Gaels land first recruit for ’14 in Evan Fitzner

The Saint Mary’s Gaels have landed their first recruit for the 2014-2015 season, when they received a verbal commitment from heavily recruited 6’10’’ power forward Evan Fitzner.

The commitment of the three-star recruit from Francis W. Parker School came unexpectedly for the Gaels as he had trimmed down his list of schools and Saint Mary’s did not appear. Other schools had offered Fitzner included Washington, Arizona State, Boston College, California, New Mexico, Colorado and USC just to name a few.

This is a big time commitment for the Gaels as next season they will lose 6’11 center Matt Hodgeson to graduation and had already lost power forward Chris Reyes this year who transferred out earlier this season. Fitzner is known more for his shooting ability at the stretch-4 position rather than interior play, but none-the-less should get good minutes next season in his first year as a Gael.

Randy Bennett will still need to recruit a true center for Saint Mary’s for the 2014-2015 season as they will lose a total of five seniors to graduation.