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Home for sale highlights progress made in restoring East Hills neighborhood

It was a celebratory day in the East Hills on Friday morning. Complaints about water damage and collapsing roofs are starting to turn into renovated homes. Rising Tide Partners has turned some of the abandoned properties into rentals, but on Friday, it cut the ribbon on the first for-sale home with the community. Dr. Patricia […]

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Home for sale highlights progress made in restoring East Hills neighborhood

It was a celebratory day in the East Hills on Friday morning. Complaints about water damage and collapsing roofs are starting to turn into renovated homes.

Rising Tide Partners has turned some of the abandoned properties into rentals, but on Friday, it cut the ribbon on the first for-sale home with the community.

Dr. Patricia Saunders-Madison, the vice president of the HOA involved, heard the complaints from people in this neighborhood over the years.

“It was a good house in the middle – and two abandoned on each end – so a lot of the water coming through the roof was coming into their homes,” Saunders-Madison said.

In came Rising Tide Partners, and Kendall Pelling, its executive director.

“They needed that real estate capacity. They needed somebody who would come and take risks with them,” he said.

The first of those for-sale homes was revealed Friday. The house includes a renovated kitchen, a bathroom and even a deck. 

“I’m happy that we’re here today,” Dr. Saunders-Madison said.

Pelling says 84 of the 167 properties in this HOA are abandoned.

“Now we control them and the community controls their destiny instead of an absentee investor controlling their destiny,” he said.

Rising Tide has turned some of these into rentals. He says they want to get them all to good owners and keep them at a low cost.

“A homebuyer can have a monthly mortgage payment of $650 to $700 a month,” Pelling said.

Part of the next steps include making lot improvements, like to sidewalks and the parking area. Pelling said those projects will be up for bidding this summer.

The hope is for the home that was renovated for sale to be available by the end of the summer as well.

Pelling also said that Rising Tide applied for a low-income housing tax credit from the state for funding to allow for continued renovations and help.

Dr. Saunders-Madison remembers how this place used to be. She also knows that the work is not over, but she and others are pleased with what’s become of it.

“We’re not there yet. We’re not there yet – but it’s coming, it’s coming along,” she said.

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Jeff Traylor inducted into Texas High School Coaches Association 2025 Hall of Honor

SAN ANTONIO – University of Texas at San Antonio Football Head Coach Jeff Traylor was inducted into the Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA) 2025 Hall of Honor on Saturday evening, marking another milestone in his storied career. The induction comes just months after Traylor was honored in the Texas High School Football Hall of […]

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Jeff Traylor inducted into Texas High School Coaches Association 2025 Hall of Honor

SAN ANTONIO – University of Texas at San Antonio Football Head Coach Jeff Traylor was inducted into the Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA) 2025 Hall of Honor on Saturday evening, marking another milestone in his storied career.

The induction comes just months after Traylor was honored in the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame alongside NFL star Patrick Mahomes and former Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III.

Traylor, however, shared the unique significance of the THSCA recognition, noting that his roots as a Texas high school football coach remain central to his identity.

“It’s been remarkable,” Traylor said. “The induction in Waco was very special, pretty cool, especially going in with Patrick Mahomes and the East Texas flavor that it had. But this one has a special place from my heart just because it’s where I came from, it’s my roots. I’ll always be a Texas high school football coach at heart.”

Traylor, a former high school coach known for his tenure at Gilmer High School, where he led the team to multiple state championships, said the THSCA honor resonates deeply.

“We’ve got a lot of East Texas,” Traylor said, referring to the robust East Texas representation on the UTSA football roster. “I’ve lived in those woods for a long, long time. I coached their parents and their grandparents. I just have a lot of connections there, a lot of built-in relationships, and we’re extremely thrilled.”

Traylor was sure to mention that he even coached G.J. Kinne, Texas State’s head football coach, at one point in time.


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HIGHLIGHTS

SPOKANE, Wash. — The final round of the 38th annual Rosauers Open Invitational came down to the final two holes at Indian Canyon Golf Course on Sunday afternoon. The last two groups led the field and featured the last three Rosauers champions: amateur Andrew Von Lossow (2024), Conner Robbins (2023) and Daniel Campbell (2022) as the two groups […]

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HIGHLIGHTS

SPOKANE, Wash. — The final round of the 38th annual Rosauers Open Invitational came down to the final two holes at Indian Canyon Golf Course on Sunday afternoon.

