Flintridge Prep baseball success built on solid Pilar

There was no question that the Flintridge Prep baseball team dominated the Prep League this season.

The Rebels won their second league crown in four years thanks to a 12-0 run that included the squad’s first sweep (3-0) of archrival Pasadena Poly this century.

To no surprise, the Rebels’ dominance carried over to the Prep League awards, as catcher Cole Pilar was named the leaguemost valuable player, while four additional players were selected to the first team and one athlete to the second squad.

“I think we had a good year,” Flintridge Prep Coach Guillermo Gonzalez said. “We started slow, but we really heated up at the end and made a run.”

Fresh off winning a CIF Southern Section Division VI championship in 2015, the Rebels finished 19-6 this season and advanced to the semifinals for the third time over the last four years. The Rebels’ surge to a second straight CIF championship ended, though, when top-seeded Sage Hill defeated visiting Flintridge Prep, 4-1, in the semifinals on May 31.

In that contest, Pilar doubled and threw out a baserunner in what was the senior’s swansong.

The Prep League MVP played in 24 games this season and batted .457 with a team-leading 43 runs batted in, 37 hits, 25 runs, 12 walks, 10 doubles, five triples and four homers.

“I’ve been a part of this league and this team for four years, so I’m honored that the league’s coaches voted me the MVP,” said Pilar, who’s headed to Trinity University in San Antonio, Tex. “It’s a worthwhile achievement and I’m proud to win it.”

Pilar was one of seven seniors on an experienced squad that included fellow Prep League first-teamers Hamilton Evans, Robbie Leslie, Richard Pan and Andrew Tsangeos.

The Middlebury University-bound Evans, an infielder, batted .324 with 25 RBI, 24 runs and six extra-base hits.

“Hamilton was the kind of guy you could move anywhere on the field,” Gonzalez said. “He played at short, at third and even caught a couple of games. He did all this while playing with a torn labrum.”

Leslie made his mark last season picking up wins in four of his team’s five postseason victories. This year, the team’s ace battled through injuries and posted a 3-3 record with a 2.03 earned-run average in eight appearances (five starts) and 38 innings pitched. Leslie fanned 34 and walked 14, while he batted .360 with 27 hits, 24 RBI, 21 runs and nine doubles.

“The way he brought it every game for us, whether on the mound or at shortstop, was impressive,” Gonzalez said of Leslie, who’s heading to Southern Methodist University in the fall. “He had a PCL injury, but he still battled and was great.”

Pan was Flintridge Prep’s No. 2 pitcher and was 6-0 in league and 6-1 overall with a 1.00 ERA in seven starts and nine appearances with 34 strikeouts and eight walks in a team-leading 42 innings. At the plate, Pan also drove in 15 RBI and scored 17 runs.

“He’s another kid where we could have put him anywhere we wanted and he would succeed,” Gonzalez said. “He did a great job.”

As for Tsangeos, the three-sport star participated in an abbreviated season, as the boys’ basketball guard and his squad enjoyed a historic run into mid-March that cost the first baseman the first nine baseball games of the year.

Tsangeos was back in action for the Prep League opener on March 31 and batted .463 in 16 games with 25 hits, 14 RBI, 14 runs, seven extra-base hits and a team-leading 11 stolen bases.

“The guy shows up for the first league game and really has a good year,” Gonzalez said. “I would have loved to have had him for more time, but he helped us.”

Tsangeos is heading to play football at the University of Richmond.

Flintridge Prep sophomore Aidan Schraeder was his squad’s lone second-team selection and posted a 4-1 record with a 2.10 ERA in six appearances (four starts) with 21 punchouts and only one walk over 26 2/3 innings.

At the dish, Schraeder finished with 12 RBI, eight runs and 10 walks.