The following is an excerpt from an article that appeared in the Santa Cruz Sentinel and was written by Jim Seimas. Click HERE for the full article.
David Eichhorn is the type of workhorse pitcher hardly seen in baseball anymore.
Now a junior at San Francisco State University, the Aptos High graduate has consistently pitched deep into ballgames this season. In 12 starts for the Gators – who will compete in the California Collegiate Athletic Association's postseason tournament in Pomona this week – Eichhorn has pitched at least six full innings nine times, throwing one complete game and lasting into the eighth inning in two others.
In an era when coaches stringently limit their hurlers' pitch counts, encourage their pitchers to rest the day after throwing hard in a game, and frequently have three or more hurlers share the workload in games – all in a well-intentioned but often vain effort to preserve their pitchers' arms – Eichhorn is a throwback to a golden era when starting pitchers were sturdier and expected to last well into the later innings.
"David's cut from the old-school cloth," SFSU coach Tony Schifano said. "He can throw 100 pitches in a game, and the next day you'll see him playing long toss. That's pretty rare these days."