Collegiate Times

"Hey guys! Dude, the waves are going off, let's go to the beach," Steve Domecus said.

Doesn't quite sound like Blacksburg, does it?

Well, for three new Hokie baseball players, that used to be college life.

Outfielders Domecus, Mike Kaminski and relief pitcher Ben Rowen left the California routine they grew accustomed to in order to continue their collegiate baseball careers after junior college, and they each took unique paths to get here.

Domecus started out at the University of California Santa Barbara and redshirted his freshman year.

He got some playing time in his redshirt freshman season, but not as much as he felt he deserved.

"I hit really well in the fall at Santa Barbara, and the coach was just like, 'Hey, you're going to be a designated hitter against left-handed pitchers only,'" Domecus said.

Unhappy with the situation, Domecus moved on to Moorpark College for one season before choosing Tech over established baseball powers such as Texas, the University of San Diego, current No. 1 ranked University of California Irvine, and Fresno State, which won the College World Series last year.

"Going through a process like that, you really got to make sure you're going to the right place because I guess I kind of messed that up the first time around going to Santa Barbara, and that's why I ended up redshirting. So, I came here," Domecus said. "The coaches treated me right when I was here. I just got a good vibe, and I felt like they weren't going to sell me out.

"Some of the other schools, I thought the coach would sell their first born son to win a College World Series, and I came here, and they were in it for me. If they're in it for me, they're in it for their players, and that's going to be good for the team because we're going to start winning."

Domecus was motivated less by the potential to win the College World Series and more by the prospect of being a key part of turning a struggling Tech program around.

"I could have gone to Texas, and they're in contention to go to the College World Series every year, or I could have come here and worked on something big that's going on now," he said. "Our team is trying to put some wins together here, make the ACC playoffs, hopefully win the ACC playoffs.

"I wanted to be part of something that meant more than just being at another school that's supposed to go there - supposed to do this. I wanted to be on a team that pulled off the upset, kind of the miracle team."

Like Domecus, Rowen started out at the Division I level but was cut from the team at Southern California in the fall of his freshman season. From there, he attended Los Angeles Harbor College for two years prior to his stint with the maroon and orange.

"It was interesting," Rowen said. "Actually, my junior college coach got an e-mail for a summer league in North Carolina, and then when I got there my coach sent out e-mails to (pitching coach Dave) Turgeon, and he came down and saw me, and he liked what he saw."

Only lightly recruited out of high school, Kaminski went straight to junior college to play at Cuesta College for two seasons. He initially was seen by head coach Pete Hughes at an all-star game. It wasn't much longer before Kaminski was set to play for Tech.

"I guess he saw me there, liked my swing, kept in contact," Kaminski said. "I came out here on a visit, loved the place, came to a football game. That's pretty much what got me."

The three junior college transfers have certainly paid off for Hughes.

Domecus currently holds a .408 batting average, the highest in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and ranks in the top 20 in hits, RBIs, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

Kaminski also holds a .355 batting average that ranks 14th in the ACC.

Despite two rough outings recently, Ben Rowen also has contributed, pitching 28 innings, often late when the game is on the line.

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