College Division / Mitch Polin : Younger Worrell Tries to Make Up for Lost Time in Pitching Ranks

The last week of the baseball season has been one that pitcher Tim Worrell of Biola University would probably just as soon forget.

The 21-year-old junior appeared in three games and suffered three losses. In fact, two of those were in a doubleheader loss to Cal Lutheran last Saturday.

That has not done wonders for Worrell’s record and earned-run average, which have gone from 7-2 and 2.06 two weeks ago to 7-5 and 3.87.

But all things considered, Worrell has little reason to be disappointed with his progress.

Especially when you consider how long he has been pitching.

“I definitely am a late bloomer pitching-wise,” Worrell said. “This is basically my third year of pitching. I haven’t had a lot of pitching in my career.”

There have been some similarities between Worrell’s career and his older brother Todd’s. But Todd, 29, has gone on to become a top reliever for the St. Louis Cardinals.

And the road has been a little more rocky for the younger Worrell.

As did his older brother, Tim Worrell attended Maranatha High in Sierra Madre and Biola in La Mirada. But he was hardly an overnight success.

He didn’t even make the varsity at Maranatha until his junior year.

As a freshman and sophomore on the junior varsity, Tim Worrell was a utility player.

“I played every position except shortstop,” he recalled. “At a small school they put you where they need you.”

When Worrell finally made the varsity as a junior, he played infrequently. It wasn’t until his senior year that he finally cracked the starting rotation at Maranatha and then he says “I was only about a .500 pitcher.”

No wonder he almost was unnoticed by college recruiters.

Worrell said he was thinking about attending Azusa Pacific as a walk-on player before Biola Coach Charlie Sarver watched him pitch once during his senior year at Maranatha.

“Charlie Sarver went to one of my games in high school, saw me pitch and asked me if I wanted to pitch for him,” said Worrell, who quickly jumped at the opportunity.

But he did not make a smooth transition from high school to college.

As a freshman at Biola, Worrell did not pitch an inning.

“I ended up quitting (the team) and not finishing out that year,” he said. “I even dropped most of my classes.”

After rejoining the team as a sophomore, Worrell struggled through a 3-9 season.

“I was only a sophomore and I hadn’t really had all that much experience pitching,” he said. “I wasn’t really sure what was going on.”

Worrell sat out last season as a redshirt. “I was trying to work it out so my schooling and baseball would finish at the same time,” he said.

Without having played for more than a year, Worrell said he eagerly awaited the start of this season.

“The first game I gave up seven runs because I hadn’t pitched in so long, but I was just happy to get back,” Worrell says.

Worrell said he rejoined the team with more confidence and a better mental approach.

It shows. Despite struggling in recent games, Worrell still has 94 strikeouts in 79 innings pitched.

The pros have noticed. Worrell said he has been scouted by about 10 teams this season.

Biola’s Sarver said he thinks Worrell has the ability to play in the majors.

“He has a lot of innate physical baseball talent,” he said. “The sky’s the limit for him.”

Worrell is already leaving his mark on the Biola record book. He is tied for No. 6 (with Steve Romero in 1968) in single-season strikeouts and is No. 9 on the all-time career list at 167.

In fact, he needs only eight more strikeouts to pass his older brother at No. 8 on the all-time list.

But Tim downplays comparisons with his brother.

“I’ve never heard a lot of comparisons between us,” he said. “We’re about eight years apart so it’s kind of hard to compare us.

The younger Worrell said they both have a good fastball, but “he throws the ball so much faster.”

While Todd’s pitches have been clocked in the mid-90s, Tim’s average speed is closer to the mid-80s. The younger Worrell also relies more on an outstanding slider.

“Against some teams my fastball is my best pitch but some teams are sitting on the fastball so I have to throw them more sliders,” he said.

He credits some of his improvement to working with his brother, although that was not the case at first.

“We’ve been close over the years,” he said. “But when he was doing his pitching I was always running around the park goofing off. I was out doing my own thing.

“The year he got drafted (in 1982) was the year I got started pitching (in high school). I never really watched his pitching to the point that it helped me learn something. But after that, in the off-season, he’d help me out with my pitching.”

Worrell realizes he still has a long way to go, if he wants to make it to the majors.

“I need to develop my fastball more,” he says. “I rely on my slider a little too much. I can get away with it in this league, but I don’t think I can do that after college.”

He said he isn’t sure whether he will turn pro after this season if he is selected in the amateur draft in June.

But he is keeping his options open. “I’m looking in that direction. That’s what I’m hoping for if everything works out.”

College Division Notes

Defending champion Cal Lutheran will be the top-seeded team in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics District 3 women’s softball playoffs Friday and Saturday in Thousand Oaks. Second-seeded Christ College Irvine (27-19) meets third-seeded Azusa Pacific (15-16) in the first game of the double-elimination tournament and the winner faces Cal Lutheran (31-16) in the second game. It will mark the first appearance ever in the district playoffs for Christ College. Cal Lutheran will be seeking its third title in the last four years.

With one week remaining in the NAIA District 3 baseball season, the four postseason participants have already been determined. They will be Westmont (28-1-4), Cal Lutheran (27-15), Southern California College (26-19) and Azusa Pacific (26-17) although the site and pairings have yet to be determined. . . . In clinching a berth in the District 3 playoffs, Azusa Pacific will make its 18th appearance in the last 19 years. . . . Westmont is the hottest team in the district, having won 20 of its last 22 games.