Daily Pilot High School Male Athlete of the Week: Stern helping Eagles fly high
There have been times Spencer Stern wanted to stop playing baseball. Arm issues have plagued the right-hander during his time at Estancia High.
“I had thoughts [of], ‘Is it really worth it?’” Stern said.
Those thoughts crept up in October, four months before the Eagles’ season opener.
Stern said he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow. Instead of undergoing Tommy John surgery, Stern opted for rehab.
The road to recovery meant Stern would miss the first three weeks of his senior season.
“This was supposed to be my big year,” said Stern, who as a junior moved into the No. 2 starting spot. “It was hard to stay focused and try and be a team player, kind of selfish thoughts, like ‘I can’t play. I don’t really care.’ But Coach Nate [Goellrich] kind of helped me with my attitude and trying to get on the right track.”
Goellrich had seen Stern go down this road before when Stern arrived at Estancia as a sophomore. He transferred in from Edison, and coming from a bigger school to a smaller one was not a smooth transition.
One month before the season, Stern quit.
“He had a hard time adjusting to our team rules and our expectations,” Goellrich said. “We hold our kids very accountable here, and I’m not saying Edison doesn’t.”
Stern said he came to Estancia because he began to develop arm problems. He then created his own trouble.
“I was young and dumb, making stupid decisions on my own,” Stern said.
Once the season began, Stern asked if he could come back to the program. Brian Burgess, the junior varsity coach at the time, reached out to Stern.
It was now Stern’s turn to talk to Goellrich. Stern knew he had to change.
Stern said he’s glad to get another chance playing, even though he has missed a lot of time with the Eagles because of arm issues.
The longest outing of the year so far for Stern came last week in an extra-inning affair in the Orange Coast League with Calvary Chapel. He had made only two relief appearances before, going two innings against Santa Ana and two innings against Saddleback. Those games were pretty much decided by the time Stern entered.
When Goellrich brought Stern in last week, there was one out and a runner on first base, and the score was even at 4-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning at Vanguard University. Stern got the first batter out, inducing a groundout, which moved the runner into scoring position.
The next three moves Goellrich called for put Stern in a precarious spot.
“Coach kind of scared me putting two runners on to make the bases loaded. I just didn’t want to blow it,” said Stern, who had to face Calvary Chapel’s Michael Oca. “It like a 13-pitch at-bat. This kid just kept fouling off pitches. It got to the point where [Goellrich] called a curveball, and I was thinking, ‘I don’t throw curveballs.’ But I went up there and threw it as confident as I could, and he swung and missed. It was a huge thrill coming off the mound. You got to trust coach. He knows what he’s doing.”
Stern found himself in another bases-loaded situation in the eighth inning.
The infield played in with one out, and Stern got out of it. He induced two grounders, the first to first baseman Adam Auriemma, who fired home to get the force out, and the second went to Stern, who jogged to first and flipped the ball to Auriemma.
After each inning, Goellrich checked on Stern, making sure he was OK.
“I just wanted to finish it out,” said Stern, knowing he was on a pitch count of 50.
He and Estancia closed the game out with a bang. He helped Estancia score six runs in the top of the 10th inning, breaking the game open with a two-run double.
Stern returned to the mound in the bottom half of the inning, and it was such a quick one that to him it felt as though he retired the side in order. Estancia won, 10-4, and Stern earned his first victory, striking out two, walking one and allowing two hits in 3 2/3 innings.
“Those are the games that make me realize how much I love baseball. It was the most I had pitched [since the summer],” Stern said. “It was honestly probably like the most exhilarating moments I’ve had on the mound.”
The game marked the first of two straight that went extra innings for Estancia, and each time it prevailed.
Stern and the Eagles took the first Battle for the Bell contest against rival Costa Mesa on Tuesday. They won, 2-1, in nine innings at home to improve to 4-0 in league.
In that one, Stern didn’t celebrate as much as the previous late-inning game. While going to second on a hit-and-run play, he slid into second base and his head collided with the shortstop’s knee. Stern was safe, but he was out of the game. He left to have the trainer evaluate him for a possible concussion.
“I was fine,” said Stern, who saw pinch-runner Henry Flores score the game-winning run with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, when the Mustangs committed an error in the infield. “I didn’t rush … out there. I kind of just walked out at the end and celebrated with my teammates. They were going a little crazy.”
What would make Stern go wild is to get to pitch in the Eagles’ third game against Costa Mesa at Angel Stadium on May 1.
“I’ve been hounding my coach since the beginning of the season, when we found out we were going to playing [Costa Mesa] at Angel Stadium,” said Stern, who has not allowed a run during in 7 2/3 innings of work, and he’s struck out nine and given up three hits. “I’m kind of working toward trying to definitely get the ball that game. I’m in my senior year, and trying to finish out Mesa at Angel Stadium will be huge.”
Spencer Stern
Born: Jan. 8, 1999
Hometown: Costa Mesa
Height: 5-foot-9
Weight: 200 pounds
Sport: Baseball
Year: Senior
Coach: Nate Goellrich
Favorite food: Frozen grapes
Favorite movie: “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby”
Favorite athletic moment: “Being able to compete with my friends.”
Week in review: Stern threw 3 2/3 innings in relief, earning the victory in Estancia’s 10-4 win against Calvary Chapel in an Orange Coast League game that went 10 innings. Stern also drove in two runs with a double in Estancia’s six-run 10th inning.
Twitter: @ByDCP
