Coogs capitalize on California connection
Former UH player and current coach at Orange Coast College has built a talent pipeline to Division I schools
John Altobelli made a phone call this week to University of Houston assistant coach Mike Taylor.
“We’ve got to keep that pipeline going,” said Altobelli, a former UH player who just completed his 23rd season as coach at Orange Coast College.
The California-to-Houston pipeline has been productive, with first baseman Chris Iriart and righthanded pitchers Kyle Dowdy and David Longville transferring from the junior college program in Costa Mesa, Calif., in the last two seasons.
The trio played an integral role as the Cougars advanced to the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row. They open the Houston Regional against Houston Baptist on Friday night.
Iriart has provided power in the middle of the batting order, hitting .306 with 14 home runs and 39 RBIs to earn second team All-American Athletic Conference honors. His homer total tied for second in the conference.
Dowdy, a year removed from Tommy John surgery, also earned second-team All-AAC recognition after emerging as one of the Cougars’ top weekend pitchers, going 9-2 with a 2.62 ERA and a league-best three complete games.
Longville has followed up a successful first season by going 5-2 with a 2.95 ERA as the Cougars’ midweek starter.
“They are a huge piece of what we are doing,” UH coach Todd Whitting said.
It’s all who you know
Altobelli said sending players to UH, where he was a starter from 198485, made sense with his connections to the school. Along with being a former player, Altobelli knows assistant coach Trip Couch, has developed a relationship with Whitting, and was familiar with Taylor from his days at Rice.
“I try and make sure the guys I send are a good fit and have a chance to compete for a starting spot,” Altobelli said.
Dowdy and Longville first met as freshmen at the University of Hawaii. After one season, the pitchers decided to transfer. Longville headed to Orange Coast College, and Dowdy, after briefly considering NAIA, joined him.
Both pitchers arrived at UH last season, and Iriart reunited with them after feeling UH “was the right place to be” following a recruiting visit.
“(Orange Coast College) is kind of a factory now,” Dowdy said of the program that just repeated as California Community College Athletic Association champion.
“It’s nice to have a pipeline coming to Houston. On the West Coast, UH was an unknown. But now it has some national prominence.”
Whitting credited Couch and pitching coach Frank Anderson for helping the Cougars make inroads in California.
“We’ve been fortunate in California,” Whitting said. “We’ll always start our recruiting inside the city of Houston and work our way out. But we’re swimming in deep waters here in Houston, with a lot of good players and a lot of good teams that want those players.”
HBU also involved
UH isn’t the only team in the city to benefit from the Orange Coast College pipeline. HBU has four players from the school on its current roster — outfielders Zach Nehrir and Austin Saenz, first baseman/ pitcher Andrew Alvarez, and second baseman Greg Espinosa.
“I hope somebody gets a picture of them,” Altobelli said. “It would be fun to see seven OCC guys down in Houston playing in a regional.”