Appearing in 18 games this season, with 170 at-bats, 39 runs scored, and three home runs this season Long Beach City College baseball team pitcher and infielder, Matthew Pinal, was named South Coast Conference Player of the Year.
Pinal’s favorite part about competing and being out on the field is when his team secures a win. His strengths are being a hard worker and having the ability to get along with people well, creating good chemistry with his teammates.
Pinal is from Southgate and attended Cerritos high school. He is a right handed pitcher as well as an infielder who has played baseball for the majority of his life.
“My parents forced me to play when I was little,” Pinal said, “I played a year of basketball and that was it, but they would only let me play baseball so I kind of just stuck to it.”
Pinal said he has learned during his baseball career that you, “don’t take things for granted because in baseball there have been games where we have given up nine runs in the eighth inning and we lost that game when we should have won by like six.”
“I’m hoping to just keep playing and see how far I can take it,” Pinal said, “I’d like to go pro if I can.”
Pinal has pitched in 64.2 innings this season and averages 9.6 strikeouts per game. He has a total of 69 strikeouts for this season.
Coach Casey Crooks is proud of Pinal and his team for overcoming the challenges of this season with several of their players succumbing to injuries.
“We hit a good weekly routine of ‘here’s the things we are going to work on, so these are the things that are important, keep focusing on these things, and never give up’” Crooks said, “I think the motivation mostly comes from the consistency of how we do our work and what our expectations are.”
LBCC’s baseball program has helped Pinal develop into a better player by allowing him to grow as his own person and as a player while continuing with his style of play.
Pinal is most proud of the fact that he is still playing baseball. He hasn’t experienced any injuries that would be threatening during his baseball career thus far and is hoping one day to go pro.
His advice to people who might want to start playing baseball is to, “do it, because it’s never too late, I know people in their sixties who still play.”