Former Highlander Pitcher in College World Series

If you happen to tune in to the College World Series on ESPN or KALX this weekend, you might just catch some pitching action from a former Piedmont High School student-athlete. There is a good chance that Dixon Anderson will take the mound for Cal as a starter or come in for relief duty.

The 2007 Piedmont graduate is part of the Cal team whose struggles have been well-documented. The Bears were slated to be cut from U.C. Berkeley's athletic department due to budget problems.

Thanks to a $10 million fund-raising effort, Cal will be playing at Evans Diamond for years to come. Anderson's parents led a small fund-raising effort in Piedmont, which included some of his old coaches.

To go all the way from the brink of extinction to playing in Omaha, NE for the College World Series has been an interesting experience for Anderson.

“I'd say, looking back from this point, I'm kind of still in shock,” Anderson said. “We kept saying at the beginning of the year, 'We have the talent. We can do this thing.' We put it together in the playoffs and managed to push it this far.”

Anderson is a towering 6-6 right-hander, who has made a name for himself with his fastball. The 2010-2011 season has not been Anderson's best—the fourth-year junior had an ERA of 3.90 to go with a 4-3 record. Nevertheless his fastball, which has clocked in at 96 mph, was a large reason why he was just in the ninth round of this year's Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

Playing for an underdog team is something that Anderson was accustomed to even before he entered college. As a Highlander, Anderson had some trying times before eventually finding success.

“A lot of my best friends were on that team and we had a really good time,” Anderson said. “We were terrible the first two years. We put it together and managed to make the playoffs the last two years.”

Anderson still keeps in contact with members of those Piedmont teams. He and Jordan Remer, who now pitches for the University of San Francisco, will text each other from time to time.

Like his final high school baseball days, his collegiate ones are about to end on a similar note—just making it to Omaha is a pretty big deal. It means that no matter what, Anderson and his teammates will be able to hold their heads high.

Anderson, however, does not see it that way.

“I can tell you that the team is not satisfied,” Anderson said. “We want to go in and win some games. The way we're playing right now, I don't think it matters who we play. We're confident and excited.”