| 30 June 2011
For the second week in a row, my good friend and Red Sox minor leaguer Mike McCarthy is keeping a journal for Aaron Torres Sports.
Last week, Mike discussed his unique route from under-recruited pitcher with no college interest, to a Division I roster, and how even as an ineligible transfer he still contributed to the team. This week, he takes us behind the scenes of this past season, as his Cal-State Bakersfield club (which started its baseball program only three years ago), went on to beat the eventual National Champion South Carolina Gamecocks, and how he personally outdueled the eventual No. 1 pick in the 2011 MLB Draft, UCLA’s Gerrit Cole.
Also, be sure to check back next week, when Mike takes us through the thrill of getting drafted, and the first few weeks of his fulfilling his dream as a professional baseball player.
Enjoy.
After sitting out the first year at CSUB I was extremely excited for our second season to begin. I knew we would be much better and I was prepared to make an impact on the field.
The coaching staff sent me to Fairbanks, AK to play for the Alaska Goldpanners along with three other players from our team. Ironically enough, we were the four players drafted this year in the 2011 MLB Draft. Fairbanks is actually where my story with Aaron begins but, as you can see, it does not end there. I am sure Aaron and I will continue to be friends long into the future.
After a frustrating summer in which I didn’t perform very well, I went back to Bakersfield and CSUB with a little extra intensity. We had a long but beneficial fall and winter then got rolling on the season. We had a few big highlights that I'll mention below, but we wrapped up the season going 26-30 and our RPI ended up in the 120's, I believe. While we weren't thrilled about the final results, we understood that to finish in the top half of the nation as a program in only our second year, is amazing. Here are a few highlights from that season:
After going 3-4 against defending National Champions Fresno State in 2009, we went 1-3 in 2010. Our three game series against them saw us surrender three straight late game leads. We played them again later in the year in Fresno and won 13-2. I threw a complete game and struck out 13.
In 2010 we traveled to the University of Arizona in Tuscon, AZ. We went from wonderful 80 degree weather in Bakersfield to mid 90's upon arrival. While it wasn't that hot, it was a huge temperature change for us and we struggled to stay hydrated at times. Still, we beat them on Friday then lost Saturday.
Going into Sunday, our Head Coach (Bill Kernen) told us that if we wanted to put ourselves on the national map and prove all the critics wrong, winning on Sunday would do that. We won 22-5 that day, only finding out later that the University of Arizona head coach was going for his 1,000th win in that very game. We had the honor to deny him of that for one more weekend. He got it the next weekend against Arizona State University.
We had a very good season this past year, but unfortunately just missed the 64 team regionals. We started the season 24-8, including a sweep of University of Washington and big wins over ASU and South Carolina, a team which went on to win the title just a few days ago. Over the next few weeks we went into a bit of a tail spin that we struggled to pull ourselves out of. We went 3-13 over a 16 game stretch and lost some games we really needed to win. Toward the end of the year we were able to pull out of it and get back on track, sweeping Fresno State and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Toward the end of the season we had the opportunity to play UCLA in a weekend series. It was a very good series that gave us an opportunity to play against the eventual No. 1 and No. 3 overall draft picks in the 2011 MLB Draft. On Friday night we got the win over UCLA's Gerritt Cole (the eventual No. 1 pick) 5-1. I threw a two- hitter in that game, which later helped improve my draft stock. Unfortunately we lost the next two games but had proven we were ready to play at the highest level of college baseball.
It was amazing to see one of the smallest rosters in D1 baseball (23), that is also under-funded (7 out of 11+ scholarships) and with no players on the team having ever previously been drafted, proceed to have seven wins against the Top 20 and beat a pitcher who was offered over $4 million by the New York Yankees a few years earlier. We came a long way and wish it could have ended with us making a regional, but either way it was a wonderful run for CSUB and myself.
The reward and gratitude that comes with looking back to three years ago when we had nothing but an empty lot of dirt and barely knew each other’s names, to this year when we ended up ranked No. 58 in RPI (I believe) and we are the cusp of making a regional. It makes you appreciate all that Coach Kernen has done at CSUB and all that he will continue to do in the future with the help from the Athletics Department to continue improving the funding for CSUB Baseball. CSUB will continue to improve and become a national powerhouse in baseball over the next 10 years.
Next week: The draft, my first few weeks in Lowell, MA and pitching in the minor leagues.
Photo Credit: Kevin McCarthy + GoRunners.com
(Feel free to contact Mike or Aaron, by commenting below, or sending an e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . As things stand right now, Mike plans on posting every Wednesday here at AaronTorres-Sports.com.
Also, be sure to follow Aaron @Aaron_Torres and Facebook.com/AaronTorresSports)
