Menlo’s Freehill flashes defense at Area Code Games

“It was super cool,” Freehill said. “He’s super cool. Just two guys competing. ... It was fun to talk to him and learn how he goes about his business.”

Freehill ultimately didn’t play shortstop in any of the five games held Aug. 7-11 at the high-profile scouting showcase, but that didn’t stop him from turning in some dazzling defense. He saw time at both second and third base, and was twice named the defensive player of the game by the team for highlight gems.

The first came Saturday with Freehill manning second base, as he ranged over the middle on a ball that took a tricky hop in the third inning.

“Slow roller at second and it took a funny hop, and I had to pick it,” Freehill said.

Sunday, against the MLB Breakthrough Series team, Freehill showed off his range at third base, flagging down a grounder in the hole and finishing the play with some 360-degree panache to throw out the runner at first.

“I got it on the run and made a spin throw,” Freehill said.

A two-sport athlete at Menlo, Freehill is baseball first and committed to play at the NCAA Division I level at Columbia University.

Still, Freehill has carved out quite a varsity career on the gridiron as well. As Menlo’s starting quarterback as a junior in 2024, he led the Knights to the semifinals of the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs, and earned Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division Offensive Back of the Year honors. He’s earn another all-league award come the spring, being named PAL Ocean Division baseball’s co-Player of the Year, along with Woodside’s Cruz Torres.

With the Area Code Games ending Monday, Freehill was on an evening flight Monday evening back to the Bay Area. He said he’d be at football practice Tuesday for Menlo.

“Summer is really baseball season, but once you get into fall (football) camp you try to be there as much as you can,” Freehill said. “Area Codes is the one thing I’d miss practice for. ... Other than that I didn’t really miss too much football this summer. Just a few days in August.”

Freehill was a man on a mission heading into the summer. He was in his third season playing for NorCal U 2026, a national travel team based in Danville. In 2024, however, he didn’t make the cut for the Area Code Games Underclass team.

This year, in July, while playing for NorCal at a World Wood Bat Association tournament in Georgia, he earned a reprieve when he got word he had been named to the Area Code Games Upperclass team.

“I was super pumped because I know how big it is to be on the Area Codes team,” Freehill said. “It’s a big accomplishment and a chance for me to show my skills and how hard I’ve been working.”

NorCal U had a good chunk of its class of 2026 roster named to the Area Code Games, including Sacred Heart Prep right-hander pitcher Rallin Covey. Others included: outfielder Jordan Walczykowski (Jesuit-Carmichael); third baseman Ayden Deome (West Park-Roseville); catcher Hudson Flora (Foothill-Pleasanton); infielder David Bernstine III (Vallejo); pitcher/outfielder Jensen Hirschkorn (Kingsburg); pitcher JP Harmon (Novato); and catcher Akanni Owodunni (Corona).

Other San Mateo County players named to the Area Code Athletics squad were San Mateo native Archer Horn (St. Ignatius-San Francisco); Pacifica native DJ Delaney (St. Ignatius-San Francisco); and pitcher Kelley Crawford (Serra).

Rivalries die hard

Freehill committed one error in the tournament in the Athletics’ 4-3 loss Saturday to the Area Code Yankees. His error came while playing behind Covey, who was pitching in relief for the Athletics. Freehill (at Menlo) and Covey (at Sacred Heart Prep) play for rival high schools during the regular season.

The error didn’t affect the 6-4, 220-pound Covey, a USC commit, who fired three shutout innings, allowing one hit while striking out three.

“He’s got the commit to USC, that’s always a big draw” SHP manager Sean McMillan said of why Covey was chosen for the Area Code Games. “But he’s also a power arm.”

Crawford pitched Sunday in the Athletics’ game against MLB Breakthrough.

“He looked really good,” Freehill said. “His stuff was really good — attacking hitters. He looked real good.”

A 6-3, 190-pound right-hander, Crawford ranked second for Serra in the spring with 37 innings pitched. He missed three weeks toward the end of the season, and didn’t pitch in the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs. He did return to start the opening game of the CIF Northern California Division I playoffs, working four innings in the Padres eventual 2-1 extra-inning win.

“The frame, the physicality,” Serra manager Mat Keplinger said of why Crawford was chosen for the Area Code Games. “He’s 6-3 and ... really looks the part. And his velocity made a nice jump. And he finished the year really nice for us.”