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The 2026 La Mirada High baseball team shortly after falling to Cathedral Catholic High 12-2 last Friday in one semifinal game of the CIF Southern California Division 1 regionals. The Matadores finish the season at 25-9. Head coach Jimmy Zurn is second from the right in the back row. PHOTO BY LOREN KOPFF.
June 7, 2026
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
When looking at the baseball roster of San Diego-based Cathedral Catholic High, you could understand why La Mirada High baseball head coach Jimmy Zurn called them the Crème Brulee of the private schools in America’s Finest City. Among the 23 players for the Dons, four are sons of prominent former or current Major League Baseball players and another one is the son of a high profile MLB executive.
There’s Shoei Darvish, whose father Yu, is currently on the injured list for the San Diego Padres, Trey Kotsay, whose father Mark, played for seven MLB teams and is currently the manager of the Athletics, Xavier Nady, whose father has the same name and played for eight teams, D.J. Sweeney, whose father Mike, played for four teams and Evan DePodesta, whose father, Paul, is currently the Colorado Rockies President of Baseball Operations.
With all that talent on one team, it would have taken a miracle for the fifth-seeded Matadores to keep their season going one more game. Instead, they fell to eighth-seeded Dons 12-2 last Friday in the semifinals of the CIF Southern California Division 1 Regionals. La Mirada ends 25-9 and have gone 115-39-1 over the past five seasons.
“Let’s call it what it is; we felt like we were on house money,” said Zurn. “We’re always going to compete and show up and try to win. You could just tell we were just tired. It’s been 34 games [including] six playoff games which takes a lot out of you emotionally and physically. Obviously, we had some guys not playing, but I couldn’t be prouder. We’re playing in June; we’re playing the day after school got out.”
Cathedral Catholic, which would fall to seventh-seeded Huntington Beach High 5-3 less than 24 hours later in the Division 1 regional championship game, put the game away with a six-run top of the third inning and two more tallies in the fourth. However, the Matadores had a chance to potentially change the complexion of the game in the bottom of the second. Junior designated hitter Ian Aguayo was hit by a Cody Reynolds pitch and moved to second on a wild pitch before getting out on third when senior right fielder Jaeden Estevez reached on a fielder’s choice. Reynolds then hit senior first baseman Jacob Oropeza and junior third baseman Joshua Angulo singled to left to load the bases. But on a 0-2 count, senior centerfielder Noah Rodriguez grounded into a double play to end that threat.
The Dons would send 11 batters to the plate in the third inning where they produced five of their 11 hits, none more impressive than Joshua Priest’s three-run home run over the left field fence. A single from Kotsay and a double from Hunter Harrington would signal the end of a brilliant high school career from senior pitcher Kaden Corns. He threw 42 pitches, allowed five runs, four hits and struck out two.
His replacement, sophomore Julian Pardinas, gave up a single to Ty Daniels on a 3-0 count to bring in Kotsay, then two batters later, Jose Partida capped off the inning with a two-run double to left.
Down 8-0 in the fourth, the Matadores finally broke through when Aguayo sent a 1-2 pitch over the left field fence for the fourth hit by the hosts. In the next inning, senior second baseman Phillip Webb led off with a single to right on a full count, advanced twice on wild pitches and scored La Mirada’s last run of the season on a ground out from senior pinch hitter Ryan Campos. After that, the Matadores had four straight baserunners after a leadoff groundout to begin the sixth inning.
Even though the game was out of reach before Aguayo’s home run, it gave Zurn the opportunity to not only play his bench players but make sure all the seniors who were available to play, got into the game one way or another.
“The fact that we were so [short staffed], there was a chance the majority of them were going to play anyway,” said Zurn. “Every athlete, it doesn’t matter what sport…to be able to have closure is huge. To get your last at-bat; your last pitch on the mound…I still remember my last at-bat. We talk about memories as we get older and when you get older, you start appreciating memories and those are something that you’ll never forget. So, I’m happy for them.”
Webb went two for three while Estevez in the sixth inning and Rodriguez in the seventh accounted for the other hits for the Gateway League champions. This was the fifth straight season and ninth in the past 10 seasons in which La Mirada won at least 22 games and lost fewer than nine contests. But this past season may have been the most challenging for Zurn given the senior starters who were on last season’s team and the chatter coming from outside the La Mirada community.
“It starts with our staff,” said Zurn. “Our assistant coaches are just baseball junkies, and they have such a good rapport with the kids, and your assistants are everything. Our staff is as close as can be and it reflects on the kids. That’s a close team that we have, and that wins in high school baseball. Obviously, I’m very, very proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish at La Mirada.
“I’m just extremely proud to be a part of La Mirada baseball,” he later. “I really am, and I’m proud that our kids love La Mirada baseball. I’m proud that our community loves La Mirada baseball. I can now tell you one thing; we are not going to be overlooked next year.”
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