Sept. 27, 2026 10:41 AM PT

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Andres Sepulveda, the baseball coach at Van Nuys High since the 2022 season, said he was dismissed this past week after the school administration determined a batting cage had been built during the summer by alumni and others without being approved.

He said he is being barred from ever coaching in the Los Angeles Unified School District again because a student was injured in building the batting cage, an allegation he denies and is appealing.

Sepulveda said alumni donated money during the summer that was used in building the cage. “It happened so fast and there was no [administrator] on campus,” he said.

The field has been off limits to use for weeks since the school began an investigation last month. Sepulveda, a Van Nuys alumnus who teaches P.E. at a local middle school, is concerned along with baseball parents about whether there will be a season in 2027.

LAUSD has not yet responded to a Times request for comment sent on Friday.

Sepulveda said the softball program also is being looked at because of the addition of a new safety fence that was not authorized and was demolished this past week. Also concrete put in behind the softball bleachers to prevent weeds from growing will need to be replaced along with dugouts and a concession stand that was built in 2014.

“There is a lack of support,” Sepulveda said of the school administration.

Van Nuys alumni include Hall of Famer Don Drysdale.

This is not the first time a coach in LAUSD has gotten into trouble trying to improve a facility, with the district issuing disciplinary action and demolishing the improvement because it was not authorized.

It’s been a controversial fall for baseball coaches in the City Section. Sun Valley Poly dismissed its recently hired new coach, and the school is still looking for its fourth coach in a year’s time. Banning’s baseball coach is no longer with the program. El Camino Real put coach Josh Lienhard on administrative leave after questions arose why his CPR and first-aid cards were not listed in the Red Cross database.

Lienhard has since been reinstated.