by: Brandon Rebboah
With countless collegiate summer leagues nationally, players spend their summers playing with teams comprised of college players from around the country. Most of the Broncos are somewhere playing in a summer league. With players all over the country, Broncos are in the Northwoods League, Texas Collegiate Baseball League, the Hawaii Collegiate Baseball League, Alaskan Baseball League, Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League, California Collegiate League and many more. The "All Summer Long" Series follows the Broncos on their summer experiences.
SANTA CLARA, Calif.- Rising-senior Paul Twining has been hard at work this summer preparing for his fourth year in a Santa Clara uniform. The hard-throwing right-handed pitcher is playing his summer baseball for the San Luis Obispo Blues of the California Collegiate League.
Twining is having solid summer for the Blues. He has made 8 appearances, including a start, while picking up two saves for San Luis Obispo. He is working to improve his velocity for the 2012 season.
"I'm working on gaining strength," said Twining. "I have also been working on mentally gaining as much knowledge from my head coach and pitching coach this summer."
Twining, a student of the game, has been soaking up tips from the Blues pitching coach, Anthony Pannone, who spent five years in the San Francisco Giant's farm system.
"Picking his brain for all he learned [in] his professional experiences is really helpful," said Twining.
Like most collegiate summer leagues, the Blues put their players with host families who live in the area. Twining and two other players live in his host family's guest house. Both teammates that he is living with play outfield at the University Missouri-Columbia.
The California Collegiate league is home to other WCC players, including a second who is also playing for the San Luis Obispo Blues. Twining is playing with an incoming freshman who will be playing for the University of San Diego.
The Blues recently played the Menlo Park Legends, the summer team of Twining's fellow Santa Clara bullpen mate, Michael Couch. Twining and his San Luis Obispo team traveled north to Menlo Park to play Couch and the Legends last week.
"It was great to see him and catch up," added Twining. "We spent some time discussing how excited we were to hear about Santa Clara's new head coach, Dan O'Brien."
Twining, a Washington native, made 18 appearances for the Broncos in his junior campaign. He ended the year with a record of 1-1, pitching 25.1 innings while striking out 14 batters and walking three.
Follow Twining and his summer experiences with the San Luis Obispo Blues on the team's official website.