The last two groups led the field and featured the last three Rosauers champions: amateur Andrew Von Lossow (2024), Conner Robbins (2023) and Daniel Campbell (2022) as the two groups bunched up on hole 17.

Seattle Topgolf’s Darren Black was in the final group and struggled on hole 17 carding a double bogey which opened the door for Von Lossow, Campbell and Robbins who had already teed off on hole 18.

Von Lossow’s tee shot found the dirt between two trees on the right side of the finishing fairway forcing him to punch out on his approach shot. The punch shot flew the green as his ball landed just above the fringe in the rough for his eagle look.

The chip from off the green rolled below the hole as Von Lossow would make the birdie putt and finish at 13-under for the tournament.

Campbell’s tee shot landed in the rough just feet away from the left side of the fairway. His approach shot would also sail over the green but land on the backside in the rough for a downhill chip for eagle.

Robbins had the best approach shot after finding the fairway as his ball landed on the dance floor for a green in regulation, but it left him with a left-to-right breaking putt downhill for eagle. Robbins could not convert on the eagle look and finished the tournament at 13-under tied for second place with Von Lossow.

Campbell would chip his third shot passed the hole but in a good spot to clean up for birdie and unknowingly win the tournament at 14-under par.

The best bet in the final group to try and tie Campbell and send the tournament to a playoff was PNW Golf Academy’s James Hall who was bogey free and 3-under through the back nine of his final round.

Hall needed an eagle on hole 18 to tie Campbell at 14-under, but his approach shot landed in the greenside sand bunker. Hall would splash it out but couldn’t hole out as he two-putted for par to finish 12-under tied for fourth place.

You can find the full overall results of the 38th annual Rosauers Open Invitational by clicking here.

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HIGHLIGHTS

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Spokane Velocity FC lost its second straight match in USL League One, falling 3-0 to the Chattanooga Red Wolves SC, which remains unbeaten on its home pitch this season. Just three minutes into the match, midfielder Yanis Lelin capitalized on a ball played deep into Spokane’s zone. His shot was just beyond […]

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HIGHLIGHTS

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. Spokane Velocity FC lost its second straight match in USL League One, falling 3-0 to the Chattanooga Red Wolves SC, which remains unbeaten on its home pitch this season.

Just three minutes into the match, midfielder Yanis Lelin capitalized on a ball played deep into Spokane’s zone. His shot was just beyond the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Carlos Merancio, igniting the home crowd and giving the Red Wolves an early 1-0 lead.

In the 32nd minute, Spokane was awarded a penalty kick for a penalty committed against Annuar Pelaez, but his penalty kick was blocked by Chattanooga’s goalie to keep it 1-0 in Chattanooga’s favor.

The Red Wolves continued their dominance as the first half progressed. In the 37th minute, Omar Hernandez scored with a perfect free kick off the top crossbar. The ball went straight off the frame and in without Merancio ever having a chance at stopping the ball.

The final score of the game came in the 47th minute when a cross ball was headed into the net by Zahir Vazquez. Vazquez fully laid out for the header to bury the ball in the back of the net. The 3-0 goal put the match out of reach, securing Chattanooga’s third shutout in four matches.Spokane remains in first place in USL League One with 29 points and a two-point lead on Chattanooga, which moved into second place with the win.Velocity FC will play next on July 26 in the USL Cup against Sacramento Republic FC, before returning to league play on Aug. 2 against Union Omaha.

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Walkoff highlights Cole Young's surge with Seattle Mariners

Less than two months into his major league career, Cole Young has already played the role of walkoff hero twice for the Seattle Mariners. Young’s walkoff in 11th sends M’s to wild win over Astros Young’s latest walkoff came in the 11th inning on Saturday night, when he lined a one-out RBI single down the […]

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Walkoff highlights Cole Young's surge with Seattle Mariners

Less than two months into his major league career, Cole Young has already played the role of walkoff hero twice for the Seattle Mariners.

