July 13, 2025 Your Source for Brentwood News

Interview: Westside Baseball Team Wins 2022 Easton Elite World Series

Coach Eric Beckerman speaks about the challenges and the triumphs of the season

By Dolores Quintna

For a long time, the best baseball players on the Westside have been obligated to go to the South Bay or the San Fernando Valley to get the best training for the sport and to advance to teams that play on the national level in scholastic sports. This is no longer the case.

Coaches Eric Beckerman, Zach Smith and John Urena founded Top Level LA Baseball Academy on the Westside to address this lack of high-level coaching for students in the area and even after some serious challenges this season, including one coach having a heart attack, the Academy is now the home of the 2022 Easton 14U USSSA Elite Florida World Series Champions and the #1 ranked 14U team in California. 

We spoke to Coach Beckerman about the challenges and the triumphs of this season and how they got a brand new team and training facility to the championship in such a short time. 

Dolores Quintana: Could you give me a little bit of a background on how this came about.

Coach Eric Beckerman: Sure. I am the Crossroads high school coach in Santa Monica. I got the job three years ago, and started a start a new organization to help develop players in the Santa Monica and westside areas. But then the COVID pandemic and came along and we got shut down for a couple of years, obviously. When things finally broke, in the summer of 2021, we were able to quickly get the program back up in July which became very popular. Then we formed a 14-year-old team in September. We set a goal to win a qualifying event for the World Series in Florida. The team actually didn’t do very well the first few tournaments, but then started to improve and get better. In February, their coach had a heart attack, but he was okay. He was going to have open heart surgery that got moved to July. He was able to return to the team about a month after taking it easy. In the very final qualifying tournament of the year at the end of April, that team really played well and came together. They ended up winning the tournament to qualify for the Florida World Series in July. This happened three days after their coach was scheduled to have open heart surgery.

Dolores Quintana: Wow. 

So there’s a lot of uncertainty because the team hadn’t won one unit the very last tournament and the coach wouldn’t be available. There was uncertainty if the team would even go, even though that was the goal from the get-go. We had a meeting with everyone. We got everyone in the same room and said, Yeah, let’s go. We we’re able to go with the core of the team. I had actually been to the tournament three other times with very strong teams. All those teams had always sort of underachieved compared to the talent level of the teams. I wasn’t really sure if it was the humidity or the three-hour time difference or the strong level of competition. But the teams had always underachieved. When we were in the very first game of the tournament of Florida. we were actually losing two to nothing as we were going into the very last inning.  I remember thinking, “Here we go again.” You know, why do our teams just not do well in Florida? But fortunately, the the team broke it open in the very last inning and scored seven runs to win seven to three and then they really never looked back after that. They were almost dominating every team after that and ended up being the top-seeded team from Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina. Lucky in the championship game they beat the number one ranked team from Texas six to one to win the World Series.

Dolores Quintana: That’s fantastic.

Yeah, very, very fun. It was a lot of fun out here again. I don’t ever recall seeing a team just put everything together like that at the right moment. I mean, they hit better than every other team, they pitched better than every other team, they did better than every other team. It all just really really came together. They played well.

Dolores Quintana: How did you, as a coach, how did set up the program? From what I understand, before your academy, if players wanted to get the best coaching and play nationally they had to go to the San Fernando Valley or to the South Bay.

Coach Beckerman: It was when me and my assistant coach, Coach, Zach, got the job at Crossroads. A lot of the players from Santa Monica and the Westside did have to leave the West LA area and go to San Fernando Valley or east or down south to South Bay to find high-level development. There wasn’t a lot of high-level development in the local area. Crossroads, it’s not an easy school to get into. But we figured the more we could develop the players from Santa Monica and the Westside, obviously, the ripple effects would help any players that do play at Crossroads or get into the school at Crossroads. So I hired a lot of very high-level coaches and put together a very high level training program for those that really enjoy putting in the work to get better. You know, there’s always a couple of different types of players. There are players that enjoy the game of baseball and like to come to the games and there are players that enjoy training for getting stronger, getting faster, and putting in a lot of work. We’re here to optimize their development.

Dolores Quintana: How long does it take to develop a top level team?

Ah, that’s a great question. I always tell people, that it really takes about three years for a player who really wants to take their game to the next level to really see the results of their efforts. Baseball is a very difficult game and usually takes three years. But the program we developed at a top level, the coaches we brought in and the training programs we put together, you really saw a lot of results. Basically within nine to 12 months. It was a lot quicker. I remember when the Coach Steve first took over this 14U team that went to Florida, he was very unsure. This was the type of team that could compete at that upper level. But with his leadership and the other opportunities to develop that the players on this team definitely took advantage of? It really allowed them to develop a lot quicker than we normally see.

