2022 Season Preview: Santa Margarita

The Road to the California State Games begins with the 2022 California high school baseball season. With the season just around the corner, our Staff has begun putting out team previews from all around the state getting you prepare for another year of exciting coverage.

Today we focus on the Santa Margarita Eagles who look to make some noise in the Trinity League this year with their 15 returners and 11 D1 commits. 

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Team:

Santa Margarita Catholic Eagles

Head Coach (years at school)

Chris Malec 5

Twitter Handle

@smchsbaseball

CIF Section & Division

Southern DI

Conference/League Name

Trinity 

Last Year’s Record

17-13

2021 Playoff Run

DI First Round

# of Returning Starters

9

# of Returning Pitchers

8

Team Expectations

Athletic team with 15 returners from last year's team. Should be a very competitive squad.

Team Strengths

They have a number of players who can play multiple positions, and 4 returning pitchers who started games last season.

Areas of Improvement

Pitching staff is older, stronger and more experienced than last season. At times last year, they showed glimpses of how good they can be on the hill.  

College Commitments

6 Zach Fjelstad            5-11 INF/RHP   2023 Cal Poly SLO
14 Ryan Nopper          5-11 INF            2022 Chapman
7 Luke Johnson           6-1 INF              2023 Cornell
3 Tanner Warady         5-11 RHP          2022 LMU
20 Samm  Cova           6-3 LHP           2023 Oregon
15 Preston Dorand       5-10 OF           2022 Otterbein
21 Drew Rutter             6-0 OF             2023 San Diego St
13 Luke Lavin               6-4 C/1B          2023 Stanford
5 Jack Svinth                6-1 RHP          2023 Stanford
23 Matthew Porchas    6-5 RHP           2022 Texas
17 Blake Balsz             5-11 C/1B         2023 UCLA
41 Logan de Groot       6-4 OF / RHP    2024 UCLA
27 Blake Wilson           5-10 INF / RHP  2023 Washington 

Top 22s

Matthew Porchas RHP (Texas) 

Tanner Warady RHP (LMU)

Ryan Nopper INF (Chapman)

Top 23s

Luke Lavin C (Stanford)

Blake Balsz C (UCLA)

Blake Wilson INF (Washington)

Zach Fjlestadt INF (Cal Poly)

Luke Johnson INF (Cornell)

Drew Rutter OF (SDSU)

Jack Svinth RHP (Stanford)

Sammy Cova LHP (Oregon)

Collin Clarke RHP 

Top 24s

Logan De Groot OF (UCLA)

Jake Lavin UTL