Young’s walkoff in 11th sends M’s to wild win over Astros

Young’s latest walkoff came in the 11th inning on Saturday night, when he lined a one-out RBI single down the right-field line to give the Mariners a 7-6 win over the AL West rival Houston Astros.

It came exactly seven weeks after the 21-year-old Young capped his May 31 debut with a walkoff RBI fielder’s choice in an 11-inning victory over the Minnesota Twins.

“It’s awesome,” Young said after Saturday’s game-winning hit, which ended with him being stormed by his teammates during a frenzied celebration in shallow right field. “I mean, this is what you play for. … To be a part of that moment, it’s amazing.”

With the winning run on third in the 11th, Young fell behind 1-2 after swinging through a fastball from Astros reliever Héctor Neris.

Young immediately stepped out of the box and took a moment to compose himself, then fouled off another fastball before sending a below-the-zone 84 mph splitter into right field for the winning hit.

“You kind of saw his frustration there in his at-bat,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “He stepped out there after the (swing and miss) and kind of calmed himself down a little bit and collected himself and then was able to deliver big-time.

“And that’s the mark of someone who’s really gaining experience and understanding situations. … Just a great at-bat in a really tough situation.”

Young got off to a slow 1-for-19 start over his first six career games. But since then, he’s batted .295 over his past 31 games. He’s currently riding a seven-game hitting streak, while going 9 for 24 with two home runs and a double over that span.

Young’s game-winner on Saturday night made him the youngest Mariners player with a walkoff base hit since Alex Rodriguez did so at age 20 in 1996.

“I think just trying to simplify everything and not trying to do too much – I think that’s the biggest thing for me,” Young said of his mindset in clutch situations.

“I’m not trying to go up and hit a home run. I’m just trying to put the ball in play, and usually good things happen. So if I can just keep that mindset simple and easy, it helps me.”

Young’s walkoff gave the Mariners their fifth straight win and moved them within three games of the first-place Astros.

“I’m just glad we won tonight,” Young said. “It was amazing.”

Seattle Mariners coverage

• Seattle Mariners RHP Bryce Miller throws first live BP since going on IL
• Two players vital to Seattle Mariners’ second-half success
• Notebook: M’s name starter for finale vs Astros, sign 18 draft picks
• Passan: Seattle Mariners pulled off an ‘absolute coup’ for their future
• MLB trade deadline: Could Seattle Mariners target bat, reliever together?


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Nebraska Athletics highlights

LINCOLN — On occasion, a defining moment for a player, team and athletic department can come after a loss. And when the Nebraska softball team fell one run short of making the Women’s College World Series in May, do-it-all Husker pitcher and hitter Jordy Bahl didn’t want herself or her teammates to miss a lesson. […]

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Nebraska Athletics highlights

LINCOLN — On occasion, a defining moment for a player, team and athletic department can come after a loss.

And when the Nebraska softball team fell one run short of making the Women’s College World Series in May, do-it-all Husker pitcher and hitter Jordy Bahl didn’t want herself or her teammates to miss a lesson.

“In the locker room we talked about ‘watch Tennessee celebrate,’” Bahl said after NU’s 1-0 super regional loss to the Volunteers. “Let it burn as bad as it can. Watch them celebrate. Watch them hold their ticket, watch them put those hats on and watch them in the World Series.

“Because I feel like that’s how you’re able to gain the most out of being on the other end of that.”

The 2025 NFCA player of the year, who had a 1.56 ERA and 23 homers, reinforced a department-wide tone from the 2024-25 athletic year. Compete and succeed, even if a national title doesn’t come with the effort.

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For the Husker wrestling team, two individual NCAA titles — for 149-pounder Ridge Lovett and 157-pounder Antrell Taylor — came with a national runner-up finish at the NCAA championships, Nebraska’s best under coach Mark Manning, who got lifted up on the shoulders of his team in Philadelphia. He won NCAA tournament coach of the year for his efforts.

“A lot of coaches are in it for the money,” Taylor said at a press conference. “But Manning, he’s in it for every aspect of your life.”

Softball and wrestling success helped fuel NU’s highest Director’s Cup finish in 15 years. The Huskers came in 21st overall, good to earn Athletic Director Troy Dannen, in his first full year on the job, a $180,000 bonus.

