Journeyman Baron hitting his stride

When Americans think of traveling the world, they think of far off destinations, with sparkling clear blue beaches, exotic architecture and adventure. 

Few people would imagine that someone from Australia would consider America a desired destination, but for lefty pitcher Liam Baron, the driving factor was college baseball. 

The states offered Baron a chance to play college baseball and the opportunity to grow as a player and experience a different part of the world.

In Australia, Baron says, there are no high school sports, all sports are club, and there are no college athletics. For Baron to advance his skills and play in a collegiate level he had to travel to America.

Baron followed the Australian baseball succession and played tee ball until the age of 11 before moving on to the higher levels of competition on a full field at age 12. Baron said the first time he pitched was then, and that his mentor as a child was his cousin, Duane Rochford. Rochford played professional baseball in Australia for the Gosnells Hawks as well as the Australian national team. He also played independent ball in the U.S.

After a year playing in the Australian league and attending Western Australia University his freshman year, Baron explored the option of playing college baseball in the U.S.

Baron spent his first two years in the country at Linn Benton Community College, in Albany, Ore., along with fellow Australian Kirk Peacock. Because the school calendars for Australia and the U.S. do not line up, the two finished up their school year before moving to Oregon. 

Baron turned heads with his sidearm release and diversity in pitching slots and locations. Baron says he has five different arm slots for his fastball, so it comes in all over the plate from all angles. 

"As a hitter when you face a guy who can accurately throw multiple pitches from different arm angles, it makes it a lot tougher to know what is coming," infielder Sean Wilson said.

"He is definitely a huge asset because of his very versatile and backwards style of pitching," Gonzaga pitcher Cody Martin said.  "Baron's approach is almost to frustrate hitters by throwing pitches repeatedly in counts that you do not expect him to throw those pitches."

It surprised Baron how common shoulder and elbow problems were among American pitchers, as well as the prevalence of Tommy John surgery in very young pitchers.  Baron said in Australia players do not start pitching at such young ages and the pitch count is heavily regulated.

"It is 70 pitches in under age 14 leagues, 90 in under age 16 leagues and 110 in under age 18 leagues," Baron said.

It was more than his diversity on the mound that made Baron a standout for the Linn Benton Roadrunners. Baron posted a 10-3 record with a 1.71 ERA in 99.1 innings pitched his sophomore season.  In his junior campaign, he went 7-3 with a minuscule 0.98 ERA in 78 and 2/3 innings. 

Baron said the first month in the states his phone bill was more than $300. He learned quickly that he would have to manage the amount of time he spent talking to family back home and find a suitable plan to communicate with his family.

He said one of the hardest things was not having his parents at the games, as they had always been through his playing career. 

He immediately became a leader with the Roadrunners through performance and attitude.

"Right from the start, within our  pitching staff, and even with the team, I was the standout leader. I had more experience and as a 20-year-old freshman. I could use that and teach them," Baron said.

After Gonzaga Pitching Coach Steve Bennett saw Baron perform at the 2008 NWACC championships, he and Head Coach Mark Mactholf started contacting Baron. 

Baron said he had gone home for Christmas and came back to find multiple voicemails from Machtolf, stating that he was very interested in having him as part of the program. 
"I had done a bit of homework online and found out how they had been doing the past few seasons and about their coaching staff, and whether it would be a fit for me," Baron said. 

At the end of the fall baseball season at Linn Benton, he decided Gonzaga was probably where he would go.

"Coming in, I was kind of quiet at first, trying to fit in. Since being here I have stepped up a little bit and have taken a leadership role," Baron said.

This season Baron has appeared in 20 games for the Zags, only six of them starts, racking up 54 1/3 innings, with a 5.13 ERA, 25 strikeouts and two saves. 

"I don't know what they put in the water down under, but he's got the mentality of aTasmanian Devil on the mound," outfielder Mark Castellitto said. "He pitches on the shortest amount of rest I've ever seen, he's a great team guy, and has unwavering confidence in his stuff." 

Baron was a starter for his junior college but has become a jack-of-all-trades with the Zags, pitching some as middle reliever as well as a closer. 

"He has a lot of respect from the team because he can bounce back the next day and throw multiple innings for us," Wilson said.

Baron is currently studying sports management at Gonzaga.

"The transfer was fairly easy coming from a community college with small classes and a one-on-one feeling with the teachers, where you can really ask questions," he said.
His class size at Western Australia ranged from one to 2,000 in each lecture. 
 "School has never been a problem for me," Baron said.

He plans eventually to study medicine and aspires to go into emergency surgery.

"That is something I would really like to do, something I was looking at before I came over here and put on the back-burner," Baron said. "With the baseball schedule it would have been difficult to do that sort of thing."

After the 2010 baseball season, Baron will return to Western Australia University.