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Saville gives verbal to Texas A&M CC: Coso leftfielder emphasizes academics

By Kyle Kensing, Sports Editor, The Daily Independent

Paul Saville is shown here running the bases at Cerro Coso. Soon, he'll be rounding the base paths at NCAA Div. I Texas A & M Corpus Christi. Daily Independent Photo By Kyle Kensing

Though he stands just 5-foot-8, Paul Saville's impact on Cerro Coso baseball has been immeasurable.

And after nearly two years of consistent batting and defensive play, the young man from Burlington, Ontario, Canada is ready to take his game to NCAA Div. I.

Saville is verbally committed to Texas A & M Corpus Christi, a member of the Southland Conference.

“He's the kind of kid who will...run through a wall if you ask him to,” said Coso head coach Dick Adams. “And he deserves what he's got coming ahead of him. He's earned it.”

That hard work has shown at the plate, where Saville is a standout. He's batted .343 with two home runs and 22 RBI this season.

His production hasn't been limited to the plate, either.

He has a healthy .980 fielding average in left, with 45 putouts and five assists.

Not bad for someone who came to Coso as a catcher and had to make the transition to outfield.

“He's a team leader. We call him a Pete Rose kind of guy,” Adams said.

Drawing comparisons to the man dubbed “Charlie Hustle” during his playing days is nothing to scoff at.

But more important than his contributions on the Dawg Yard field, Saville has been an academic leader.

Adams said he is primed to win his second Academic Athlete Award at the season's conclusion.

And according to Saville himself, academics is his top priority.

“[Texas A & M C.C.] offered a Master's in kinisthiesiology, that's my program,” he said. “That's my first and second - student-athlete. I'm going there for the academics as much as the athletics.”

That's not to say Saville isn't ready to dig right in as an Islander, however.

“It's the next step for me, a Div. I program.”

Moving on to that next level, Saville said he will take the lessons he's learned both as a baseball player and a student at Cerro Coso to A & M C.C.

“I've learned a lot here, but the road to learning never ends,” he said.

That's not all Saville seems to have picked up from the Ridgecrest area, however.

“[Corpus Christi] is a hot weather climate,” he said. “That's a good thing, [after] growing up in Canada.”

Thursday, April 27, 2006