Goldstein Thrown a Curve : Former Corona del Mar Pitcher Sticks It Out at Boston University Program

When Matt Goldstein graduated from Corona del Mar High, he had no illusions about a full ride . . . or a half ride or a partial ride or enough financial assistance to pay for a cab ride.

“There wasn’t anybody even looking at me,” said Goldstein, who was 4-7 in two years as a pitcher on the Sea King baseball team.

But Goldstein loved baseball. He loved to pitch. He loved to watch. He loved everything about the game. So, if he couldn’t get a ride, Goldstein was determined to walk on somewhere.

And, when he and his dad emerged from a subway station in downtown Boston, he figured he had found a home. To his left, Fenway Park. To his right, Boston University.

“For a kid who loves baseball as much as Matt does, there really wasn’t much reason to visit anywhere else,” his father, Howard, said.

Now, four years later, Goldstein has reason to wish he kept looking. The facility across the street maybe oozing tradition, but Boston University’s baseball program is sinking in the ooze.

The Terriers are 33-147 since Goldstein arrived and 2-16 this season. But the walk-on is the ace of the staff.

Goldstein set a school record with 14 strikeouts in a 13-4 triumph over Merrimack last month. He’s 1-4 this season, but the Terriers have scored a total of two runs in his three defeats.

“Without Matty, we’d be in the Atlantic Ocean,” Coach Bill Mahoney says.

But is this a program on solid ground?

The baseball team has one scholarship. The recipient, junior shortstop Dan Donato, missed the first third of the season because he plays for the Terrier hockey team, which went to NCAA Division I final four, by the way.

They don’t have a home field--Goldstein knew that--but they don’t even have a practice field.

“Facilities? They’re horrible, absolutely awful,” he said. “Our winter facility is an armory, well, actually half of an armory. And the the temperature inside is the same as it is outdoors. The idea in the winter is to be indoors where it’s warm so you can keep your arm loose and not hurt yourself. And it’s 35 degrees in there.

“Even when it’s warm, we bounce around local parks and occasionally get a high school field, but none of them are any good, either.”

A broadcast journalism major, Goldstein says he likes the school and is now attached to the city. He hasn’t lost his love for the game, either, but all that losing can wear on the most enthusiastic of souls.

“I have my moments when I say, ‘This is absolutely awful,’ and I just want to chuck it. But I love baseball too much to quit.

“If I had known what I was getting myself into, I think I would have tried to go somewhere with a little more tradition, tried to make it as a walk-on at a school that had a chance to win, that had a practice facility, maybe one with a pitching coach.”

Of course, there’s still the question of whether walk-on Matt Goldstein would have been shown the door before he could have shown what he could do.

If his stats were unimpressive, his stature was, well, laughable.

“Certainly, if you saw Matt Goldstein walk on a baseball field four years ago, you probably would have laughed,” Mahoney said. “He wasn’t exactly the prototype baseball player. He was skinny, you know, round shoulders. He didn’t look like a big strong pitcher.

“But he was one of the those kids who just wouldn’t go away. As a freshman, I’d put him out there and you say to yourself, ‘Well, he’ll fail this time,’ and ‘he’ll fail this time,’ and, ‘he’s bound to fail this time.’ But every time the pressure was on, he’d come through.

“You’d look at him and say, ‘Is this the same kid? Is he just lucky?’ But he proved himself, and he was a very good pitcher by the end of his freshman year.”

Howard Goldstein says his son has to rely on “little personal victories” to keep his sanity, such as the time he held Miami scoreless for three innings as a freshman.

“I was so excited and proud of myself,” Goldstein said. “I just wanted to do good and be part of the team. Of course I came in in the middle of a game that we ended up losing, 25-1.”

Mahoney had his doubts the first time he saw him, but he now believes Goldstein could pitch for any college team in the country.

“We evaluated this,” Mahoney said. “We looked at Miami’s staff, the caliber of team that would go to the College World Series, and he could definitely make their team now. He wouldn’t be No. 1, of course, he’d probably be their fifth- or sixth-best pitcher.”

Goldstein isn’t wowing the scouts with radar-gun readings or biting breaking pitches, but he’s keeping opposing batters off the basepaths.

“He’s become a pitcher,” Mahoney said. “He doesn’t throw anything special, but he has nice movement and great location. He’s got a great changeup, and he’s really good at sizing up a hitter and finding their weaknesses.

“He’s got some velocity, but . . . OK, I’ll be honest. He can’t break a pane of glass. But he’s a winner.”

A winner? When you wear a Boston University baseball uniform, it’s a little tough to think of yourself in those terms.

“Every year we come out in the fall and say, ‘Hey, last year was horrible. Let’s do something to change things around,’ ” Goldstein said. “But we just haven’t been able to.”

His father says there are valuable lessons to be learned from the experience, but Goldstein thinks he’s piled up enough points for perseverance in the face of adversity to last a lifetime.

“It tends not to be a lot of fun,” Goldstein said. “You try to keep your hopes up and your spirits up, but it’s difficult. In the beginning, I was hoping we would be improving and I would be in on the start of building something good.

“I certainly haven’t enjoyed losing, and I’m not sure how much you can learn from it. It’s so frustrating. I never feel good if I lose a game, even if the score is 1-0 and they scored on three errors.

“I will say this: Some of the games that I have won, it’s been an absolutely terrific feeling. I guess all the losing makes the winning that much better.”

There is one perk to pitching at Boston University. Wednesday, Goldstein will take the mound at Fenway Park in the opening round of the Beanpot Tournament, an annual round-robin affair among Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern and Harvard for city bragging rights.

“We’ve taken the aluminum medal, that’s for last place, four years in a row,” Mahoney said. “We’re counting on Matty. That’s a really big game for us.”

Goldstein figures to hold the Harvard batters at bay, but he isn’t going to be counting on much support.

“I don’t know what it is, maybe the guys know I’m going to pitch pretty well and they relax a little,” he said. “But I’m not going to worry about it. Just stepping out on that field is a wonderful high.”

Sort of like the feeling he had that day he popped up out of the subway into the shadow of Fenway Park.

It might very well be the last time he pitches from a major league mound, but Goldstein isn’t giving up on a baseball career.

“I’m going to look into some of the teams in Europe,” he said. “My dad has a friend who played over there, and they’ve got some leagues like they do in basketball, where different towns sponsor teams.

“I just love the game so much, I’d do anything to play a couple more years before I have to go out and go to work in the real world.”