March 23, 2006
SAN DIEGO - by Tim Miguel
SDSU Athletic Media Relations
Since Tony Gwynn took over as the head coach of the San Diego State baseball team in 2003, the list of players remaining on the team from the Jim Dietz era has been getting slimmer over the years. This season, there are only two players left on the roster from the Dietz era, senior second baseman Sam Pepper and senior relief pitcher Dan Bruckart.
Pepper and Bruckart never actually played for Dietz, as they redshirted in 2002, Dietz's final season as head coach. This is Pepper's third season playing for Gwynn and Bruckart's second; he played one season at San Diego Mesa Junior College.
Pepper said that he has noticed exceptional changes to the team since Gwynn took the reins.
"The talent level has stepped up and the level of competition that we play has definitely been a step up," Pepper said. "It's been interesting to see a different group of guys. Before it was just a different group, a different group of attitudes and mentalities among the baseball guys. Now everybody's on the same page."
Bruckart said there is a noticeable difference from the coaching styles of Gwynn and Dietz.
"My first thought I had was that I'm going to have to get used to a new system," Bruckart said. "I was only there for one year with Dietz, so I already started to become used to the old style of coaching from him and pitching coach, Rusty Filter. In the last couple years all that has changed. Rusty, even his coaching style has changed a little bit and he has become more accommodating towards Coach Gwynn's style of coaching."
Pepper's father knew Dietz, so he already had an idea that there was going to be a coaching change and there was a chance it was going to be Gwynn taking over.
"The first reaction was that everybody was really excited, getting to play for a Major Leaguer and one of the best hitters of all time," Pepper said. "More than anything, meeting him for the first time was a big thrill for everybody. It was one of those things you're in awe about. It was a blessing."
It was the relationship between Pepper's father and Dietz that played a big role in Pepper finding a spot on the Aztecs' roster. SDSU would play a few games in Yuma, Ariz., Pepper's hometown, and Sam would be a bat boy and do whatever he could to hopefully get noticed.
Pepper's father is a member of a community service organization in Yuma (The Caballeros) and part of its goal is to bring entertaining functions to the city. The organization rented baseball fields in the city and tried to bring in talented teams to play. The first time the Aztecs played there was after a rain out in San Diego. Dietz brought his squad to Yuma to make up the games.
Dietz wasn't as much of a factor for Bruckart and his decision to play at SDSU. Bruckart was recruited by Filter and then assistant coach Jay Martel. Bruckart didn't even meet Dietz until the first day of practice. That first day of practice was a little bit overwhelming for him.
"I've got a lot of work ahead of me," Bruckart said, reflecting on his first day with the team. "It's a whole new ballgame in Division I college baseball, compared to high school. When you're coming from a situation in high school where you perform so well and have a lot of success, and then you come to Division I baseball and you find out everyone's as good as you are or better."
The decision for Pepper to redshirt in his freshman year was due to the fact that he felt he wasn't ready to play at the collegiate level yet. To make matters worse, he suffered an injury that same season, as he was hit in the face during a batting cage incident.
Heading into his sophomore year, Pepper wasn't ready mentally to get back on the field after the injury, so Gwynn kept him involved with the team as a student assistant for the 2003 season. Pepper said he learned a lot about baseball that year as an assistant.
"It let me see baseball from their point of view, as opposed to just from a player's stand point," Pepper said. "I started to understand what they're trying to get out of us and that's made me a better player because I know what they want out of their players. I know how to get that out of some of the younger guys."
Bruckart's currently recuperating from his injury, two tears in his left labrum, that hasn't let him see any playing time this season. He said it's been a quick relief period after his surgery, which was seven and a half months ago. He's ready to get back on the mound as soon as possible.
Bruckart's role with the team has changed over the years from being a situational pitcher, to a middle-relief pitcher, to a long-relief pitcher to finally earning a start last season. Now with his current injury, Bruckart has to work his way back up.
"I have to start back at the bottom of the barrel again, work my way up the ladder again and just do whatever I can do to help out the team," Bruckart said. "After I got hurt, my primary goal was to come out and help the team anyway I could. Just to come out, be effective and get guys out was my biggest goal."
In this his final season on the Aztecs' squad, Pepper would like to create a winning attitude for the baseball program.
"I'd like to create a winning atmosphere," Pepper said. "That's something the coaches have been trying to get into our heads, but there's that `Aztec curse' for our teams to not be able to get over the hump. We've started turning in the right direction, but I just want to lead the guys and tell them, just keep working at it and we're going to be right where we want to be come May.
"I'll be an Aztec forever and whatever I can do to help out the program, whether it is stay around and help out and coach, or donate money that I made throughout my financial career. I'm always going to be an Aztec."