Change of Scenery Gives Brannan a Boost

Pitcher Ryan Brannan seemed to have it all when he left high school.

He had a 90-mph fastball that made scouts and recruiters drool.

He had a full scholarship to Miami, one of the top baseball programs in the country.

He had a can’t-miss tag, which inspired Brannan’s three-year plan.

“I was going to play three years and turn pro,” said Brannan, a Huntington Beach High School graduate.

Brannan is still on that path, but it has become a bi-coastal journey.

He showed up at Long Beach State last fall after two frustrating years at Miami. His velocity was in the low 80s. His confidence was spiraling to the bottom.

The bloom had come off his rosy future. In a matter of months it has swung 180 degrees again.

Brannan, a junior, has established himself as the 49ers’ closer. He is 2-0 with six saves and a 1.75 earned-run average. Scouts are again ooohing and aaahing at his velocity, which has been clocked at 95 mph.

All it took was a change of scenery and a change in his pitching motion.

“I always knew that Coach [Dave] Snow was good with pitchers and Long Beach was certainly closer to home,” Brannan said. “All the pieces fit.”

Brannan was projected as the team’s closer and lived up to that expectation almost immediately. He pitched five scoreless innings in a loss at Cal on Feb. 9, then came back two days later to pitch two more scoreless innings for a save.

“That showed me Coach had confidence in me right away,” Brannan said.

Which wasn’t always apparent in Miami. Brannan pitched little as a freshman in 1994. Last season, he was expected to be one of the Hurricanes’ top starters. That changed after his fourth start, when Brannan gave up four runs in five innings.

He was banished to the bullpen as a middle reliever, but it got worse.

“A couple times they even told me that I would have to keep pitching well or else they wouldn’t use me any more,” Brannan said. “I finally had a rough outing and didn’t get to pitch again for a month.”

By the end of the season, Brannan had decided to transfer. He even had his father attend the Cal State Fullerton-Long Beach State series to scout his son’s next location.

Brannan decided on Long Beach, then went off to the Cape Cod League, where he also struggled.

“I think he was at a point where he was real teachable,” Snow said. “I saw him over the summer and I made the decision then that we had to do some things different.”

Brannan changed his delivery, throwing sidearm as he had in high school. It brought back the velocity that had impressed scouts. From there, it didn’t take long for Snow to decide on a role.

“As I got to spend some time with him, I noticed he liked to throw a lot,” Snow said. “The hardest thing was to get him to relax. He would get so excited through the first five innings. He had to realize he was a closer and didn’t need to get that adrenaline going so early.”

But considering the road Brannan has traveled, it’s hard for him not to get a little worked up.

“Everyone has always used the word ‘potential’ about me. It’s nice to realize a little of it,” he said.

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The 49ers, who have won 16 of 20 games after a 2-5 start, have lost three consecutive games, to Wichita State and Cal State Northridge. Both are ranked in the top 10 nationally. Long Beach is 6-10 against ranked teams this season.

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The Long Beach State men’s volleyball team, ranked third in the nation, defeated No. 12 Ball State, 7-15, 15-9, 15-6, 10-15, 15-11, last Friday. It’s a victory that could have final four significance down the line.

The NCAA takes the winners of the three regions to the final, then selects one at-large team. Two years ago, a highly ranked Stanford team was snubbed in favor of Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne. The Cardinal had lost to IPFW in a regular season game.

“It was the only time the West Coast runner-up didn’t go to the final four,” 49er Coach Ray Ratelle said. “The NCAA justified it by saying Stanford lost to IPFW.”

The 49ers, who lost to Ball State this season, eliminated that justification with Friday’s victory, according to Ratelle.

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Three Long Beach fencers have qualified for this weekend’s NCAA championships at Yale. Travis Long (men’s foil), Kendra Ard (women’s foil) and Jeshima Devine (women’s epee) will likely be the last 49ers to reach the championships. The sport will revert to club status with the retirement of Coach Jo Redmon. She has been the team’s coach for 32 years.

49er Notes

The men’s basketball team’s awards banquet will be held at 7 p.m. April 10 in the The Pointe conference center in the Pyramid. For further information call: (310) 985-4662 or (310) 985-4550. . . . Two members of the Long Beach women’s basketball team qualified for the All-Big West All-Academic team for winter sports. Kim Barfield is a senior majoring in English, and Aimee Periolat is a junior majoring in psychology.