Dannen’s deftest work, though, may have come during a historic change in the Husker volleyball program when legendary coach John Cook chose, after the leading the team to another Final Four, to retire from the sport, passing the baton to former player and former assistant Dani Busboom Kelly, who’d led Louisville to the national title match.

Cook, Busboom Kelly and Dannen quietly arranged the ducks in late January without a single leak getting out.

“Hell, yeah, I’m going to miss it,” Cook said. “But I’m going to be the biggest cheerleader.”

Busboom Kelly was introduced a week later at Devaney Center, with tons of fans from her high school alma mater, Adams Freeman, in the audience.

“The expectations aren’t changing,” she said that day.

That sounds like Nebraska in 2024-25.

More highlights from the year:

Decisions made, streaks broken

Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola took off toward the outfield bleachers for an impromptu extra celebration. As a true freshman, he’d just led the Huskers to their first bowl berth since 2016 and their first bowl win since 2015, beating Boston College 20-15 in a cold, wet Pinstripe Bowl.

Yankee Stadium was more than large enough for the chilled crowd on hand. The weather didn’t dampen NU’s excitement.

“That was a lot of fun,” Raiola said, summing up the week in New York. It’s the most fun the Huskers have had in a season, too, though valleys alternated with the peaks.

NU posted its first winning season since 2016, and ended the bowl drought by winning its sixth regular-season game of the year against Wisconsin, which had won the previous 10 meetings in every way imaginable. Nebraska left no doubt against the struggling Badgers in a 44-25 rout that left players and fans mingling on the field.

That had happened earlier in the season, too, when the Huskers shut down Colorado stars Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter in a 28-10 win that wasn’t as close as the score suggested. Nebraska rose to as high as No. 22 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll before losses to Illinois and Indiana sent the team tumbling out.

NU nearly upset eventual national champion Ohio State before a loss to UCLA moved coach Matt Rhule enough to demote his offensive coordinator, Marcus Satterfield, and hire Dana Holgorsen on the fly. The decision, rare and risky, paid off with wins over Wisconsin and BC and an eventual contract for Holgorsen to keep calling plays at Nebraska.

“The way he does things is different from how I’ve done things,” Rhule said. “I was appealing to him because of that and he was appealing to me because of that.”

Historic basketball careers end

One of the top players in NU women’s basketball history, Alexis Markowski, completed her career with 1,902 points, 1,220 rebounds, 120 starts and three NCAA tournament berths. The Lincoln Pius X graduate, who switched her commitment from South Dakota State to NU after the COVID-19 pandemic, also delivered countless pep talks to teammates over her four years as a fiery vocal leader.

“I remember my first meeting with coach (Amy) Williams, and the only thing I said was, ‘I’m just gonna win, coach. I just want to win. That’s all I want to do.’ And I feel like we brought winning back together at Nebraska.”

Though the Husker men fell short of both the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments because of a stunning late-season collapse, forward Brice Williams still earned All-Big Ten honors after averaging 20.4 points per game. NU won the College Basketball Crown tournament at the end of the year.

Other notables

Track and field: Nebraska men’s high jumper Tyus Wilson and women’s shot putter Alexlina Johansson both won NCAA indoor track and field individual national titles last season.

Bowling: Jillian Martin won women’s bowler of the year from the National Tenpin Coaches Association. Martin also won a pro bowling major title (the USBC Queens) in 2024.

Baseball: Husker baseball won its second straight Big Ten tournament at Schwab Field, punching its ticket for the NCAA tournament thanks in part to a stunning dropped fly ball by Michigan State during the Big Ten event. NU was blasted, twice, by Oklahoma in the NCAAs.

Swimming: Gena Jorgenson finished her decorated swimming career as a two-time All-American in the 1,650-yard freestyle.

Gymnastics: NU men’s gymnast Taylor Christopulos won the Nissen-Emery Award for top senior men’s gymnast. He’s the fourth Husker to do so.

Tennis: The Husker men’s tennis team made its third-ever NCAA tournament under second-year coach Peter Kobelt, losing in the first round to Baylor.

