By: Brett Franchino

TOKYO, JPN - Charger baseball alum, Alon Leichman ('13), was selected to Team Israel for this year's Tokyo Olympics. Leichman pitched for the Chargers in 2011-2013 seasons before moving on to become a scholar athlete at UC San Diego. 

Alon Leichman has appeared in one game for Team Israel on July 30th when he pitched against the United States. Leichman tossed the eighth inning for Israel giving up one run on zero hits as the U.S. defeated Israel, 8-1. Team Israel will be back in action on August 3rd against the Dominican Republic for the fifth and final game of the opening round. 

Leichman has both a unique and inspiring path to the Olympics as he served in the Israeli military for three years before putting on a Cypress jersey. In 2011, Alon was given clearance to leave the Army and join the Cypress baseball program. Alon earned the closing role for the Chargers his freshman year, but his season was cut short when his elbow popped in his first appearance of the season. Leichman would need season ending Tommy John surgery before his 2012 campaign. Leichman pitched 11.1 innings for Cypress in 2012 and struggled with an ERA of 7.94. After pitching for the Menlo Park Legends in the summer of 2012, Alon was motivated for his sophomore season with the Chargers. Leichman continued his role out of the bullpen for Cypress as he dominated 31.2 innings with an ERA of 1.42.

The Chargers had their backs against the wall during their 2013 State Championship run when then Head Coach, Scott Pickler, needed a spot start from a reliever in a crucial CCCAA Super Regional game. Coach Pickler knew Leichman was the man for the job as he said, "He had the most courage of anybody, and he was the guy I had faith in giving the ball to, because he would compete." Compete is exactly what Alon did in his first career start, throwing a complete-game shutout and pushing the Chargers to advance to the State Finals where they went on to sweep the series and become the 2013 CCCAA State Champions.

Leichman would go on to pitch at UC San Diego for three seasons before becoming an Assistant Coach and working under Scott Pickler and the Y-D Red Sox in the Cape Cod League. Leichman has continued his coaching career with the Seattle Mariners, where he is the pitching coach for the Double-A affiliate Arkansas Travelers.

We wish Alon Leichman luck through the rest of the Olympics as well as in his professional coaching career. 

Stay connected with the Chargers through social media. Follow Cypress College Athletics on Twitter @CypressChargers. Check in with the Chargers on Facebook/CypressChargers and on Instagram @CypressChargers.