Stowell raring to go in ’08

Like the most ardent of fans, last season, Bryce Stowell watched the UC Irvine baseball team succeed nearly to the level of its wildest dreams. Interspersed between the awe and inspiration of the postseason odyssey that brought the Anteaters to the College World Series, however, there was, for Stowell, torment.

For, ever since he could recall, Stowell was happiest in the throes of competition, be it baseball, board games with his family, or even the unknown depths of an Olympic-size pool, in which he agreed to play high school water polo without first having learned how to swim.

Anteaters pitching coach Ted Silva has already seen the competitive beast that lies within the Anteaters’ 6-foot-2, 205-pound sophomore radar magnet, whose low- to mid-90s-mph fastball has, since high school, cast him regularly in the center of the diamond.

“Earlier this fall, he was Bryce, the Tasmanian Devil, just raring back and trying to throw it through everything he could throw it through,” Silva said.

It was what Stowell was forced to go through that rendered him so pent-up and single-minded: A single season on the sideline, in which, though completely healthy, he was separated from the consequences of competition.

“I just really wanted to get into the game and make an impact,” said Stowell, who was forced to redshirt in 2007 after transferring from Pepperdine, where Coach Steve Rodriguez elected not to grant him the release that would have allowed him to play immediately at UCI.

“I’d be lying if I told you there weren’t a few moments that I was really upset; just down,” Stowell said of last season.

This season, Stowell is, once again, staring down hitters, savoring each signal flashed to him through the fingers of his catcher. He is, at once, the Anteaters’ Saturday starter and, arguably, their most talented and eager newcomer, when they open the season, beginning tonight, with a three-game nonconference series at Nevada.

He is, happily he said, running out of days in which to look forward to the 2008 season.

“We’ve put the hay in the barn and it’s time to play,” Stowell said. “Having the Saturday start [following third-team All-American Scott Gorgen, who returns as the Friday starter], is something special and I’m ready to take it on and compete. I commit to my team and to the season, and I hope everything works out the way I want it to.”

If things go the way they can, Stowell might pick right up where Wes Etheridge, last year’s Saturday starter who is now in the Milwaukee Brewers’ organization, left off.

“He’s a right-hander who is a strong-bodied, athletic guy with a good arm,” first-year coach Mike Gillespie said of Stowell, who would have been a weekend starter last season, according to former coach Dave Serrano. “He’s always 90 [mph] or above and he’s around the plate. He is, for sure, a frontline professional prospect.”

Stowell chose Pepperdine over UCI — where his dad, Mark, played center field for the Anteaters in 1979 and 1980 — after earning All-CIF and 2004 Freeway League Most Valuable Player honors as a pitcher and corner infielder.

But after just 16 1/3 innings with the Waves in 2006 , when he was 1-1 with a 7.16 earned-run average with 13 strikeouts, then earning the Pitcher of the Year award in the Central Illinois Collegiate League later that summer, he decided UCI was where he was meant to be.

“It just didn’t work out at Pepperdine,” Stowell said.

Rodriguez said he would grant Stowell his release at any other program but UCI, but Stowell remained committed to UCI.

“The timing [of the transfer in July] was a little bit off for us,” Rodriguez said. “He was on a pretty big scholarship for us and it kind of hurt our team. I told him he could transfer and play at any school except [UCI]. He is a phenomenal kid and an unbelievable worker, but Pepperdine was just not a great fit for him. There are no hard feelings. I had to do what was best for our program and he had to do what was best for him.”

Stowell tried to make the best of his redshirt season, sitting near coaches during home games, studying the intricacies of the game he had barely noticed while on the field. He also watched Gorgen and Etheridge give frequent pitching clinics, while volunteering to pitch intrasquad games to try to help his teammates prepare for future opponents.

But, mostly, privately, he seethed, longing for the competitive outlet the game had always provided.

“Whether its tiddlywinks or baseball, I want to win everything,” Stowell said. I don’t think you can play Division I sports, without having some type of competitiveness. Last year took a toll on me, but with the help of my family, teammates and coaches, I got through it all.”

Stowell returned to competition last summer in the Cape Cod League, going 1-5 with a 3.72 ERA in 38 2/3 innings for the Hyannis Mets. He was named league Pitcher of the Week once during his summer assignment.

“The Cape was a special place and I’ll always remember it for what it was,” Stowell said. “For some guys, it’s the place to be looked at [by scouts]. But to me, it was about getting back in the game and loving the game for what it was. It was a really good experience and I loved it a lot.”

UCI coaches love Stowell’s potential, but Silva also praises the passion Stowell brings.

“He’s one of the easiest guys to work with, because he shows up willing to learn and ready to work,” Silva said. “The biggest thing right now is, having redshirted, he’s hungry and he really wants the ball. But I think he has done a good job of understanding what level, emotionally, he needs to show up with. He’s learning how to pitch.”

Gillespie believes Stowell will improve as the season continues.

“We certainly hope Bryce Stowell is going to be phenomenal the first time out,” Gillespie said. “But, in fairness, we probably should realize that it is going to require some patience. It’s about where he is going to be in a month or two months, because he’s going to keep getting better.”

Stowell said Silva has tuned up his mechanics, helping him better load up on each pitch and giving him more velocity and stamina.

“I think I’m more prepared now than I ever have been going into a season,” Stowell said. “So I’m really excited about getting going. I know I have to be on my game every single pitch. When I’m competing, there is nothing else in the world; every pitch, every batter, every inning. I think the most fun about pitching is that every pitch is a new adventure.”

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.