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Mark Patton

Overview: Tyler Bremner surpassed Dillon Tate, the No. 4 selection in 2015, as the highest MLB Draft pick in UCSB baseball history Tyler Bremner passed on the trip to Atlanta for last week’s Major League Baseball draft. The Coca-Cola Roxy concert venue is a nice place to visit, especially if they’re celebrating you as a […]

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Mark Patton

Overview:

Tyler Bremner surpassed Dillon Tate, the No. 4 selection in 2015, as the highest MLB Draft pick in UCSB baseball history

Tyler Bremner passed on the trip to Atlanta for last week’s Major League Baseball draft.

The Coca-Cola Roxy concert venue is a nice place to visit, especially if they’re celebrating you as a first-round pick.

But UC Santa Barbara’s junior All-American wanted to be home in San Diego, in the embrace of family and friends, for such a life-changing event.

His mother, after all, had grinded out her own extra innings to see him through the most trying baseball season of his life.

Gaucho coach Andrew Checketts was amazed every time Jennifer Bremner gutted through her own grim challenge to make the 200-plus-mile journey to Caesar Uyesaka Stadium to watch her son pitch.

But by early May, her stage-4 breast cancer had made that impossible.

“She was awesome,” Checketts told Noozhawk. “There isn’t any doubt in Tyler’s mind how much his mom cared about him and loved him, and was fighting to hang in there until the draft.”

Jennifer Bremner proudly displays the portrait that her young son, Tyler, drew of her in this photograph taken about 15 years ago.
Jennifer Bremner proudly displays the portrait that her young son, Tyler, drew of her in this photograph taken about 15 years ago. Credit: Bremner family photo

Tyler tearfully hugged his father, Jason, and sisters Hailey and Sierra, while celebrating with a roomful of relatives and friends when Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred made the televised announcement:

The Los Angeles Angels took UCSB’s star righthander with the No. 2 overall pick, confounding every expert who had constructed a mock draft.

Just a week earlier, the Bremners’ circle of family and friends had gathered for a different kind of celebration: the one of his mother’s life.

Jennifer Bremner had made it all the way through her son’s final Gaucho season before dying on June 11. She was just 54.

“I know she’s watching over me, and I know she’s so proud of me,” Bremner said during a video call with the news media. “She was honestly one of my biggest supporters.

“She came out to all the games, and all the way up to the point where her body wouldn’t let her anymore.

“I know she’s out there watching.”

Sophomore Sensation

Bremner had been closely watched by MLB scouts and executives ever since his Gaucho season of 2024.

His win-loss record of 11-1, earned-run average of 2.54 and strikeout-to-walk ratio of 104-to-21 in 88⅔ innings ranked among college baseball’s best that season.

Bremner continued to flash elite stuff that summer — a fastball that touched 98 mph and a changeup that scouts rated as the best of the entire 2025 draft class — during a nearly flawless stint with Team USA’s collegiate team.

UCSB pitcher Tyler Bremner did not allow a run during his stint with Team USA’s national collegiate baseball team last summer.
UCSB pitcher Tyler Bremner did not allow a run during his stint with Team USA’s national collegiate baseball team last summer. Credit: Team USA Baseball photo

But other “stuff” happened when autumn bled into winter.

“He’d been a little sore, throwing-wise, so we shut him down,” Checketts said. “And then he got sick.

“He got sick in November and December and lost 12 pounds. I don’t know what it ended up being. Bronchitis?

“He’d get a little better and then it would come back. So we sent him home.”

Bremner’s world took a tragic turn for the worse when he got there.

A physical examination just before Christmas revealed that his mother’s cancer had spread from her lungs and was now present throughout her body.

The diagnosis was a death sentence.

It thrust her son back to that terrible year of 2020 — during the early days of COVID-19 — when her condition was first identified as stage 2 breast cancer.

“He had to move out because his mom was going through chemo, and he was going to school (at Scripps Ranch High School),” Checketts said.

“She beat it, and then it came back after his freshman year here at UCSB.”

The weight of the world descended upon Bremner’s thinning, 6-foot-4 frame again last winter just as he was trying to reclaim his strength.

Checketts took it slow when his ace returned to campus in January.

“We knew that with the ramp-up, it was really important to be cautious and careful,” he said. “He didn’t have a full fall, and then he fell far behind physically in December.

