Bay Area News Group baseball player of the year: De La Salle's Graham Schlicht
CONCORD - For most of the 2026 season, opposing hitters couldn’t figure out Graham Schlicht.
And the state record book paid the price.
De La Salle’s 6-foot-4 right-hander rewrote California high school history this season, stretching a scoreless streak to 62 innings - dating to last year - to surpass the all-time state mark of 59⅓ straight shutout innings, according to records kept by Cal-Hi Sports.
The Spartans' ace finished the 2026 campaign with 83 strikeouts, allowing just 26 hits while walking 13, as De La Salle had another superb season.
For that, Schlicht is the Bay Area News Group’s baseball player of the year.
The Stanford-bound pitcher dominated on the mound since he transferred to De La Salle from Campolindo his freshman year.
In three seasons at the Concord private school, Schlicht gave up a total of 21 earned runs – 10 of which came in his final two years. Known for an array of pitches that keep hitters guessing, Schlicht's breaking ball has been his signature.
The talent was on full display in some of his most dominant outings of the season.
Against SoCal powerhouse Notre Dame-Sherman Oaks, he struck out eight over six innings, surrendering just four hits. Against Elk Grove, he was even sharper, limiting the opposition to three hits while punching out eight more.
On three separate occasions, Schlicht reached double digits in strikeouts - fanning 11 against Dublin, 12 against Monte Vista and 11 against Foothill. A run of dominance that made clear he wasn’t just the best pitcher in the East Bay Athletic League.
He was one of the best in the state.
Through it all, the zeroes kept piling up. By the time De La Salle faced San Ramon Valley in mid-May, Schlicht’s scoreless streak had quietly crept toward history.
The all-time California mark of 59⅓ straight shutout innings - set in 2018 by Dawson Netz of Maranatha High in Pasadena - was within reach. Schlicht’s mom had mentioned it to him the week before.
He tried to push it out of his mind.
It worked, until the fifth inning.
“I tried to keep my mind off of it,” Schlicht told the Bay Area News Group after he broke the record. “Then that fifth inning came and had a little struggle. It popped into my head. But I had to just mentally overcome that. That was a fun little challenge and made it a little sweeter.”
Schlicht blanked San Ramon Valley on three hits to finish the day, pushing his scoreless streak to 62 innings and etching his name into the California record books. Even after breaking the mark, he couldn’t fully exhale.
“I knew the game wasn’t over,” he said. “I could celebrate that all I want after the game.”
The streak finally came to an end in the first round of the North Coast Section Division I playoffs against Heritage, when Schlicht allowed three earned runs in five innings - his first blemish in what felt like forever. It was a rare rough outing for a pitcher who had spent the better part of two seasons making run-scoring look impossible.
It would also be his last start of the year.
Schlicht missed the remainder of De La Salle’s playoff run with an undisclosed injury, leaving the Spartans without their ace for their next five postseason games.
Even with the abrupt ending, what Schlicht accomplished in 2026 stands alone in California high school history. After arriving at De La Salle, he spent three years building a résumé that will be difficult to match.
The Stanford commitment was secured long before the record fell. But with the MLB Draft approaching in July, Schlicht faces a decision that few high school pitchers ever have to make.
Baseball America ranks him among its top 400 draft prospects and pegs him as the 24th-best prep prospect in California.
For now, that decision remains ahead of him. What’s already written is where his high school legacy will be left. Sixty-two consecutive scoreless innings, a state record and three seasons of brilliance that redefined what pitching dominance looks like.
“I feel like I paint a lot in the zone with all my stuff,” Schlicht said. “I feel very comfortable with all my pitches, and I know I have a great defense behind me, so I feel super comfortable.”
For a pitcher who spent two seasons making opposing hitters feel anything but comfortable, that’s about as fitting a final word as there is.
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This story was originally published June 18, 2026 at 8:22 AM.