Cal State pitcher leads Palm Springs team

Cal State San Bernardino baseball coach Don Parnell told everyone that former Cajon High School star Aaron Brooks was something special after he signed to attend Cal State and play baseball for the Coyotes in 2008-09.

Apparently, the baseball coaches in the California Collegiate Athletic Association agreed with Parnell's assessment, voting Brooks the 2009 CCAA freshman of the year.

Brooks continued to impress everyone with his pitching efforts this summer with the Palm Springs Power, an all-collegiate team competing in the Southern California Collegiate Baseball Association with five other teams.

The sophomore-to-be helped the Power win the SCCBA regular season race with an 18-2 record, 31-7 overall, then swept the Orange County Pioneers in a best-of-three playoff to capture the 2009 season championship this week, improving the Power's record to 33-7..

Brooks shut out the Pioneers, 8-0, on a four-hit shutout earlier this week with seven strikeouts. It was his second nine-inning complete game of the season and improved his record to 6-0 as a starter with one save in relief.

The 6-4, 210-pound right-hander was so dominant in his mound appearances that his earned run average in 56 innings of work was a microscopic 0.32. He was tagged for just 36 hits while striking out 47 batters and walking just three in nine appearances, six of them starts. Opponents batted just .194 against him.

An accomplished hitter at Cajon HS, where he set a Cowboys career home run record, he had six hits in 19 at bats and scored five times. He had one home run and five runs batted in.

Brooks was an all-CIF Southern Section pick at Cajon HS while dividing his time between pitching and playing third base.

In his freshman season for the Coyotes, Brooks was 2-3 in 10 appearances, nine of them starts with one complete game and a 4.70 earned run average. He struck out 48 batters in 53 innings of work and walked just 16. His best outing was a complete game three-hitter in a 9-1 CSUSB win over Cal State Monterey Bay.