Garcia has become WNCC's ace

It's no secret what a team is looking for when it's on the prowl to pick up a pitcher. Think New York Yankee Randy Johnson-size (6-foot-10), power (near 100 mph) and left-hander.

Such was the dilemma facing Sierra Vista High School coach Nate Selby, who was looking for the right fit for his 6-foot-1, 190-pound right-hander, Justin Garcia, who helped lead the Mountain Lions to the Class 4A Nevada state championship last year.

"The best thing I can say about Garcia is that he's always been a winner," said Selby, who is still unable to say exactly why the Western Nevada Community College freshman has continued to be successful in spite of lacking the Johnson-like attributes of a prototypical pitcher. "I used to laugh - I still don't know what things he did to get people out. I'm still not impressed with things he did other than the outcome. He'd always be the team winner."

Nothing has changed in that regard, as Garcia is one of the main reasons why the No. 20 Wildcats (36-16) won the Scenic West Athletic Conference regular season championship and are hosting the SWAC Tournament this week.

Garcia is 7-4 with a 1.93 earned run average in 13 starts, having pitched five complete games. In 76 innings pitched, he has allowed 58 hits, 17 walks and has struck out 58 batters. And opposing hitters are batting only .212 against him.

TOUGH SELL

"He just found ways to win," Selby said. "We weren't good (when the program started) and whether we were cold or hot or had errors behind him, he was just a winner. As a freshman he pitched for us and had tons of success. A lot of the times on the mound he just carried us, to say the least."

But when it came time to shop Garcia, Selby said he couldn't seem to say the right things to get many bites.

"He had 40 wins for us, but nobody really liked him," Selby said. "All you could say is he's just a right-hander, 6-1, 190, and throws 85, 83, whatever. I talked to guys and tried to sell him and he was hard to sell.

"There was nothing to hang his hat on except that he gets teams out and gets ahead (in the count). He's the epitome of a pitcher. He has a great mental makeup, has great location and he's a competitor."

Garcia also had another great characteristic.

"He has character," Selby said. "He believes he's the best guy out there. And a lot of the times he's not the best guy out there, but at the end of the day, he's winning."

Garcia was sort of like a novelist who's dealing with an agent who wants to know why people would want to pay $27.95 to buy his book. All he could do is say, read it and find out for yourself.

"I think people don't know what I have," said the 19-year-old Garcia. "I show them - that's how they find out that I'm a pretty good little ballplayer and can pitch a little bit."

GOING ONCE...GOING TWICE...SOLD

When WNCC coach D.J. Whittemore began looking to field a team, he gave a call to Selby, who supplied him with pitcher Chad Riddle, first baseman Tom Miller and left fielder Pat Grennan.

"Whittemore liked Riddle - he was a good fit," Selby said. "I told Whittemore, no knock on Western Nevada, but Justin's better than a first-year juco. We got him a pretty good scholarship to Dixie State. I thought that he was a middle-of-the-road Division I school kid. He was better than a juco."

But again, it wasn't as if Selby was selling a muscle car, one with a showy 454 with a blower, a posi-traction rear end and a five-speed transmission.

"He has intangibles," Selby said. "He can field his position. He may be the best fielding pitcher - not a Greg Maddux (who has 15 Golden Gloves) - but he fields it. He holds the runners on. He does all the things that make you a winner. He does the little things, like picking off the runner at second base."

So, with a scholarship all set at Dixie State, which will be making the move up to Division II next year, all Garcia had to do was sign on the dotted line.

"Dixie had an interest in me and followed me my senior year," Garcia said. "They offered me a full-ride. I knew they were going to D-II. But that wasn't part of my decision."

As Selby said, Garcia is his own man.

"I liked the coaching staff up (at WNCC)," Garcia said. "(Pitching) Coach (Dennis) Banks had a lot of influence in my decision. He said he could up my velocity and get me to the next level."

So long, Rebels. Hello, Wildcats.

BULLDOG

Garcia said he's been interested in baseball since he was 5 and began throwing one around in his backyard in Las Vegas with his father, Bill Garcia.

