FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Ted Silva has been hired and brought into the LMU baseball program as the team’s pitching coach, it was announced by head coach Jason Gill on Monday. Silva comes to the bluff after serving three successful seasons as the pitching coach for UC Irvine, a perennial powerhouse in Division I baseball out of the Big West Conference.
"We feel extremely fortunate to have Ted Silva come in as our pitching coach," Gill said. "Ted is considered one of the best pitching minds in the country, and has a winning attitude from which we can all benefit. He has the ability to get the most out of his players, and is recognized for his knack to develop not only quality pitchers, but also pitching staffs as a whole. Off the diamond, his connections in California will help us in our recruiting efforts to bring in top-end student-athletes. It is clear through the new athletic facilities that are being built, and a commitment from the entire campus, that LMU is moving in the direction of building championships. With the acquisition of Ted Silva in our baseball program, we are one step closer to that goal."
No stranger to each other, Gill and Silva spent time as teammates on the Cal State Fullerton baseball team in 1994, helping the Titans to a 47-16 overall record and a College World Series berth. As coaches, the two reunited in 2005 and 2006 as part of a Fullerton staff that guided the Titans to a pair of Big West Conference championships, and a trip to the College World Series in 2006.
Under Silva’s direction, UC Irvine pitchers posted a combined 3.89 earned-run average the last three seasons, all of which included NCAA postseason appearances. In his first year, the Anteaters won the regional at Nebraska in 2008, and were three outs away from a trip to the College World Series, before host LSU rallied to win the Super Regional. UCI followed that successful season by winning the program’s first Big West Conference title in 2009. Last year, UCI finished second in the Big West and was eliminated by host UCLA at the Los Angeles Regional.
Developing some of the top pitchers throughout his coaching career, Silva opened his coaching stint as a volunteer assistant at Cal State Fullerton, helping the Titan staff log a national-best 2.73 ERA, the only team in the country under 3.00 in 2006. Moreover, he helped guide All-Americans and first-round picks Ricky Romero (2005) and Wes Roemer (2006) to Big West Pitcher of the Year selections. During his three seasons as UC Irvine’s pitching coach, Silva watched four pitchers (Christian Bergman, Daniel Bibona, Scott Gorgen, Eric Pettis) on his staff haul away a combined 19 All-America accolades. In addition, Silva, who guided Gorgen to a Big West Pitcher of the Year selection in 2008, saw Bibona notch his second consecutive Pitcher of the Year selection in 2010, ensuring that he guided one of his pitchers to the elite award in all five seasons as a coach in the Big West Conference.
Last year, Silva guided the Anteaters to a 3.98 ERA and 483 strikeouts, both second in the conference. In 2009, the pitching staff tied the program-high with 20 saves, and in 2008 he watched the Anteaters post the third-best ERA in the country at 3.27, also the program’s lowest since 1974. That same year, UCI’s arms set a record in strikeouts with 503, becoming the only Anteater staff to reach the 500 mark in a season.
Prior to joining the UCI staff, Silva spent the 2007 season at Fresno State and helped the Bulldogs to a 38-29 mark and an NCAA regional berth in San Diego. The Bulldog pitching staff posted the second-lowest ERA in the WAC that season at 4.54, with three Bulldogs ranked in the top-10 individually.
Silva, a two-time, first team all-conference selection, played at Cal State Fullerton from 1993-95. The right-hander finished his career with a 26-7 overall record for the Titans, boasting a career ERA of 2.92 and 26 saves, which rank fourth in Fullerton baseball history.
Silva helped the Titans claim the National Championship in 1995 after collecting a pair of wins over Stanford in the tournament opener and USC in the championship game. Silva was named all-tournament and was also a first-team All-America choice by the American Baseball Coaches Association, Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America, and the Greater Houston Sports Association. The Big West Conference honored Silva as the Pitcher of the Year after leading the nation in victories, posting a single-season record 18 wins (18-1 overall) that still stands in the Titan record books. Silva ended the year with a 2.83 ERA with 142 strikeouts in 152.2 innings.
As a sophomore in 1994, Silva represented the Titans on Team USA and was a second-team All-American according to Collegiate Baseball. He finished the year with a 4-4 record, a 2.29 ERA and 13 saves, a total that ranks tied for third on the school’s single-season charts.
Silva was a 21st round draft selection in 1995, and spent five years in the Texas Rangers organization following a brilliant collegiate career. He spent one season pitching overseas in Taiwan, and also pitched in the independent Atlantic League.
Silva, who served as an assistant coach in charge of pitching at Villa Park High School in 2004, prepped at Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, Calif. and graduated in 1992.
