College Baseball: Brandenburg steps up as ‘Swiss Army knife’ for University of Washington
Chinook on Montlake – Former Kalama ace Tommy Brandenburg shines in first start of the season; embraces role as veteran on Huskies’ pitching staff
Jordan Nailon for BlastZoneMedia.com / blastzonenews@gmail.com
College Baseball / Alumni Radar
The last time most local baseball fans saw Tommy Brandenburg pitching in person he was wearing orange and black and dicing up hitters for the Kalama Chinooks in the Central 2B League. The most diehard baseball heads probably already knew, and if you’ve been paying attention there have been clues along the way, but it’s worth repeating that Brandenburg is still getting outs on the hill as a redshirt senior with the University of Washington.
Not only is he getting outs, but Brandenburg has evolved into a veteran do-it-all type on the Huskies’ pitching staff. This season he’s posted saves out of the bullpen as the closer, notched a win in his first start, and filled nearly every role in between.
His skipper up on Montlake is none other than former Lower Columbia College head coach Eddie Smith. While their paths did not intersect immediately, it now appears that the confluence of their respective journeys was as inevitable as the headwaters of the Kalama River finding their way to the ocean. And Smith is by no means surprised by Brandenburg’s ability to persist – like water flowing underground – same as it ever was.
“I always tell him it’s his Cowlitz County roots. People are built different in Cowlitz County, and part of that is joking, but part of it is true,” Smith said. “‘He comes from a great family. .. it’s a hard working family and they have clearly infused those hard working values into Tommy.”
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