Advertisement

Prep talk: Max Fried vs. Jack Flaherty excites Harvard-Westlake fans

Yankees pitcher Max Fried delivers a pitch against the Tigers during the first inning Wednesday.
Yankees pitcher Max Fried pitched seven shutout innings against the Tigers on Wednesday, striking out 11 while giving up five hits and no walks.
(Paul Sancya / Associated Press)

What a morning it was on Wednesday for Harvard-Westlake coaches, players and fans. If they had access to the Internet or a television, they wanted to see what happened in the Major League Baseball game between the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers because the starting pitching matchup had Max Fried taking on Jack Flaherty.

They were teammates at Harvard-Westlake in 2012. Fried was a senior and Flaherty was a freshman.

Their coach, Matt LaCour, watched from Harvard-Westlake. Asked before the game who he was rooting for, LaCour said, “I’m rooting for a 0-0 game going into the eighth inning.”

It almost went as LaCour wanted. Fried threw seven scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts. Flaherty threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings with nine strikeouts. The Yankees ended up with a 4-3 victory.

Advertisement

One question that stumped LaCour was which player was the better hitter in high school. He finally said “Fried,” but added that Flaherty was “the better position player. “

Here’s the report from MLB.com on the game.

Brayden Burries, The Times’ player of the year from Eastvale Roosevelt, has committed to Arizona for basketball.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

Advertisement
Advertisement