ORANGE, Calif. (KABC) — The starting pitchers in Game 5 of the World Series Wednesday in New York are expected to be a rematch of Game 1, Jack Flaherty for the Dodgers and Gerrit Cole for New York.

Both are residents of Southern California.

Cole grew up in Orange County and is considered one of the best weapons in the game, with a 2023 AL Cy Young award and season strikeout records for the Astros and Yankees.

Even though he’s playing against the Dodgers, he still has a lot of fans at his alma mater, Orange Lutheran High School.

“To be able to follow Gerrit and the path he’s taken and where he is today, I absolutely support him and the Yankees,” said Erin Shevlin, the school’s academic baseball advisor.

He keeps in touch with the school. A video from 2023 shows the former Lancer visiting campus, where he meets his old teachers before being inducted into the school’s hall of fame.

Jeannie Mooney, his former senior year art teacher, becomes emotional seeing how far her former student has come as she shows off a vase the ace made all those years ago.

She remembers him making a big decision at the time: A Yankees fan as a kid, he was drafted by the team out of high school but had to consider whether to attend UCLA instead.

He ultimately chose the university path.

“I was really proud of him because it would be such a draw for a high schooler to play in the big leagues,” Ms. Mooney said. “And it just showed that he respected his parents, really listened to their advice and thought about the long plan for his life, not the short-term plan.”

Cole would eventually end up with the Yankees, but only after stints with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros.

And he remains a source of inspiration for the players on the school team.

“Right now he’s actually my favorite player in the MLB,” said Orange Lutheran pitcher Zach Reiland. “I really look up to him and as a pitcher I can in a way take things from him and learn from his mentality.”

Another memento from the school is a soft ball that could be one of the first items Cole ever signed. His math teacher says he was sitting there in class playing with the ball. Finally she told him, go ahead and sign it because one day you will be famous.

“Knowing that a Lancer has the opportunity to play for a World Series is something all of our guys are super excited about,” said head baseball coach RJ Farrell.