Dolores Quintana: It seems like you got it off the ground really quickly. 

I had run a trial run at an organization down in the South Bay, in the Manhattan Beach area for 10 years that was very successful in developing high-level players. But it was just a little too far for kids from Santa Monica, West LA and the Pacific Palisades to go to. So when I was offered the job at Crossroads in Santa Monica. I wanted to bring that same sort of business model from what we had done down south to the Westside. I had a name out there and already sort of a foundation built-in and an idea how to do it which definitely played a big part in getting it off the ground so quickly and having success so quickly. 

Dolores Quintana; What do you see in the future for the program?

That the program continues to gain traction. We’ve never spent $1 on marketing or advertising or things of that nature. The word of mouth has just really allowed the program to continue to grow and develop players. It’s more than coaching, it takes more like what the parents are willing to contribute on their end as parents. It i’s the players themselves that play a big role in developing the other players. As the program grows, you see the players that come in, that really have the drive to get better at their craft, and that it’s just a continuous sort of inspiration that we see that come into the program that makes the kids really want to train hard. It’s fun to see. We’ve added a few new teams. We will now be starting at a slightly earlier age. We’ll start with players in the third grade to allow kids to really have access to at an earlier age to to develop. It’s getting tougher now if you wait until kids have gotten older to start training.

Related Posts

Chinese Bakery Hi Bake to Open First U.S. Store in Beverly Hills: REPORT

July 12, 2025

July 12, 2025

Hi Bake will offer a fusion of French and Asian pastries, including croissants filled with molten chocolate or wagyu beef...

County Supervisors Move to Preserve Measure J Amid Charter Error

July 12, 2025

July 12, 2025

Measure J mandates that at least 10% of the county’s locally generated, unrestricted funds be allocated to community investments like...

Sen. Ben Allen Highlights Challenges, Economic Gains for LA28 Olympics

July 12, 2025

July 12, 2025

The remarks came during the first informational hearing of the Senate’s Special Committee on International Sporting Events State Sen. Ben...

Downtown Santa Monica CEO Andrew Thomas to Step Down

July 12, 2025

July 12, 2025

Thomas, who rejoined DTSM, Inc. in 2022, oversaw the introduction of a private security program, expanded homeless outreach, and boosted...

Mayor Bass Issues Directive to Protect Immigrant Communities

July 12, 2025

July 12, 2025

The order expands access to city resources for affected families and requests records from ICE, including details on arrests Mayor...

(Video) Summer Camp at School of Rock West LA Turns Kids Into Rockstars

July 11, 2025

July 11, 2025

To Sign Up Now, Go To Schoolofrock.com Summer Camp at School of Rock West LA Turns Kids Into Rockstars To...

County Health Leaders Decry Federal Policy Barring Undocumented from Programs

July 11, 2025

July 11, 2025

The officials argued the policy jeopardizes care for all residents, noting it could deter people—regardless of status—from seeking treatment  Leaders...

LA Medical Center Seeks Help Identifying Unconscious Patient

July 11, 2025

July 11, 2025

He has been unconscious since admission, and staff have been unable to determine his identity Los Angeles General Medical Center,...

L.A. Louver Marks David Hockney’s 88th with Exhibit

July 11, 2025

July 11, 2025

Hockney, a British artist born in 1937, gained fame with the British Pop Art movement and later became known for...

California Seizes $476 Million in Illegal Cannabis

July 11, 2025

July 11, 2025

The operation, described as UCETF’s largest to date, involved support from multiple state agencies The state confiscated $476 million worth...

Suspect Arrested in Shoe Retail Theft Spree Across LA County

July 11, 2025

July 11, 2025

During the search, police recovered two firearms and a significant quantity of merchandise The Los Angeles Police Department’s Organized Retail...

For the Win Burger Chain Expanding to Brentwood: REPORT

July 10, 2025

July 10, 2025

Popular items include the double cheeseburger with bacon and jalapenos, as well as loaded fries topped with For The Win...

The Bar at Century Plaza to Celebrate National Caviar Day with Exclusive Tastings

July 10, 2025

July 10, 2025

The seven-hour event will feature exclusive caviar tastings and champagne pairings The Bar at Fairmont Century Plaza will host a...

Father-Daughter Authors to Host Book Signing to Aid Fire-Affected Women

July 10, 2025

July 10, 2025

Ten percent of proceeds from book and art sales will benefit the Pacific Palisades Rebuilding Fund, a nonprofit initiative created...

Metro Reports Crime Drop, Higher Rider Satisfaction, and Progress on Major Projects

July 9, 2025

July 9, 2025

The Authority said the drop in violent incidents—down to the lowest level since May 2019—coincided with more uniformed personnel and...