“If he said he had a hangnail, I was freaking out.

“If he said he was sore or tired, he was done for the day.”

Starts and Stops

Checketts didn’t let Bremner pitch long enough in his first two starts in mid-February — three innings in each — to get official credit for the win in lopsided games against Campbell and Seattle.

And then the losses came when UCSB entered Big West Conference play. He suffered three in a row from mid-March to early April as the Gauchos’ Friday starter.

Bremner’s worst outing came on March 28 when Long Beach State thumped him for eight hits and six runs — five earned — in the first 3⅔ innings of a 9-6 defeat at Blair Field.

“He was behind on his breaking ball,” Checketts said. “He hadn’t gotten a lot of touches with it until mid-January.

“His command wasn’t very sharp. He was throwing a lot of fastballs down the middle.”

UCSB pitcher Tyler Bremner, with parents Jennifer and Jason, clutches the Big West Conference baseball championship trophy after the Gauchos clinched the 2024 title.
UCSB pitcher Tyler Bremner, with parents Jennifer and Jason, clutches the Big West Conference baseball championship trophy after the Gauchos clinched the 2024 title. Credit: UCSB Athletics photo

The Gauchos’ league record plummeted to 5-8 by the time Bremner lost a 1-0 pitcher’s duel to UC Davis on April 4.

“There was a lot of pressure on him, and a lot of it was in terms of the draft,” Checketts said. “He wasn’t super-sharp when he came out of the gates.

“It’s hard, between starts, to be counting the money you’re losing, or think about how that can affect you.

“He didn’t verbalize that, but he’s human.”

By midseason, Bremner’s ERA had risen to 4.24 — and all projections of him as a top-five draft pick had vanished.

“Getting away from the field in those moments wasn’t any less stressful because of what was going on with his mom,” Checketts said.

“For a while there, he didn’t have anywhere to turn in terms of relief from the pressure.”

Grace Under Fire

Jen Bremner found her own outlet that April. She wrote a poignant essay about her faith for “Conquer: the journey informed” — an online platform for those affected by cancer.

“I feel like I am swimming in the ocean, desperately trying to get to shore, but the current is too strong and is relentlessly pulling me back out to sea,” she wrote. “I don’t know what my future holds or how much time I have left.

“I don’t know if there will come a day when I no longer want to endure the pain and suffering without the desired result.

“For now, I persevere through the treatment and sickness hoping for brighter days and more time with my loved ones.”

Her son found his own refuge at about the same time. It was atop the baseball mound.

Tyler Bremner and his mother, Jennifer, take in a San DIego Padres game at Petco Park more than a decade ago.
Tyler Bremner and his mother, Jennifer, take in a San DIego Padres game at Petco Park more than a decade ago. Credit: Bremner Family photo

“He started throwing the ball better halfway through the season,” Checketts pointed out. “It felt like the field was the place where he could disengage a bit from the off-the-field stress.

“It was where he could go and focus on something else.”

The strikeouts increased as he gained strength and worked through his mechanics.

He whiffed at least 10 batters in six of his last seven starts. He had reached that number in none of his first seven appearances.

Bremner finished the season with a career-best 111 strikeouts. His average of 12.91 per nine innings ranked fifth nationally.

His three-year total of 295 strikeouts broke UCSB’s career record set 42 years ago by Dan Yokubaitis.

“A big thing for me was just getting the arm on time and keeping the fastball riding through the zone,” Bremner said. “I think the only time I ran into some trouble this year was when the arm was a tick late.

“Once I got the arm in sync and started to see the four seam (fastball) go by bats, you just compete out there … It starts flowing and you start rolling, and you feed off the energy of those positive starts.”

The rocket fuel in his right arm, Bremner admitted, was ignited by “the negative energy” of his mother’s illness.

“As she got worse, that’s when I got stronger on the field,” he said.

He felt like he was “pitching angry … or pitching for her … pitching for something bigger than myself.”

Bremner flared up into a nearly untouchable tempest when his mom’s worsening condition forced her to miss his final three outings.

He struck out 33 batters and allowed just three runs in those three games.

Striking Back

His ERA had improved from 4.24 to 3.49 by season’s end. He struck out 35.6% of the batters he faced in his 14 starts and walked only 6.1%.

