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Hard work pays off with lucrative scholarship for local athlete
By: Bakersfield Baseball Academy
Description: Bakersfield Christian's Mitchell Porwoll heading to Tennessee!
Topics: baseball,
BCHS
Posted by admin
Mon Jun 16, 2008 12:42:40 PDT
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Years of hard work pay off for 2008 BCHS graduate Mitchell Porwoll as he recently signed a National Letter of Intent to play baseball for Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee.
A product of Bakersfield Baseball Academy, 17-year-old Porwoll has trained under the direction of Bobby Maitia and John Shirley. Most recently, he played at Bakersfield Christian High School under Coach Bill Gentry where the Eagles captured their first South Sequoia League championship.
Still, success for Porwoll has never come easy, according to his father, Ted Porwoll. “Over the years Mitchell has played for several local club teams. Some were positive and growing experiences.' Others, unfortunately, were not as positive. 'He was told he was too small and would never pitch in high school. Those comments, however, gave Mitchell even more determination and fueled his work ethic to be successful.”
Porwoll spent hours at the baseball school. As an 8-year-old, Porwoll was already working at BBA with his first pitching coach, Danny Ruiz, when Maitia first came onto the scene. At about that same time, his father built him a pitching mound in the backyard of the family's northwest home. Facing searing heat and freezing temperatures, Porwoll worked year round to perfect his pitching mechanics.
Then in December, left handed Porwoll attracted the attention of several mid-south coaches after striking out 10 of 12 batters at the Coast-to-Coast showcase held at the Jimmy Dean Sports Complex in Florida. “After striking out the first six batters he faced, he attracted the attention of coaches from the other 3 diamonds,” said his father, Ted Porwoll. He was elected to pitch to an additional 6 batters, of which he struck out four.
Hard work and perseverance has paid off earning Porwoll a scholarship package totaling $20 thousand a year to pitch and play outfield for the CBU Buccaneers.
