Lehigh University Athletics
Together again
8/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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of The Morning Call
Kyle Collina was sitting on the bus going from the team's hotel to the field.
Unfamiliar faces surrounded him.
Except for the one right next to him.
For the first time, Collina, a Notre Dame-Green Pond and
Collina, who the Cleveland Indians signed in June after the draft, got called up last week to pitch for the short-season Single-A Mahoning Valley Scrappers in the New York-Penn League.
Collina was previously with the Burlington (N.C.) Indians, a rookie league team in the Appalachian League.
McBride, the 75th player taken in this year's draft and
Collina never expected to be called up this early in the season.
"My girlfriend was in town and we went on a day trip to see the Durham Bulls, and on our way back, my roommate called my girlfriend's phone because I left mine home," Collina said. "He said he was trying to get a hold of me all day. He said I was getting called up to
It was already 10:30 last Wednesday night when Collina got wind of the news and he had to leave at 7:30 the next morning for a 10 a.m. flight to
He was slated to start that night.
Rain caused last Thursday night's game to be postponed, so Collina had to wait to make his Scrappers debut until Saturday. It wasn't a typical Collina outing, though. Although he struck out five in 3 2/3 innings, he walked three, allowed four hits and surrendered three earned runs.
But McBride is confident Collina will get back to the form he displayed this season at Lehigh and with
At Lehigh, he was 6-6 with a 4.52 ERA. In 85 2/3 innings pitched, he allowed 88 hits and 36 walks and struck out 87.
With the Indians, he was 0-1 with a 3.46 ERA. In 26 innings, he gave up 28 hits and struck out 30. He walked only eight.
"He seemed comfortable out there and he threw well," said McBride, a
Collina got a nice surprise for Saturday's outing. His father and younger brother made the trek to
"I had no idea they were coming," Collina said.
McBride, who said his mom, dad and grandfather have seen several of his games, is putting up outstanding numbers.
He's second on the team in batting with a .305 average. He's tied for the team high in home runs with three and has a club-best 22 RBIs despite having only 105 at-bats (compared to five teammates who have at least 130 at-bats).
McBride recently found out he's going to
"It's going really well," McBride said. "They have me hitting in the four spot. It's been great. Just waking up and knowing you have a game that day is great, too."
This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, August 8, 2006 edition of The Morning Call. Used with permission.
