ABL VETERAN: Gonzaga lefty back for his second summer with the Miners

PALMER — Calvin LeBrun enjoyed a stellar summer for the Mat-Su Miners in 2015. The southpaw was among team leaders in several statistical categories, was named an Alaska Baseball League All-Star and helped the Miners advance to the ABL’s Top of the World Series.

LeBrun is back for his second summer with the Miners, and once again, is among the leaders on the Mat-Su staff.

“He’s definitely a true veteran Alaska Baseball League (pitcher),” Mat-Su head coach Ben Taylor said earlier this season. “He knows how this league works, knows how to prepare himself.”

Earlier this season, LeBrun, a Gonzaga junior, said he’s elated to be back in Alaska wearing the green and gold.

“There’s no other place I’d rather be for my last summer,” LeBrun said of playing in the amateur collegiate leagues. “Playing with these guys in this league is so fun. I’m excited to be back.”

The door opened for LeBrun to return to Palmer and the Miners for the second time in three years during the fall of his junior season.

“I talked to my pitching coach, and he said, hey, there’s an option to go back to Mat-Su,” LeBrun said. “I didn’t hesitate at all.”

LeBrun said there was also the option to return to Mat-Su last summer, but he opted to give the Cape Cod League a shot. LeBrun pitched for the Orleans Firebirds in 2016.

“There’s good talent there. I took my lumps and bumps, but I learned a lot about who I was as a pitcher and what I need to work on and I utilized that this year and had a better year,” LeBrun said.

LeBrun made 22 appearances as a junior with the Zags, 21 out of he bullpen. He pitched 48 innings, striking out 39 while issuing only a dozen walks. He was also 1-1 and made three saves.

“I was more of a back-end guy,” LeBrun said of his junior season.

But LeBrun is happy to take on any role on the staff, he said.

“I go with the mentality every day, as soon as they call my name, take advantage of the opportunity and throw strikes,” LeBrun said.

LeBrun has started multiple games and worked in relief multiple times for the Miners this season. Early in the season, Taylor said he’d like to see LeBrun as a main piece of the rotation, but also lauded LeBrun’s versatility.

“As long as he’s on the mound for us, we feel pretty good,” Taylor said.

As of July 3, LeBrun is 3-2 with a 2.15 ERA, and 15 strikeouts and only four walks. In two of his wins, LeBrun has allowed only one earned run over seven innings of work.

In 2015, LeBrun appeared in eight games for the Miners, making seven starts. The lefthander was 4-1 with a 1.29 ERA in 48 2/3 innings. He fanned 44 and walked only nine hitters.

In three years at Gonzaga, LeBrun has pitched in 53 games, fanning 98 in 146 innings.

LeBrun is a native of Phoenix, Arizona.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.