Eye of the Tiger

Steve Virgen

He was the kid from nowhere, the kid no one wanted. What was John

Savage thinking when he recruited Glenn Swanson?

Who’s Glenn Swanson?

All the kid had was a strong left hand, a lanky-like frame and a

huge load of confidence. When Savage went to see Swanson, now UC

Irvine’s left-handed star pitcher, the skinny kid displayed heart and

a calmness that redefined the state of cool.

Swanson’s coolness will be important for the Anteaters, who open

their season tonight at 6 against Fresno State at Anteater Ballpark.

Swanson might see some action. He will start Friday to open a

three-game series at Santa Clara. Swanson, a Louisville Slugger

Freshman All-American, compiled an 8-5 record and a 4.44 ERA last

season.

Confidence has always been Swanson’s greatest asset. He garnered

the attribute when he was a sophomore at Morse High, a school in San

Diego that’s not known for baseball. Back then, Swanson was thrown

into the fire.

He became a starting varsity pitcher and the kid thrived in the

situation. After the season, baseball became serious, rather than the

hobby it had been throughout his life. Swanson looked to his father

for guidance.

Swanson’s father, Glenn Sr., played baseball throughout his life

and built a passion for the sport while growing up in Pittsburgh. But

Glenn Sr. said baseball fizzled in high school and he eventually

stopped playing. He didn’t want that to happen to his son.

“I would have felt guilty if I didn’t do my part,” Glenn Sr. said.

“He had the desire and the want-to. It would have been a shame to

waste it. I told him, ‘If it’s something you want, you have to grab

it.’ I blew my chance when I was a kid, and I think he took that to

heart. I expected him to do well.”

And, so the confidence came from father and went to the son, and

Glenn Jr. used his newfound belief in himself to achieve success in

the prep ranks.

“I figured that was my chance to prove myself,” Swanson said of

his opportunity as a sophomore at Morse. “The only way I was going to

do that was to have confidence. If you don’t have confidence to beat

somebody, it’s probably not going to happen. You have to see it

happen, or otherwise you’re just going to be let down.”

Swanson’s confidence increased as the years went by and in his

senior season, he reached the high point. A pro scout discovered him

at unknown Morse High. The scout referred Swanson to Savage, the USC

pitching coach who had help develop the careers of Barry Zito and

Mark Prior and was now going to coach a new program at UCI.

Savage went to see Swanson. And the kid impressed the coach with

that unique confidence.

“We recruited him knowing he was a special kid,” Savage said of

Swanson. “He didn’t get too much publicity in San Diego. Even in the

San Diego Union-Tribune, he wasn’t highly publicized. He was always

in there for statistics among the leaders in strikeouts and wins, but

that was it. He played for a high school that wasn’t much of a

winning program. He was a diamond in the rough. He turned out to be a

better person than he is a pitcher. And, that’s hard to say.”

Morse High had not won a league title in baseball in school

history, 37 years. That is until Swanson came along. Swanson led the

Tigers to their first-ever Eastern League championship. Swanson was

named the Eastern League Most Valuable Player.

He earned an important win over Torrey Pines at Morse, where one

of the biggest crowds ever came to see the baseball team. Savage was

there and Swanson’s performance further solidified the need to get

the kid to UCI.

Savage had an advantage. No other coaches from NCAA Division I

programs were at that game. No other Division I coaches had been in

the Swansons’ living room.

“If I didn’t sign with UCI, I would probably be at Grossmont

Community College,” Swanson said. “A couple of guys I played against

in high school went to San Diego State and I was never even a

consideration to them. I really wanted to pitch against (San Diego

State) last year. We lost to them twice last year and those two

losses were the worse for me. I really wanted to stick it to them

because they never even gave me a look. I definitely want to shove it

in their face and say, take that. That’s the attitude I’m going to

take when we play them this year (March 7 and March 9 at San Diego,

March 8 at UCI).”

That type of motivation helped Swanson through his freshman

season. UCI was mired in a five-game losing streak, when Swanson came

to the rescue last year.

He pitched UCI’s only complete game, a two-run, one-hit

performance that led the Anteaters to a victory at Pepperdine.

Swanson also recorded wins over UCLA and USC, and he earned Big West

Pitcher of the Week honors after shutting out UNLV and Pacific last

year.

“His demeanor, and presence and confidence were really ahead of

his ability,” Savage said of Swanson’s freshman season. “This year

the expectations are a little higher because he’s going to be more of

a rotation guy. We really think he has a tremendous upside. He’s

probably the most confident kid on our team.”

Toward the end of last season, Swanson tweaked his pitching arm.

He rested and performed mainly leg workouts while he trained with his

father during the early summer. He increased his strength and gained

20 pounds on his 6-foot-2 frame.

When his arm regained strength, Swanson began working toward his

goals, with San Diego State in mind. Swanson also had the Anteaters

in mind. He helped Morse High achieve a championship, now he wants to

do the same for UCI. The Big West coaches’ picked the Anteaters to

finish third in the league. Powerhouses Cal State Fullerton and Long

Beach State are 1 and 2, and nationally recognized. But that just

excites Swanson even more.

“We definitely don’t want to have the door shut in our face

again,” Swanson said in reference to last year, when UCI was not

selected to an NCAA regional. “We had a good feeling about being

selected, but it didn’t happen. We were picked to finish seventh in

the Big West last year, and we finished three higher spots. We were

picked to finish third in the Big West this season and now we want to

jump another three spots and win the Big West title and that’s the

No. 1 priority.”