Daily Journal Athlete of the Week: Menlo’s Jackson Flanagan

“Just attack and attack and attack — strike one,” Trujillo said.

It’s proven quite the tactic for Flanagan, who has been named the Daily Journal Athlete of the Week for continuing his recent run of success. In firing his third shutout of the year last Thursday in Menlo’s 3-0 win over Mills, the junior right-hander ran his current streak of shutout brilliance to 27 scoreless innings.

Despite throwing three shutouts and four complete games this season, Flanagan has thrown more than 100 pitches in a game just once — the game that started the scoreless streak, when he threw 104 pitches in going the distance in a 1-0 nine-inning victory over rival Sacred Heart Prep.

“I was exhausted but it was a thriller,” Flanagan said. “I was super pumped that we came out on top. I was exhausted, but it was one of the best games I’ve been a part of.”

It was one of the key victories of the season for the Knights, who two days later swept the series from SHP with a 2-1 victory, this one backed by upstart freshman Reid Plamondon’s complete game one-hitter in his first varsity start. It was Menlo’s first sweep over its rival since 2012.

“That kind of sparked us,” Trujillo said. “That’s where we kind of turned the page a little bit and got going.”

The sweep turned around Menlo’s season. After entering the series with a 4-7 record against a challenging non-league slate, the SHP wins were Nos. 2 and 3 of an eight-game winning streak. The Knights are now it first place in the PAL Ocean Division with a 7-1 league record.

“We’ve been good,” Trujillo said. “We’ve been doing enough to win. We still haven’t broke out like we’re capable of offensively, but pitching has been lights out.”

After starting his varsity career working primarily out of the bullpen last year, Flanagan was named Menlo’s opening-day pitcher this season.

It was a tough draw, as he took the loss against Serra, and went on to open the season with a 1-3 record and a 3.32 ERA. His following outing, March 20 in Menlo’s 9-1 victory over Westmont-Campbell, was Flanagan’s first complete-game victory, and with it has gone 5-0 over his last six starts, while whittling down his ERA to 1.43.

What’s more impressive than his run of dominance is how he’s done it. With a four-pitch repertoire and a pitch-to-contact bulldog mentality, Flanagan has totaled just 16 strikeouts through a CCS-best 58 2/3 innings pitched.

“Strikeouts have never been my thing,” Flanagan said. “I love it when I get ’em. It’s a cool stat, but not my area of experience.”

After working as a two-pitch pitcher out of the bullpen last season, Flanagan developed a slider and integrated a changeup into his arsenal. That allowed him to return to the role he’s known most of his life, as a starting pitcher. He’s joined senior right-hander Ben Salama in the starting rotation on a pitching staff that otherwise has virtually no varsity experience.

The only game started by neither Flanagan nor Salama this season was Plamondon’s win over SHP. Otherwise, the staff features two other freshmen in Liam Widner and Fletcher Cahill; junior Sohum Berry, who didn’t pitch last season; junior Renner Barnett, who pitched just six innings last year; and junior Jack Freehill, who didn’t pitch last year and, as Menlo’s cornerstone defender at shortstop, has thrown just one-third of an inning in 2025.

So, Flanagan’s experience — in the wake of graduating 2024 ace Ryan Schnell, who threw 100 2/3 innings last year as a senior — has been huge. His ability to pitch deep into games has been huger.

“He gets so much first-pitch, two-pitch contact at-bats,” Trujillo said. “That’s why his pitch count is so low.”

“I like to get first-pitch strikes,” Flanagan said. “Get ahead in the count; always a good place to start. From there I pound the outside half of the plate. Just make the batter uncomfortable and try to force some contact ... and I trust the guys to make the plays behind me.”

The 27-inning scoreless streak has been in peril a few times, most recently in the seventh inning against Mills, when the first two Vikings batters reached base. They’d get the lead runner to third base, but only when Menlo rolled up a 6-4-3 double play — Jack Freehill to KC Chavinson to Nikhil Pathak — to move the runner over with two outs.

Flanagan left the runner stranded 90 feet from getting on the board by inducing a fly ball to Barnett in center.

“He was a little frustrated with leaving pitches up, but those pitches up were still fly balls to center field,” Trujillo said. “But, yeah, he’s been our dude, and our defense loves playing defense behind him.”