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The first time he was handed the ball as a Long Beach State Dirtbag, Jason Gerfers was already making history.
Back in February, as Gerfers took the mound on Opening Night at Bohl Diamond at Blair Field, it’s believed that he was the first freshman in program history to earn that opportunity.
“It was probably the coolest experience I’ve had so far in baseball,” said Gerfers of that historic start. “I remember walking out (seeing) the lights, hearing my name and stuff. It was a little bit of a blur, but it was fun.”
A year ago, Gerfers wasn’t even the Opening Day starter for his senior year of high school, and there was a pretty good reason: he shared a rotation with Seth Hernandez, the No. 6 overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft.
His Corona High School squad spent most of the season as the top-ranked team in the country, and made history as the first high school to ever have three players–Hernandez, BIlly Carlson (No. 10 pick) and Brady Ebel (No. 32 pick)–selected in the first 50 picks of a single draft. Gerfers said being part of a powerhouse program with so many high-level athletes made it easy to put the work in, and the success was contagious.
“There was just a standard of the work ethic,” said Gerfers of his high school experience. “Because we trained together outside of school every single day and then went to the field, our lives were kind of just baseball. So everything just clicked, it was super easy … It was just a high-confidence team that had nothing to lose, right? Everything to lose, but really nothing to lose. Beyond that year, they were gonna have so much to do. So it was easy to play under that.”
This year’s Dirtbags team has leaned heavily on true freshmen hurlers, especially in the weekend rotation. Gerfers and classmate Luke Howe lead the team in innings pitched this year, combining for more than half of LBSU’s wins on the mound. Dirtbags pitching coach Abe Alvarez says that the buy-in from those freshmen has helped them handle the increased demands of pitching at the collegiate level.
“Obviously they’re both very talented, and (Gerfers) has had more of the success, but their day-to-day as far as the plan I give them, they’ve taken control of it,” said Alvarez. “The day after they pitch, they’re in the weight room the next morning.It’s not mandatory, but they know it’s what they need to do.”
Gerfers earned himself national recognition during Big West play, recording back-to-back complete games against Hawai’i and Cal State Bakersfield. He not only won consecutive Big West Pitcher of the Week awards, he also earned a spot on Baseball America’s National Team of the Week after his 12 strikeouts in Bakersfield.
Gerfers threw 123 pitches against Hawai’i and followed that up with around 130 that next start, but Alvarez was able to track the data on Gerfers pitchers via iPad, and was confident that his young hurler could handle it.
“We can see velocity and stuff, and his stuff held,” Alvarez explained. “And a lot of that is me knowing him, and what he’s been doing throughout the week to work … Did I want to do it? No. But it’s one of those things where you see it, and he’s fine. There’s no questioning if he’s tired or if I’m kind of pushing him, just because the stuff was the same and his confidence was the same. You just didn’t see the things that you normally see in a young pitcher, or even any pitcher, when they feel like they’re tired … I think that goes into his work ethic.”
Like any successful ballplayer, Gerfers is trying to keep his focus simple, and not worry too much about the big picture, even as he breaks new ground as a young pitcher in a storied program.
“I just like to stay pitch-to-pitch,” Gerfers said, ignoring the scoreboard or any other distraction, just locking on on what pitch is called. “So it’s easy for me to get my pitch, throw it, and let the game play out. And if I do that enough, and I out-compete them every single pitch, then eventually I’m gonna have success. And that’s what led me to those two outings, and where I’m trying to stay at.”
The Dirtbags are in action this weekend on Bohl Diamond at Blair Field, hosting rivals Cal State Fullerton for a three-game series, beginning Friday at 6 p.m.
