Liberty’s May to play for ’Runners
Owen May says Jeremy Beard was essential in helping him handle the difficulties of the 2020 season.
After growing four inches and putting on more than 20 pounds of muscle between his freshman and sophomore seasons, May hoped to carve out a role for himself on the Liberty High School baseball team last spring. Unfortunately, things didn’t pan out the way he hoped.
Though he played sparingly in the field during the Patriots’ first nine games, May had yet to register an atbat when the season was canceled by COVID-19 in March. Through two years, he still hasn’t recorded a plate appearance at the varsity level.
“It wasn’t fun,” May said of the end of his season. “I haven’t got to show what I can do, which is really disappointing.”
However, he says time spent with Beard, the head coach at Cal State Bakersfield, over the previous summer helped him move past his disappointment in a timely fashion.
In 2019, May took part in the Babe Ruth Baseball 13-15 World Series in Bismarck, N.D., playing for a Pacific Southwest team coached by Beard.
“It was awesome,” May said of the tournament. “It was a new atmosphere, you got to meet a bunch of new people from other states. It was just an awesome experience.”
While the time spent with Beard helped May develop the on-field aspects of his game, he says it was even more helpful in sharpening him up mentally. Admitting he hasn’t always taken disappointment well, May says Beard taught him how to better handle his emotions when things didn’t go according to plan.
“I was really hard on myself in the past,” he said. “But working with coach Beard has helped me understand (baseball) is a game of failure and it gets better.”
May believes things will continue to get better, as he and Beard’s time working together is far from over.
Despite his inexperience, May has already found a collegiate landing spot. Last week, he announced his verbal commitment to CSUB, a decision he says took very little pondering.
“Coach Beard ... just knows me better than anyone,” he said. “He got to watch me grow and develop as a person and a ballplayer. He helped me get better and work on the things I needed to. It was a no-brainer (coming to CSUB).”
Even though he’s yet to carve out a role at the varsity level, May’s current coach believes CSUB was smart to bet on his potential.
Liberty coach Tony Mills says May came to him as a freshman with an already polished skillset both at the plate and in the field, skills he believes will only improve as he continues to add bulk to his 6-foot, 170-pound frame.
“He might be able to play all nine positions. He’s that type of guy,” Mills said. “The kid is a very fundamental player that can play a number of different positions and that’s going to take him a long way.”
May had plenty of inspiration to get to this point, as he’ll soon join a long list of family members to play college baseball. His dad Michael played at Bakersfield College, while cousins Hudson Hartley (himself a Garces and BC grad) and Austin Ott played at San Francisco State and Cal State San Marcos respectively.
Hartley and Ott each had successful runs in college. Hartley was a second-team All-Western State South pitcher in 2016 while Ott earned AllCCAA honors in 2019.
“It’s been awesome just seeing where you can go with this game and how far it can take you,” May said. “Hopefully I can do what they did.”
May hopes he won’t have to wait until college to find on-field success, saying he can’t get complacent despite having already found a place to play after high school.
“(My commitment) does take a lot of pressure off me being looked at and stuff,” he said. “But the pressure’s still on. I still need to earn my spot and continue to develop as a player.”