Former Irvine Valley standout middle infielder Tyler Odekirk was having another fine season with the NCAA Division 2 Cal State Los Angeles baseball team when the season was cancelled last month due to the coronavirus pandemic.
After two star-studded years with Irvine Valley, he signed with the University of San Diego in 2017. Odekirk red-shirted at USD in 2018, but moved on to Cal State Los Angeles where he has done nothing but stand out the last two years.
He had a sensational first season with the Golden Eagles in 2019.
Odekirk was a fixture at the top of the batting order and led the team with a .337 batting average. He earned first-team All-California Collegiate Athletic Association honors and All-West Region honorable mention from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.
Odekirk scored a team-high 48 runs. He started all 45 games for the Golden Eagles. He had 15 multi-hit games and hit safely in 37 of 45 games. Odekirk had a season-high 15-game hitting streak during the year. One of his highlights of the year, was hitting a three-run, ninth-inning home run at Chico State on March 24, 2019.
He was off to a great start in 2020 when the Cal State Los Angeles season was cancelled. Odekirk was hitting a team-leading .342 with a team-best .787 on base percentage. He had also started all 20 games for Cal State LA and had a team-high 26 hits and 13 runs scored.
At Irvine Valley, Odekirk was named first-team, all-Orange Empire Conference his sophomore year after hitting .353 with 34 runs scored and 28 runs batted in as a sophomore in 2017, appearing in 40 games with 39 starts. The Lasers made the playoffs and beat Chaffey in a a play-in game, 11-2, with Odekirk going 2 for 5 with one RBI, before the squad dropped two games in the regionals at Grossmont.
The former Mission Viejo High player hit .311 in 15 games as a freshman in 2016 for the Lasers.