SAN ANTONIO – The sounds of baseball are back at Palo Alto College.
Some of the best baseball players in San Antonio and beyond have found a home on the South Side thanks to the revival of Palo Alto College baseball after a three-year hiatus.
Head coach David Brien took the demands of reviving PAC baseball to heart from the very beginning.
Brien focused his recruiting on young men already rooted in the community who wanted a chance to stay home, play college ball and earn a degree tuition-free through AlamoPROMISE.
“These are all guys that were passed up or didn’t get any eyes at all,” Palominos freshman outfielder and Lee High School alum John Crowe said. “Being able to see the guys that came out of some of the high schools that I was around or maybe even been at is just incredible.”
With no junior college baseball program in the San Antonio area, Brien saw an opportunity to not just restart a team, but build something lasting for the South Side.
“The fact that there’s no junior college baseball programs within over 200 miles,” said Brien, “for them to, in their minds, come together and almost create a San Antonio All-Star team in college is something that they really gravitated towards.”
And never did the players imagine what the return of PAC baseball would mean to the surrounding community.
“I wear my Palo Alto gear here on the South Side and I get stopped like, ‘Man you’re a part of the baseball team, best of luck to you, we’re cheering for you.’ So, now we’re getting the community behind us. It means a lot,” said Palominos sophomore outfielder Maddox Prentice.
“The other day I was at a gas station in my Palo Alto jersey, and I got stopped by somebody. ... He was like, ‘They have a baseball team again?’ And I was like, ‘That’s right we do,’” added Crowe.
Now, the South Side JUCO squad wants to create their own legacy.
“At first people might doubt, people might say ‘That’s just those guys at Palo Alto on the South Side of San Antonio,’” said Prentice.
But PAC’s early results speak for themselves. The Palominos finished the fall 5-0 — facing developmental teams across NAIA, Division II and Division III.
“I knew the potential was there,” Brien said. “I know it surprised them. In our first legit game, we went and played UH-Victoria. We were ahead after three innings and I just saw their posture change, the look on their faces, the confidence was palpable, you could literally just see it in the way they stood.”
PAC happily calls SA Five Diamonds Park home for now, but the dream is to one day have their own ballpark.
“Get a big ol’ stadium, that’s what I would love to see, and become some sort of big deal and maybe turn into a four-year instead of a two-year,” said Crowe.
“Our athletic director, Matt (Gillette), is doing a great job with what he’s doing. I see us in five to 10 years blowing up and being a pipeline like a San Jacinto College or a Blinn (College),” added Prentice.
The Palominos will resume their schedule on Saturday, weather permitting, when they host Trinity’s club team.
Read also: