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sports:
baseball
Right-hander provides
presence on the mound
By Ben Dimapindan
On-line Forty-Niner
Even the biggest
snowballs start from a tiny clump of snow. But, as that clump
picks up momentum down a hill, it gets bigger, faster, stronger
and nearly unstoppable.
Long Beach State
pitcher, junior Matt Paz, is very familiar with the snowball
story, because it closely resembles his recent surge from
the mound. Similar to a snowball, Paz's pitching started
off slow, but steadily picked up speed until his throws turned
into darts, which have struck out 23 batters already this
season.
"I've been
more disciplined on the mound, and I got rolling," Paz
said.
Highly recruited
coming out of Tokay High School in Stockton, the right-handed
Paz chose to play for the Dirtbags in hopes of playing in
the College World Series. He also hopes to someday be drafted
by a major league organization.
In 1999, after
polishing his pitching in the Alaska League, one of the country's
top summer baseball leagues for collegiate players, Paz continued
to work hard and improve each year.
"I needed
to go and get experience," Paz said. "I needed to
pitch, so I went to Alaska, and I really did well. It helped
me out last year to step up and be a starter."
Paz began to demonstrate
his potential last year, when he tallied a number of accolades
and strong performances including Big West Conference Player
of the Week. Paz also struck out a career-high 10 batters
in one game against Cal Poly last season and was named a "Player
to Watch" by Collegiate Baseball.
"When Matt
takes the field, the whole team has confidence behind him
because he's been here three years," teammate Bryan Kennedy
said. The team just knows he's going to give it his best and
take charge when he's on the hill."
However, the start
of the 2001 baseball season held uncharacteristically lackluster
performances by Paz until the conclusion of the Kia Baseball
Bash earlier this month.
In that tournament,
Paz pitched poorly as the Dirtbags faced Cal State Fullerton,
a game that marked a defining moment for Paz to put the work
and effort back into his pitching.
"After Fullerton,
I got the win, but I wasn't pitching as well as I could have,"
Paz said. "That basically was the turning point. I worked
in the bullpen. Coach Snow told me 'Paz, you're going to put
yourself out of the rotation if you don't step it up.'"
Lately, Paz has
more than just stepped it up ? he has been on a tear from
the mound. Paz has punished the last few opposing teams with
a flurry of pitches.
Paz's revitalized
pitching culminated in two starts against the University of
San Diego and Purdue University.
In those two games
combined, Paz pitched a total of 16 1/3 innings, allowed only
three runs on 12 hits, while striking out seven opposing batters.
"He's strung
together some good outings. We've spent a lot of time working
on him and his problems for him earlier in the year,"
Head Coach Dave Snow said. "When he pitches, our
team has a sense that he's going to go out and compete, throw
strikes, and gives us a chance every time he goes out there."
As the numbers
stand for Paz right now, he has a 4-4 record with a 4.02 ERA.
But, if his improvement thus far is any indication of where
Paz is headed, he should continue to propel his game and statistics
throughout the rest of the season.
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