The late Al McGuire, who made his mark as the Marquette men's basketball coach, said the best thing about freshmen is they become sophomores.
Douglas High graduate Austin Graham sure hopes that axiom is true this season as he heads into his sophomore year with the University of Nevada baseball team. Not that Graham had that bad of a year as a freshman.
Graham filled in nicely last year as a part-time starter in an unfamiliar position - left field - helping out the Wolf Pack when their outfield was depleted. Graham was also on a hot streak during the middle of the season and finished with representative stats, especially for a freshman: .258 average (17-for-66), 5 home runs, four doubles, 17 RBI and a .545 slugging percentage.
Graham, though, admittedly had an up and down year in which he got off to a slow start and didn't finish that strong. That's to be expected for a freshman. But not for Graham.
He hopes to be much more consistent this year as a sophomore. Among other local players on this year's Wolf Pack team are Dayton High graduate, Matt Bowman, a freshman, and Galena High graduate Warren Whitley, a redshirt freshman.
The right-handed Graham is expected to compete for the starting designated hitter position and should back up Ben Mummy at first base. Nevada has much more depth in the outfield, so Graham shouldn't have to play any in left field this year.
"We have an abundance of outfielders this year," Graham said. "As of right now I don't think I'll be playing outfield."
"I kind of started out bad and ended bad," Graham also said about last year. "It wasn't as good as I would have liked it. It was way too up and down.
"It started down, got up and went right back down again. I expected to play better than I did. Hopefully I can change that this year."
Bowman is a preferred walk-on, meaning he didn't have to try out for the team. He and Whitley, who redshirted last year, are effectively in the same situation. Whitley has been working at second base, shortstop and third base.
Bowman played shortstop at Dayton, but is projected to play second base in college. He's also working at third base. It figures that Bowman and Whitley will be backup infielders this year, looking for as much playing time as possible. Both can also be used as pinch runners.
For Graham, Bowman, Whitley and all the Nevada infielders, practicing infield so far hasn't been easy. The Peccole Park field is still covered with snow, so Nevada's infieders have had to practice on a makeshift infield on the campus intramural field.
Nevada received its first live game action with a couple of intrasquad scrimmages on Saturday. Despite the hardships, Graham, Bowman and Whitley all said the team will be ready when it opens the season on Feb. 4 with a three-game series against Pacific.
The 5-8 Bowman has already bulked up 10 pounds to 180 since arriving at Nevada. "I felt I did all right," said Bowman about his performance in the fall. "I started off really well. I'm not satisfied with how I did in the fall.
"I think I should see some playing time and just contribute to the team as much as I can. I'll just do what's expected of me."
Bowman said his obvious goal is to eventually earn a scholarship. He's also obviously marked Feb. 18-20 on his calendar, because that's when Nevada will host UNLV in a three-game series. Bowman's cousin, Carson High graduate Willie Bowman, is a freshman infielder with the Rebels.
"That will be a lot of fun," Matt Bowman said. "There will be a lot of Bowmans in the stands, that's for sure. That's all our families talk about."
So far, there hasn't been any trash talking between him and Willie, Matt said. "Between us it's never really been like that surprisingly," Matt said.
Whitley said he was glad he used last year to redshirt. "It was a learning experience to get used to the speed of the game," said Whitley about adjusting to college.
He said he doesn't know when his chance will come for more playing time, but when it does, he'll be ready. "Whenever the time comes I just want to be ready to step up," Whitley said.
Whitley said he's also glad he made the decision to attend Nevada. "I love the school, Iove the program," he said. "I've very comfortable. One of the main reasons to stay here is to be close to family."
Among others at Nevada is 2003 Carson High graduate Owen Brolsma, a relief pitcher, who's recovering from Tommy John surgery and will redshirt this year.
LOCAL JC PLAYERS
The list of locals playing baseball at California community colleges continues to grow. They include Carson High graduates and brothers Aaron and Ryan Henry, who are playing at Lassen. Both had an impressive fall at Lassen and both should see plenty of action this season.
Ryan, a right-handed pitcher, is a redshirt freshman after redshirting last year at Division II Western Oregon. Aaron, who graduated from Carson last year , is projected to be Lassen's centerfielder and No. 3 hitter.
Lassen will open in the College of Sequoias Tournament in Visalia, Calif. on Feb. 4. Lassen will play COS, Ohlone, and Bakersfield, which features another Carson graduate, pitcher Jarrod Bone.
The following weekend, Lassen will play in a tournament at American River where it will face, American River, Gavilan and Sierra College. Among the players on Sierra's roster is Rod Scurry, a Galena graduate.
Yuba has two Carson High players on its roster: 2003 graduate Neil Holmes and 2004 graduate Eric Melendez. Holmes is coming off a solid year last season in which he was Yuba's starting shortstop and Melendez, a left-hander now focusing strictly on pitching, is coming off an impressive fall.
Other Carson graduates, all sophomores, who should figure prominently in their programs this year are infielders Carl Winter at Modesto and Rodney Black at Cerro Coso and catcher-utility player Tony Teixeira at Cerro Coso. Teixeira is coming off an outstanding season in which he earn all-conference honors at Cerro Coso.
Another Carson graduate, freshman Cameron Leck, is coming off an impressive fall at San Mateo, and should see considerable playing time at first base.
Feather River will also be well-represented by this area: Among the players on Feather River's roster are sophomore first baseman Cal Lewis of Douglas, a returning starter, pitchers Tommy Hoyle of Douglas and Rich Cummins of Galena, infielder Tony Selden of Fernley and redshirt freshman infielder Jon Teeter of Carson.
Charles Whisnand is the Nevada Appeal Sports Editor. Contact him at cwhisnand@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1214.
