Maps

Two Former Western Christian Baseball Lancers
Go in 2005 Major League Draft

  The 2005 June Draft caused a buzz around Western Christian High School . Former Lancers Joey Dyche, Class of 2000, and Zack Kalter, Class of 2002, signed professional minor league contracts with different major league organizations. Dyche went in the seventh round signing with the San Francisco Giants and Kalter went in the 20 th round signing with the Toronto Blue Jays.

  Dyche graduated in 2000 and three years out of high school he was recruited to Pasadena City College by his former high school coach, Mark Gabbard. Dyche went on to earn All-Conference honors before accepting a scholarship to play under legendary coach Ed Cheff at National NAIA power Lewis and Clark State . Once at LCS he proved to be one of the best in the nation breaking the season batting average record hitting .500 (101 for 202) while leading the team in many of the offensive categories including stolen bases. He earned First Team All-American honors and was voted to the NAIA World Series All-Tournament Team after hitting for the cycle in one of the games. He also received the National Charles Berry Hustle Award for his 2005 efforts. Dyche played his first summer of professional baseball with the Salem Kaiser Volcanoes ( Oregon ) the single A affiliate of the Giants. He hit leadoff for the Volcanoes hitting .289 with four home runs and 17 stolen bases. His performance earned him an invite to the fall instructional league in Phoenix Arizona .

  Kalter graduated from Western Christian in 2002 also, recruited by his former high school head coaches (Mark Gabbard and Phil Krum) to Pasadena City College . Kalter was an All-Christian League and All-C.I.F. performer at WCHS. In his sophomore season at PCC, Kalter hit over .400 and dominated on the mound earning him All-Conference honors. That summer he went on to play in the highly coveted NECBL Woodbat League for the Berkshire Dukes where he ended the summer voted, by managers, the number one prospect leading the league in hitting and pitching. He was voted to the All-Star team as a both pitcher and hitter. Kalter went on to play at NCAA power and tradition rich University of Southern California . As a Trojan he found himself splitting time between pitching and playing the outfield. One of his highlights as a Trojan was playing on ESPN as the starting center fielder and leadoff hitter for the three game Super Regional against Oregon State . Kalter spent his first professional season in the Appalachian League with the Major League Blue Jays Rookie affiliate, the Pulaski Blue Jays. Kalter also was invited to attend fall instructional league in Florida

  In his second tenure as Western Christian Head Coach Gabbard states, “coaching these two athletes at both the high school and college level was an amazing experience. They are both outstanding athletes and it has been fun for me to watch their success as it continues.” Gabbard coached Dyche for two years in high school and one year in college while coaching Zach for three years in high school and one year in college. He goes on to express, “following Joey in his quest for the record and watching Zach on ESPN was surreal. These are two big time athletes playing big time baseball and they both came out of Western Christian. That is the level we want the program to return to and maintain. It is time for Western to become a power.”