And yet, his position in most mock drafts barely changed. ESPN and MLB.com both listed him as the No. 18 pick in their final projections.

Baseball America had him a little better at No. 11.

“They did an article on him that did a deeper dive into his season,” Checketts said. “They pointed out that, ‘Yeah, his ERA was a little inflated, but his WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched) was actually the best of his career.’

“His chase rate was the best of his career. His walk rate was the best of his career.

“They broke down his stuff to show that his average velocity was up.

“I thought they did a good job of giving some context to his year.”

UCSB pitcher Tyler Bremner finished his three-year Gaucho career with a win-loss record of 21-9, an earned-run average of 3.58, and a school-record 295 strikeouts.
UCSB pitcher Tyler Bremner finished his three-year Gaucho career with a win-loss record of 21-9, an earned-run average of 3.58, and a school-record 295 strikeouts. Credit: Jeff Liang / UCSB Athletics photo

The Angels did a deep dive of their own

“They scouted him a lot,” Checketts said. “They spent some time with him before the draft … He went down to Angel Stadium the week before.

“They got a chance to meet him.”

Nobody was more impressed with Bremner’s makeup than Angels’ scouting director Tim McIlvaine.

“When you sit and you talk to him, you realize the weight that he had lost over the summer, dealing with everything, and then being able to finally put it back on and get going,” McIlvaine said.

“Once you sit down and talk through the whole situation with him, it kind of puts all those worries to bed for us.”

He said he’d put the second half of Bremner’s season “up against anybody in the country.”

Bremner also fit the mold of many of the Angels’ previous first-round picks: college players who can make a quick ascension to the majors.

An elite changeup, McIlvaine said, should give Bremner that opportunity.

“Whenever he’s in trouble, he can go to that changeup,” he said. “He can get outs with that.

“We like his fastball outs with the 98 (mph).

“He’s 6-foot-4 and he’s going to put on more weight still. There’s a lot that you can really dream on.”

Moneyball

Bremner’s lower projections in the mock drafts also enabled the Angels to sign him last week at a bargain price. His bonus of $7,689,525 was more than $2.5 million less than the slot value of a No. 2 pick.

The savings have helped the club sign several other top draftees — high school stars who had the negotiating leverage of a college scholarship offer — to contracts well above their own slot values.

But the machinations of big-league baseball economics haven’t diminished the spiritual lift that Bremner felt when the Angels called his cell phone moments before Manfred announced their pick.

He pulled the phone away from his ear, turned toward his father and choked out the words.

“I’m going to get picked here.”

When the cheering subsided, Bremner admitted to feeling emotionally “overwhelmed” by it all.

“I don’t think this was really something that we thought was a possibility up until really recently, so it was definitely a shock,” he said, “and that’s the emotions coming out.”

Tyler Bremner’s mother, Jennifer, battled breast cancer for five years before she died on June 11. Her celebration of life was held barely a week before her son was selected by the Los Angeles Angels as the No. 2 pick of the Major League Baseball Draft.
Tyler Bremner’s mother, Jennifer, battled breast cancer for five years before she died on June 11. Her celebration of life was held barely a week before her son was selected by the Los Angeles Angels as the No. 2 pick of the Major League Baseball Draft. Credit: Bremner family photo

He had vented those emotions barely a month earlier by posting a tribute to his late mother on Instagram.

“Saying goodbye to you has been the hardest thing I have had to go through in my life,” he wrote. “Why did this evil disease have to come into the life of such a pure-hearted soul?

“Somehow through all this pain, darkness and suffering there is light. This light will forever shine through the memories I got to experience with her and what she has taught me through the years.”

He continued the message by pointing out how she had “lived her life for me and my sisters.”

“Truly a selfless mother who wanted nothing but the best for her kids,” Bremner wrote. “A proud mom who made me feel loved with every small accomplishment along the way.”

Bremner signed off with the words, “Rest easy my angel.”

And now he is an Angel himself, perhaps in more ways than one.

“I want to spread awareness about cancer,” he told one of his interviewers. “I want to be a good person just as much as I want to be a good baseball player.

“I think that’s something she really taught me.”

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