coach at Harvard-Westlake. During his tenure he has coached numerous Division-one bound prep phenoms, like Austin Wilson ’10, Arden Pabst ’13 and Joe Corrigan ’13, and a couple of first round draft picks, Lucas Giolito ’12 and Max Fried ’12. Jack Flaherty ’14 certainly belongs in the conversation with these former Wolverine standouts and is this year’s winner of the Big Red Male Athlete of the Year. Flaherty collected the MaxPreps National High School Baseball Player of the Year, the CIF Southern Section Player of the Year, the LA Times and LA Daily News’ All Area Player of the Year awards
and the Cal-Hi Sports State Player of the Year for his efforts during his junior season. “Jack has had one of the most outstanding prep careers in the history of California,” LaCour said. “Not much else needs to be said.” Flaherty will win his 100th game if the team makes the CIF championship and another CIF championship would be the 101st win of his career, a Harvard-Westlake baseball record. “Obviously what he’s done speaks for itself,” Brian Ginsberg ’14, who has played with Flaherty for four years, said. “But his intangibles make him something even more special. You don’t expect a guy with that much talent to also
have that high of a baseball IQ.” What he’s done is posted a career record of 34-3 as a starting pitcher and been a valuable hitter at the top of the Wolverines lineup. “I pride myself on my work ethic and focus,” Flaherty said. “Being able to go day in day out and getting better each day has allowed me to improve each year.” This improvement has led to continued success for Flaherty and the baseball team. Flaherty is a projected second-round pick in the upcoming MLB draft and is committed to play at the University of North Carolina if he decides to play college baseball. “He has fun playing the game,” Ginsberg said. “Which is really important. But, he also holds his
teammates accountable for bringing a certain level of intensity to the field every day.” Flaherty and the reigning National Champion Wolverines are headed into their playoff run and although Flaherty takes pride in the individual awards he made it clear that another CIF Championship is the goal. “I want to go out with another ring,” Flaherty said. “Winning one championship is awesome. Winning two would be unbelievable.” “He’s been a guy on our team since he was a freshman,” teammate Michael Vokulich ’14 said. “He’s a leader and it just makes sense that he gets rewarded for the hard work we see him put in day in and day out.”
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