Season Interrupted: Pitcher Lucas Gordon is grateful for time at Notre Dame High
Throughout the spring, The Times will interview high school seniors whose athletic careers were cut short by the coronavirus outbreak.
Name: Lucas Gordon
School: Sherman Oaks Notre Dame
Sport: Baseball
Key stats: 2-0, 0.57 ERA, with 30 strikeouts in 16 innings this spring; had a perfect game for 6 1/3 innings in his last game, against West Hills Chaminade.
Summer plans: Preparing for the MLB draft.
Fall plans: Will attend the University of Texas or sign a pro contract.
Ziaire Williams, the Los Angeles Times’ player of the year from Chatsworth Sierra Canyon, announces that he will play college basketball at Stanford.
The highlight of his high school career:
“Going to Notre Dame is the best you can get. It’s the biggest gift anybody could give me. Personally, coming back against Orange Lutheran in the first big game coming off arm surgery, that was the game I had to prove I was 100% back. Orange Lutheran being No. 1, being the Boras Classic and a lot of people watching, pitching six innings, one run and we got the win was huge.”
What he misses without sports:
“Just being with my team. We’d practice every day. We were brothers. It’s hard to be away from them.”
How has the sports stoppage changed his life:
“It definitely makes me appreciate everything a lot more. I’m so used to going to the gym. Now I can’t. It’s closed. I can’t just go to the field to throw a bullpen. I have to throw on the street. It’s so much different. You have to find ways to do stuff on your own. You have to be creative.”
A look at the high school sport standouts whose seasons were cut short by the coronavirus outbreak.
What he’s picked up in his free time:
“Believe it or not, I’m trying to learn the guitar. I’ve always wanted to. I’ve been looking up YouTube videos on my phone. I’m not good, but I’m trying.”
On being home all the time with his family:
“I love it. Being an athlete, you aren’t home too much. Being home making dinner with your parents is actually a good thing. I’m super happy seeing my family.”
Video interviews of each athlete can be found at latimes.com/sports/highschool.
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