BASEBALL AMATEUR DRAFT : Ex-El Dorado Pitcher Hears a Number He Likes

Last summer, Brett Tomko was serving drinks, not exactly sure what the future had in store. Today, he’s toasting his success.

Tomko, who graduated from El Dorado High in 1991, will finish a whirlwind week by starting for No. 1-ranked Florida Southern against Georgia College in the Division II College World Series championship game today. Not that there’s much left for him to prove.

Tomko is 14-2 with two saves and a 1.46 earned-run average. He has a victory and a save during the World Series. His fastball, which has been clocked at 95 m.p.h., has overpowered hitters to the tune of 143 strikeouts in 117 1/3 innings.

Thursday, after striking out three in a 1 1/3 innings for a save, Tomko was told the Cincinnati Reds had drafted him in the second round.

“It was a big surprise,” said Tomko, a junior. “I was at the [postgame] press conference when they told me. They wanted my mind clear for the game. I wasn’t even supposed to pitch. But everything has been a surprise this season.”

Certainly, Tomko wasn’t expecting so much so fast last summer.

Sure, he had been the South Coast Conference’s pitcher of the year, after going 8-2 with a 1.31 ERA for Mt. San Antonio College. All it got him was a minimal offer from the Dodgers, who had drafted him in the 19th round.

So Tomko went to his adopted home, Tampa, Fla., and took a job as a bartender in a beach club. He spent the summer slinging pina coladas instead of fastballs.

“I was really disappointed, because I thought I would be drafted higher,” Tomko said. “I didn’t have any offers to play during the summer, so I got a job. Actually, I was the best hire they made. I don’t drink, so I didn’t cut into the profits.”

It gave him time to look at his future, a sobering thought process.

“The only thing I could do was go back to college,” Tomko said. “It was the wisest thing I ever did.”

Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State were dangling offers in front of him. But Florida, where his parents had moved three years ago, was home. He signed with Florida Southern, which is about an hour from Tampa.

At first, it was a disaster. Tomko was rusty from his summer off.

“I think I had something like a 22 ERA,” Tomko said. “They weren’t sure what I was going to do for them.”

It still wasn’t clear early in the season.

Tomko first start was against Georgia College. He lasted 4 2/3 innings, giving up seven hits and four walks. He now faces them again in the title game.

“That was a long time ago,” Tomko said.

He’s another pitcher now. Tomko won his second start, a month after the Georgia College game. He went seven innings, striking out nine, in a 16-0 victory over Lafayette College.

“I think it was their second game,” Tomko said. “Northern teams don’t see much outside the gym until after spring break. They sure hadn’t seen a 93 m.p.h. fastball.”

Tomko has been in the starting rotation since. It’s been one surprise after another since.

“It was rough at first,” Tomko said. “I got hit hard a couple times. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it. But everything’s clicking now.”

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Fountain Valley’s Luke Hudson was drafted in the fifth round by Baltimore, his sister, Valerie, said.

Hudson, a right-handed pitcher, is 7-1 with a 1.63 earned-run average this season. He beat Fontana, 2-1, Tuesday to put the Barons in today’s Southern Section Division I championship game.

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Brian Martineau and Luis Estrella, both sophomore right-handed pitchers from Rancho Santiago, were drafted, Coach Don Sneddon said.

Martineau, from Riverside Arlington High, was 7-1 with five saves for the Dons, who won the State title this season. Texas selected him in the 11th round. Estrella, from Saddleback High School, was taken in the 16th round by Cleveland. He was 8-1 this season.

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Southern California College center fielder Ryan Seidel was picked in the 34th round by the Chicago Cubs. Seidel, a senior from Westlake Village, batted .378 with 13 home runs and 39 RBIs for the Vanguards.

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UCLA’s Gar Vallone was drafted in the 24th round by the Angels, Ed Vallone, his father, said. Vallone, an El Dorado graduate, hit .298 this season. He hit .344 as a junior.

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Travis Burgus, a left-handed pitcher at the University of San Diego and a Capistrano Valley graduate, was drafted in the 18th round by the Florida Marlins. Burgus, a first-team All-West Coast Conference selection, was 10-6 with a 2.58 ERA for the Toreros.