Only one baseball player in Northern California gets the honor of being called the player of the year, and that honor went to Gavilan College pitcher Erik Barron.
Barron was named the Northern California Player of the Year during the California Community College Athletic Association State Championship Final Four in Fresno on May 23-24.
“To have my peers vote for my guy Erik (Barron) to be Northern California Player of the Year was pretty shocking and surprising. Not that by any means he didn’t deserve it, just that it’s quite an honor,” said Neal Andrade, the Gavilan manager who earned the Coast Pacific Conference Coach of the Year award. “It’s pretty special for myself and the program to have one of my players get recognized like that.”
Barron was also given an All-State team nod, along with teammate and outfielder Bryant Cid.
The player of the year and all-state honors complement Barron’s 2015 Coast Pacific All-Conference Most Valuable Player award, which he was given earlier in the season. He was stellar on the bump for Gavilan, boasting a 1.55 ERA in 15 games. He helped his team to its first Coast Pacific Conference title with a 6-2 record, which included 101 strikeouts and two saves.
Cid also earned first team all-conference honors earlier this year. The Christopher High graduate led the Rams with 48 hits—including three home runs—and in runs scored with 34. He also had a team-high 15 stolen bases with 19 RBI.
The Rams’ Matt Oxner rounded out the weekend’s honors by being named to the All-Northern California pitching team. Oxner was also named the Coast Pacific All-Conference Pitcher of the Year earlier this year. He had a 2.24 ERA and a 7-3 overall record with one save. He was second only to Barron in strikeouts, finishing with 58.
Andrade said Barron is the first Gavilan player in his 12 seasons as head coach to earn the NorCal Player of the Year award. He and Cid join an exclusive list of Rams that have earned All-State/All-American honors, which includes San Benito grad Seth Hudson in 2007, Sobrato alum Chris Bradley in 2012 and Danny Gutierrez of Santa Teresa High in 2014.
The Rams went 23-14 overall and lost in the opening round of the NorCal regional playoffs against Cosumnes River.
“I think it was definitely a good cap on the season with not only these individual awards, but also with the (Coast South) Conference Championship and being able to host regionals,” Andrade said. “To cap (the season) with this kind of stuff is really cool.”
