By Arturo Garcia, May 12, 2026
After securing three wins for the Broncos, Matthew Leyva picked up his first CCAA Pitcher of the Week recognition for the week of April 20 to 26.
Leyva added to the record-breaking 44 Athlete of the Week recognition by Cal Poly Pomona, and he is the fifth pitcher to earn the honor this season. He joins his teammates Anthony Vasquez, Matthew Lorenzano, Anthony Cosme and Dylan Esquival in receiving honors.
“He’s just a good pitcher when it comes to competing and mental toughness,” head coach Randal Betten said. “He’s a good complementary guy to (the pitchers).”
Leyva pitched 54.1 innings this season and struck out 40 batters, according to the CCAA. In the game against Westmont, Leyva set a season-high of eight strikeouts while only allowing one walk and a single in the first inning.
Betten said Leyva is mentally and physically ready to compete at a high level.
“They’ve been doing this six to eight months now of monotonous repetition of day after day of defining those skill sets and putting them to fruition out on the baseball field when it comes to time to compete,” Betten said. “He’s done a great job of establishing himself as that guy.”
Betten mentioned that Leyva is more of a quiet leader, who does his own thing and leads by example.
However, outfielder Tyler Blade describes Leyva as a jokester and a good person to hang out with outside the field.
Blade added Leyva provides consistency every time he goes to the field to pitch, especially during the Sunday games. Whether the outing is good or bad, Leyva is guaranteed to provide six quality innings.
“When it comes to being a baseball player, he’s super ultra focused on being the best that he can be each day,” Blade said.
He and his teammates talked about the game plan, as well as how they’re feeling. The communication allowed the team to push each other even more, which Leyva said definitely helped this year.
Ever since he first felt the stitching of a baseball at the age of 3, part of Leyva’s motivation to play has to do with the fact that he has fun playing the game.
“When I was born, my family was already into baseball,” Leyva said. “So right away I was introduced to (baseball). I liked it, so I kept going.”
Leyva drew inspiration from his favorite players, most notably former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw. Leyva said watching Kershaw on television is the reason he learned how to pitch in the first place, especially because he mimicked everything Kershaw does.
Leyva, a liberal studies student, notes that completing schoolwork promptly is crucial to fit in workouts for the day.
Leyva said all the work for athletics can be tough, but it must be done.
“Just keep going and push yourself. You could always control how much effort you put into the stuff you do,” Leyva said.
Feature image courtesy of the CPP Athletics
