A pair of El Camino College baseball players were named 2020 preseason All-Americans by the California Community College Baseball Coaches Association Monday, Oct. 21.
Sophomore pitchers Jimmy Galicia and Aaron Orozco, Orozco also a designated hitter (DH), helped lead the Warriors to earn a trip to Fresno to play for the state title as they fell one game short to Orange Coast College.
“It’s always good to get recognized for your talent but I just try not to pay any attention to it as much,” Orozco said. “But it’s always good to see the recognition and just to see your name up there.”
Last season Galicia and Orozco were No. 1 and 2 in wins and earned run average (ERA) in the South Coast Conference (SCC).
Galicia’s 13 wins was enough for second in the state and first in the SCC. He logged 122 innings pitched including four complete games and his ERA of 1.92 separated himself from every other pitcher in the conference as no other pitcher had an ERA lower than two.
“There’s always that friendly competition but it doesn’t go past that,” Orozco said. “We just try to better ourselves because we know that we are going to be relied on.”
Orozco was second in the conference with 12 wins and a 2.10 ERA. He pitched 111 2/3 innings including three complete games and was the only pitcher to eclipse 100 strikeouts in the conference as he had 114.
“With [Jimmy] Galicia and Aaron [Orozco] going deep into games it made the pressure for the bullpen less stressful,” Warriors’ pitcher and infielder Julian Diaz said. “They just had great command throughout the game and as the game went on they got stronger.”
Orozco as a DH had a batting average of .318 and was tied for third on the team with 50 hits. He was fourth in conference with 36 runs batted in (RBI).
“[I’m] just trying to always be a competitor out there,” Orozco said. “[I’m] just trying to deal [on the mound] and do better than my opponent.”
Going deeper into games allowed Galicia and Orozco to get more comfortable with commanding and locating their pitches.
“Both Aaron and Jimmy have learned to get better as the game goes on and that’s really important mixing in different pitches and going to their secondary pitches to do anything to get guys out,” Warriors’ infielder Diego Alarcon said.
