Brolsma, Graham sign with Nevada baseball

RENO -- The University of Nevada baseball team announced the signing on Friday of two Carson Country players in Carson High's Owen Brolsma and Douglas High's Austin Graham.

The two players will begin competing for the Wolf Pack in 2004.

Brolsma, a 5-11, 180-pound catcher, earned first team

All-Sierra League and All-Carson Country honors his junior year.

Considered the top defensive catcher in Northern Nevada he batted .429 in league play last season. He played in the Kelley Showcase held in Reno this past summer. The event featured the top juniors in Nevada from last season.

"I've been working for this for a long time," Brolsma said. "I've always wanted to go to Nevada."

Among the other schools that Brolsma talked to were UNLV, San Francisco and Hawaii. But Brolsma wanted to stay close to home with family and friends.

"That was a big part of it," he said. "All the people who helped me out can see the games."

Brolsma said he hopes to receive playing time as a freshman and to eventually become Nevada's starting catcher.

"I just really want to develop as a player," he said. "Hopefully I'll get some playing time in."

Brolsma said he'll work on becoming a more consistent hitter. "Once my bat comes around, I don't think I'll have any problem being in the lineup," he said.

A 6-2, 195-pound pitcher and outfielder, Graham batted .568 with a 5-0 record on the mound with 50 strikeouts, just seven walks and a 1.00 earned run average while earning Conference Player of the Year honors as a junior.

He was chosen to represent and play for the USA Area Code Team at the Goodwill Series Games in Japan and went to Havana, Cuba to play in the Goodwill Games as a junior. The Gardnerville native was a first team all-conference pitcher his sophomore year and earned all-Carson Country All-Conference second team designated hitter honors as a freshman.

In his sophomore year, he was invited to the Area Code tryouts. The left-handed pitcher will be given the opportunity to pitch and play the outfield for the Wolf Pack.

"That's a big pick-up for Nevada," said Brolsma about Graham. "He's a real good ball player."

"We feel that these two guys are the premier position players in

Northern Nevada," Nevada coach Gary Powers said. "Owen I feel has a chance to be one of the best defensive catchers we've seen come out of this part of the state in a long, long time. Austin is a tremendous two-way talent and has had a tremendous amount of success and we see him having the

opportunity to help us in two different areas immediately when he arrives here on campus. We're really pleased with our signing of these two kids and look forward to big things out of both."