The562’s season previews for the 2022-23 school year are sponsored by Vertical Raise, the official team fundraising partner of The562.
The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
Longtime Lakewood baseball coach Spud O’Neil isn’t all that fond of talking about it, but he and his Lancers have big history at stake this year, separate from and in addition to the usual concerns for the ballclub. Are they trying to win a Moore League title? Yes. Are they trying to compete for a CIF-SS Division 2 championship? No doubt about it. But there’s another piece of history being grappled with each time the Lancers take the field with their traditional sprint-out.
O’Neil entered the season with 930 wins in his high school baseball coaching career, which began at Colton High in 1980 and which has seen him leading Lakewood since 1984. That total is good enough for third-best in the history of California high school baseball, and 16 wins shy of San Diego legend Sam Blalock.
“It is absolutely surreal,” said O’Neil when asked about the win total. “Who would’ve thunk a guy who graduated from St. Anthony would outlast so many people. It’s been my passion. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of really good people coaching with me, and a lot of really good players on the team.”
Asked if he gets tired of people asking about it, O’Neil said that tired isn’t exactly the right word, but that it’s not exactly his favorite topic either.
“I get hammered with it by my friends and by other coaches, yeah,” he said.
What O’Neil really wants to talk about is how the Lancers have almost climbed back up the CIF-SS competitive equity ladder back to Division 1, landing right at the top of Division 2 this year. When the team dropped to Division 3 a few years ago, it became a program-wide mantra to get them back up to the top, and last year’s quarterfinal D2 trip almost did it.
“Yeah, that’s the goal, we were actually only give spots away from the cutoff line,” said O’Neil. “That’s our goal–the kids really did a great job last year winning in the playoffs. This year we’ve got a very inexperienced team. We only have a couple of guys back with any innings.”
Centerfielder Matt Maines returns this year, as does middle infielder Austin McDaniel, and the Lancers’ No. 2 pitcher last year, Adrian Arellano, will bear a big chunk of the load this year.
Below that, the Lancers have brought up a ton of talented sophomores who were standouts on the freshman team last year–their entire rotation behind Arellano will be sophomores, as will be catcher Drake Merrill, utility guy Joseph Dizon, and third baseman Anthony Zepeda.
The other players will be juniors and seniors this year, but lacking a lot of high-leverage experience.
“We brought up the five sophomores, we’ve got young guys who are going to be really good but they’re going to be put in the fire this year,” said O’Neil, who added that he feels like his program is finally back to itself again post-COVID. “We lost a lot of kids to other schools during the pandemic, and it seems like we’re turning the corner now. Our freshman and JV teams are successful in the Winter Leagues, and we’re playing a lot of Division 1 teams in our nonleague games. Who knows where we’ll be at the end of this season?”
Senior centerfielder Matt Maines, one of those returners, said it’s been a fun energy with this young Lancers crew.
“Everyone has a chip on their shoulder because there’s so few returners,” he said. “Everyone’s trying to earn their spot, so it’s going to be a fun year.”
Maines said that the Lancers players are aware of what a unique thing it is to play for a coach so high up the state leaderboard in wins, and it was fun having multiple Major Leaguers come back for the program’s alumni day before the start of the season.
“It’s awesome to play for a guy like him who’s coached a lot of Major Leaguers, guys that got drafted or are playing in college right now,” he said.
Projected Starting Lineup
P- Adrian Arellano, Sr. / Aiden DeStouet, So. / Joseph Dizon, So. / Anthony Zepeda, So. / Noah Irwin, So.
C- Drake Merrill, So.
1B- Brandon Luna, Jr.
2B- Mason Yorba, Sr.
SS- Austin McDaniel, Sr. / Joseph Dizon, So.
3B- Anthony Zepeda, So.
OF- Matt Maines, Sr.
OF- Alex Ortiz, Sr.
OF- Angel Jacobo, Jr. / Shay Weaver, Jr.
