Paraclete Builds Its Foundation on Brownstone

LANCASTER — Agua Dulce, an unincorporated town of 2,100 people nestled between the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys, is a throwback to the Old West.

The community is filled with ranches, horse trails and is home to several stunt actors. Its call to fame was being one of gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel’s many hideaways during the 1930s and ‘40s.

But the only firepower coming out of town nowadays is generated by the baseball bats of brothers David and Jason Brown, who commute 30 minutes to Paraclete High in Lancaster every school day.

The Browns have helped launch Paraclete to a 19-1 record and have taken turns carving up opposing teams.

David, a junior first baseman, is batting .589 with 39 runs batted in and 14 doubles. Jason, a sophomore pitcher, is batting .556 and is 6-1 with a 1.05 earned-run average.

The big-time players don’t mind living in a small town.

“A lot of people would think I don’t like it, but I love living here,” Jason said. “It’s kind of isolated and if you want to be alone, you can be.”

There is, however, one major problem.

“We’re half an hour from the nearest batting cage,” Jason said.

Being on the same team is a new concept for the Browns, who sometimes have been rivals on the field.

The brothers, who set several batting records at Sierra Pony League in Acton, still flash their statistics at each other, but now the bottom-line statistic--a Paraclete victory--is the most important.

“We’ve always put a lot of pressure on each other competitively, but it’s great to not try to outdo each other all the time and to work together,” Jason said.

The competitive athletic spirit is part of their makeup. Their father, Ken, won the 1968 City Section golf championship as a senior at Reseda High and attended Arizona on a scholarship.

He and his wife, Janice, work at a printing company in Agua Dulce, where they have lived since the early 1970s.

Vasquez is the high school closest to Agua Dulce, but David wanted to attend Hart High in Newhall because of its strong baseball tradition.

His district transfer request was rejected because the Browns did not change residences. David opted to travel to Paraclete, a small Catholic school. The brothers are Jewish.

“I’m probably the only Jewish guy that knows more about Catholicism than his own faith,” David said. “It’s fine, though. It’s a good experience.”

David, who attends temple monthly with his family, lists his bar mitzvah four years ago as one of his most memorable events.

“It was a relief,” he said. “After years of studying the language and prayers, it was a relief to get up in front of everybody and show it off. Plus I got some nice money.”

He hopes to rake in even more money on the basketball cards he bought around the time of his bar mitzvah, especially the one of a certain megastar.

“I knew Shaq would be a breakthrough player,” he said of the Lakers’ Shaquille O’Neal.

David is the quieter of the brothers, but he’s the one with a nickname: “Downtown.”

He picked up the moniker as a forward on the basketball team, after he started making three-point shots in the final few games of the season.

“I hit a few shots and everybody was amazed,” he said. “It was more of a joke, but it kind of stuck.”

Jason wasn’t expected to contribute to the baseball team as much as he has.

“A lot of that [success] has been expected of the other kids, but Jason’s been a surprise because he was on the JV team last year,” Coach Steve Hagerty said.

“He kind of sneaks up on people. He doesn’t look like that big guy on the hill that’s going to rip you apart, but the next thing you know, it’s over.”

Jason, a straight-A student who skipped third grade, also gets pretty good marks off the field.

His goal is to attend Stanford and become a medical researcher to honor his paternal grandfather, Dan, who was stricken with Alzheimer’s disease four years ago.

“I felt like there was nothing I could do for him,” Jason said. “I want to be able to help people like that.”

Jason has another less pressing but more current wish.

“Nobody really pays attention to the baseball program at Paraclete,” he said. “I hope that the spirit will start to come.”