"Growing up and being around my dad, he was real supportive," said Garcia, whose younger brother Andrew is a third baseman for Sierra Vista. "He had high expectations for me. He pushed me. He was kinda tough on me. He wanted to make sure I was doing the right things. I work at one level at a time and try to get to the next level."

Whittemore said it was a no-brainer to recruit Garcia.

"We recruited him sight unseen," he said. "We knew he was the best pitcher in Las Vegas. He was 10-1, with a 1.4 ERA in his junior year, so I knew we had to have him on our team. He pitched varsity since he was a freshman and was the ace of the staff for one of the top teams in the city of Las Vegas. We knew he'd be plenty good enough for us."

Banks, who has helped Garcia make some adjustments, said Garcia has the kind of attribute you can't see with the naked eye.

"When it comes to the mental part of the game, he's a bulldog," Banks said. "He throws three pitches for strikes (power curveball, changeup and fastball) and his velocity has increased over the year. He dusts guys inside and out. He's a well-rounded pitcher."

Whittemore is more direct in his assessment of Garcia.

"What he gave us is the No. 1 pitcher," he said. "A No. 1 pitcher has to be consistent and have composure. He has to be able to make it without a lot of run support. He hasn't had a lot of run support at all. He's got composure, he's intelligent, and he's a great competitor.

"He's been our No.1 pitcher since the first game he threw in the fall. There's never been any doubt about it. If I could sum up Justin Garcia, it would be that he's a winner."

WINNING THEM OVER

Wildcats shortstop Jerahmie Libke, who was Garcia's rival when he went to school at Bishop Gorman, said Garcia wasn't exactly his favorite person in Las Vegas.

"I hated him when he was at Sierra Vista and I was on a different team," said Libke, a sophomore. "Now he's one of my favorite teammates here. He's a gamer, too. He works real hard at whatever he does. He's real confident in whatever he does. He's the guy. I love playing behind him. He loves to pound the zone and get the fielders some action."

Miller, who played with Garcia during summer ball in the 2005 American Legion World Series, in Rapid City, N.D., where their team finished fifth, said he has the utmost confidence in his pitcher and longtime friend.

"He's the ace of our staff. He does a great job every week," Miller said. "I've played with him since I was 12 and every time he's on the mound I feel like we're going to win. In terms of his savvy and poise, Justin brings it every day. He's another one of the gamers. He's cool, calm and collected. He never loses his composure. From (Las Vegas) to now, he's added 5 miles an hour to his fastball. He's definitely made some strides."

Banks said the improvement is a product of repetition.

"He throws a lot more now than in the past," Banks said. "He's increased his velocity and accuracy. He's changed his torque quite a bit. That's the guy you want on the mound. He's tough. He's just gotten better every week since August. Most guys go through highs and lows. This kid just gets it done."

CONFIDENCE

Among his other accomplishments this year, Garcia, now 200 pounds, stood out in a tough 2-1 victory against Salt Lake Community College at Ron McNutt High School on March 13. In 5 2/3 innings of work, he allowed only three hits.

Most recently, Garcia went the seven-inning distance in the Wildcats' 5-1 opener against No. 14 College of Southern Idaho, a win which moved them within two of clinching the regular season title. He allowed only four hits, no walks and struck out five in the victory.

"In that game with CSI, he just dealt it," Libke said. "He's a competitor. I know he's not going to lose. He knows he's going to get hit a little bit, but he says, 'I'm not worried about hits. I'm worried about winning the game."

Garcia's not a loud talker, but he definitely isn't lacking in self-belief or belief in his teammates.

"I have a lot of confidence in myself," he said. "I don't show it to other people. I'm not cocky. I just love competing. Since I got here, the team's gotten real close. (The season) has gone by quick. It's been real fun. I don't regret my decision to come up here."

Asked what his best pitch is, he says it's his fastball, low and outside.

"I like to get ahead of the hitter, then I can throw any pitch I want," he said.

Asked who he patterns himself after, Garcia chose the "Mad Dog" himself, Greg Maddux. Maddux is 6-foot, 180 pounds and is a right-hander, among other things.

"It's all mental with him. He knows he can do it," Garcia said. "He's really humble and hard-working. And he shows people their wrong."

And that's something that Garcia, who said he'd love to someday pitch for USC, can definitely relate to.