College World Series: Brown becomes second Rancho Bernardo High grad to win CWS title

By Michael Bower

Bobby Brown likely could have earned a baseball scholarship to a smaller school. But he only had one thing on his mind while at Rancho Bernardo High — playing for the University of Arizona.

Rancho Bernardo High graduate Bobby Brown played a key role in helping the University of Arizona win the NCAA title. Photo by J&L.

And he was going to do whatever it took to make it happen.

“He had a real determination to go to Arizona,” Rancho Bernardo baseball coach Sam Blalock said. “He went to their camp and I remember asking him if they are going to give him any scholarship money. He said, ‘no, but they are going to let me play on the team as a walk-on.’”

Walk-ons that try to make a team the caliber of Arizona usually end up out of baseball pretty quickly. But not Brown. He redshirted his freshman season in 2008 and stuck it out through another three years of ups and downs. Now the 2007 Rancho Bernardo grad is a national champion.

Arizona put the finishing touches on a perfect showing at the College World Series with a 4-1 victory over South Carolina in the championship game Monday night.

Brown, who became the second Rancho Bernardo High grad to win an NCAA baseball title (Brandon Burke won the title with Fresno State in 2008), was a huge reason why the Wildcats were able to capture their first national championship since 1986 and fourth in school history.

The designated hitter put together a phenomenal season in his fifth year with the program. He was named to the Pac-12 All Conference team after hitting a career-best .353. He was fifth in the Pac-12 in slugging percentage (.560) and he helped lead the Wildcats to their first co-conference championship in 20 years.

“He has had just a great year,” Blalock said. “It is really a neat story to see a kid so determined to reach his goal and then do it. He had plenty of reasons to bail out, but he stuck with it.”

Related posts:

1. Alumni Report: RB High graduate Brown leads Arizona to CWS Regional; Poway graduate Steele in softball CWS
2. Prep baseball: Rancho Bernardo High drops extra-inning thriller to LCC in title game

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Posted by Michael Bower on Jun 22 2012. Filed under Community, Featured Story, High School, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry