TEMPE, ARIZ. ¾ This is one trip that Cal Poly Pomona’s baseball team probably won’t soon forget.
The Broncos will be facing CCAA foe Grand Canyon in a four-game series beginning on Friday, but they have themselves quite a matchup on Thursday before even getting to Phoenix.
Cal Poly Pomona will be facing the Anaheim Angels Thursday afternoon in Tempe in a seven-inning exhibition contest expected to start at 12:30 p.m. The Broncos will be getting the full Major League Baseball treatment, too. Scheduled to throw for the Angels are Aaron Sele and Scott Schoenweis, who figure to be two of the top pitchers in the Angels’ rotation.
As you might expect, the Bronco players can’t wait for this opportunity.
“It’s probably an experience 90 percent of guys who play baseball will never get the chance to do,” said Cal Poly Pomona infielder Benny Winslow (Jr., Tucson, Az, Cuesta College). “It’s exciting to play against them. It’s the experience of a lifetime. They are going to make it like a major league experience for us.”
The fact the Broncos will be seeing established major league stars such as Sele and Schoenweis only makes the opportunity that much more exciting, said Cal Poly Pomona outfielder Brian Ziarnick (Jr., Chino, Fullerton JC).
“I’m very excited; it will be interesting to see how we compare to them,” Ziarnick said. “I’m looking forward to hitting against 92-93 mile per hour pitches. I definitely want to see their starters. You might as well see their best.”
Several people with Cal Poly Pomona connections helped make the game possible. Two years ago, the Broncos were able to watch the Angels take batting practice thanks to an arrangement with Darrell Miller, a former Bronco baseball star who was working with the organization at the time. Last season, Grand Canyon and Cal Poly Pomona played its series in Pomona so a return engagement wasn’t possible.
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This fall, when the CCAA schedule came out, Ashman and Angels’ Head Athletic Trainer Ned Bergert, who is a part-time professor at Cal Poly Pomona, talked a little bit about how it would be nice if the Broncos could meet the Angels in an exhibition game. Bergert suggested that Ashman call Mike Scioscia about the possibility. Ashman then called Angels’ Vice-President of Communications Tim Mead, who is a Cal Poly Pomona alum, and he checked it out with Scioscia and the exhibition game became a reality.
“It’s coming at a good time for us because we were a little down after the series with Cal State San Bernardino,” Ashman said. “A lot of the new guys are hitting the wall a little bit. I think this is going to reinvigorate them physically and mentally. Odds are most of these guys are never going to play in the major leagues. Thirty years down the road, they can say they played against the Angels. They’ll be facing Aaron Sele, the winningest pitcher in the American League for the past five years and one of the best pitchers in baseball.”
Ashman, who has pitched batting practice for the Angels the past two summers, said a visit to the Angels’ spring training facility two years ago helped turn his struggling ballclub around. The Broncos, who are 10-5-1 overall and 5-3 in the CCAA, aren’t struggling this season, but Ashman hopes for a similar bounce this year.
“I know how much fun it is for me to go down and pitch batting practice,” Ashman said. “It’s probably going to be ten times as much fun for these guys. This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing for most of them. They’ll get to experience what it is like to be a major leaguer for a day.”
Andrew Perkins (Jr., Diamond Bar, Diamond Bar HS) will be the starter for Cal Poly Pomona and Ashman said he’s going to try to use as many of his players as he can.
“We’ll try to get as many of these guys as we can in there, at least to get an at bat,” Ashman said.
His players can’t wait.
“We’ve been especially excited this week. Every night when we’re watching T.V., we’ve been talking about how cool it’s going to be to see the best players in the world,” Winslow said. “And then to get to play against them, that’s real exciting. I grew up going to spring training. Being on the same field, though, is a totally different ballgame.”
One, of course, the Broncos are looking forward to playing.