Santa Monica High baseball coach Kevin Brockway applied for the head coaching job at West LA College, had two interviews and became a finalist before losing out to Bob Grant.
Even though he wasn’t chosen, Brockway is happy that West LA College is bringing back the sport after dropping it 21 years ago.
“In the first interview I told the committee the school’s decision to bring back baseball has delighted the community more than they can imagine,” he said.
“And regardless of who the coach would be the decision will allow talented kids to continue their education.”
The Westside has been without community college baseball since Santa Monica College stopped the sport 13 years ago.
Brockway was the last SMC coach. Now he presides over a successful Samohi program and he’s looking forward to next season.
“I want to stay in the area and I applied at West LA thinking I could do more good on a larger scale,” he said.
“But we have good young men and good players at Samohi and I think we’ll be pretty good next season despite losing a lot of seniors.”
Among the players moving on, Brockway said outfielder Dylan Early is going to a four-year school, Trinity of Texas, and outfielder/pitcher Devon Ramirez is heading to Cal State Los Angeles.
All-CIF pitcher Joe McGrew is favoring Santa Barbara City College, all-CIF shortstop David Castellanos is going to Santa Clara, where he will focus on soccer, and outfielder Bryan Eyler is walking on at Oregon. Three star seniors from Culver City High won’t be available for West LA College either. Pitcher Andrew Connelly is going to Georgia, pitcher Jacob Blodgett to Loyola and first baseman McCarrin Tucker to Cal State Fullerton.
