Congratulations to longtime Hilltopper Ken Waldichuk, who was selected in the 5th Round of the Major League Baseball draft by the New York Yankees.

Ken, who played a dozen years in our league from T-Ball through Seniors, went on to an outstanding career at University City High School, and recently finished his third strong season as a left-handed pitcher for St. Mary’s College. In his first year at St. Mary’s, Ken was named to the West Coast Conference All-Freshman team, and this year was named to the All-West Coast Conference team for the second straight season.

Ken becomes the second former Hilltopper selected by the Yankees in recent years, following Kyle Holder, who was a first round selection in 2015. While we were hoping for a team a little closer to home, we couldn’t be more proud of Ken, and look forward to watching the next chapters unfold!

Mike Winters grew up in Clairemont. His first umpiring job was at the Clairemont Hilltoppers in Little League in 1973 at the age of 14. Shortly after that he realized that he wanted umpiring to be his career. In 1978, he joined the San Diego County Baseball Umpires Association and began umpiring High School baseball at the junior varsity level.