MaxPreps Student Section
Although
Chaminade (West Hills, Calif.) baseball catcher, 6'2 190 pound
Jason D'andrea, is 100% percent committed to UCLA, he still wants to finish his senior year strong, hoping for a CIF championship. "Hopefully the most memorable experience on my high school baseball team will come June 4th, the day of the CIF championship games," says D'Andrea. Luckily for D'Andrea, his baseball squad is very well capable of winning CIF championship. Featuring seven recruited Division-I baseball players including D'Andrea, the Eagles are 14-4 overall, including an impressive 7-1 record in the tough Mission League.
They are also ranked 22 in California and top 100 nationally. The Mission League includes the Crespi Celts of Encino CA, who are the reigning CIF champions and were ranked seventh in the nation last year. However, Chaminade has not had trouble with Crespi this year, defeating them 4-0 and 4-1 respectively. D'Andrea even recalls, "My greatest experience in high school so far was beating Crespi High School last year to open up league. No one thought we could win that game. But we ended up defeating them 4 to 3".
With impressive wins and performances from D'Andrea and the Eagles for the last two years, everything seems to be going his way. Frank Mutz, Chaminade baseball coach, says about Jason, "He can hit." With these three simple words, it is evident that he is an outstanding player.
When his high school career is over, D'Andrea is looking forward to his future career at UCLA. "The baseball team ranked as top 25 in the nation and being in the Pac-10 grabbed my attention. The coaches and the campus made me fall in love with the school. It was an opportunity close to home that I could never turn down." UCLA is notoriously known for excelling both in academics and in sports. UCLA was the first school to record 100 NCAA Championships and is a very difficult school to get into.
D'Andrea is very fortunate to have the opportunity to attend UCLA, but competing in the Pac-10 is no easy task. The Pac-10 has five of its ten teams in the top 25 in the nation including UCLA. Oregon State is currently ranked number 2 in the nation and schools such as Arizona, Arizona State and California are also highly ranked. D'Andrea is not only excited about his future baseball career, but is also looking forward to his academic pursuits as well.
He says that he wants to major in Business Economics or Economics, but will officially decide by the end of sophomore year. With the possibility of winning Southern Section CIF championships and committed to attending one of the top 25 baseball schools in the nation next fall, D'Andrea should be a promising catcher for the Bruins.
Good catch UCLA!
