He's on Deck
Pena awaits call from Major League teams.
By Paul Perillo
The ping from the aluminum bat could be heard clearly from anywhere
around Friedman Diamond, where Northeastern plays its home baseball games.
The Huskies were playing Bethune-Cookman College in a best-of-three NCAA
play-in series last May, with the winner to advance to the regionals.
With N.U. in the midst of a two-game sweep, the proceedings were highlighted
by one swing of Carlos Pena's bat that the 250 people in attendance won't
soon forget. The Huskies' first baseman walloped a fastball to deep right
field for an insurance home run late in the first game.
Where Pena hit the ball almost defies description. The noise off the
bat was deafening. His graceful stroke sent the ball rising majestically
toward the football press box. As the right fielder took a couple of steps
back, he quickly realized his efforts were fruitless and watched the ball
sail over his head.
The ball carried over the 330-foot sign, cleared the football bleachers,
continued over the press box, and finally landed somewhere in the backyard
of the house that stands next to Parsons Field. Nobody could recall a ball
being hit so far.
"I don't remember much about that home run," says Pena, who
finished his sophomore season with a .309 batting average, eleven home
runs, and forty-one runs batted in for the Huskies, champions of the America
East Conference. "All I remember is that it helped us win that game.
It wasn't anything special to me, just a home run that helped the team."
Now, the six-foot-two-inch, 210-pound left-hander is finishing his junior
season and preparing for June's Major League Baseball draft. Pena is expected
to be a first-round pick, Northeastern's first in any sport since Reggie
Lewis was chosen by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the 1987 National
Basketball Association draft.
Just how high the nineteen-year-old Pena will go is debatable. Boston
Globe and ESPN baseball guru Peter Gammons suggests that the Red Sox, picking
twelfth, will not have the opportunity to select him.
"He's a good player with great power," says longtime Major
League scout Buzz Bowers. "He's also a good fielder who can play both
first base and the outfield. He's a big, strong boy and a great kid. There's
no telling how high he can go in the draft."
The baseball side of Carlos Pena only tells half the story. His family
left the Dominican Republic in 1992, when Pena was a fourteen-year-old
high school sophomore. They settled in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and began
a new life.
"We had heard so much about the States and the opportunities here,"
says Pena. "I looked at it as a stepping-stone, a chance to work my
butt off for everything in life. My family is the most important thing
in my life. They've been so supportive-I couldn't thank God any more for
them."
In fact, if not for Pena's closeness to his parents, two brothers, and
sister, Northeastern never would have landed him. The only Division I school
that offered Pena a scholarship after his graduation from Haverhill High
in 1996 was Wright State University in Ohio. Despite a decent freshman
season there, Pena was unhappy away from his family and decided to transfer.
Philadelphia Phillies scout Dave Soper, who had watched Pena in high
school, contacted N.U. coach Neil McPhee and Pena was on his way to Huntington
Avenue.
Pena's reward for his stellar season last year was an invitation to
play in the prestigious Cape Cod League. Again Soper was there, this time
convincing the Wareham Gatemen to take a chance on Pena.
Playing against the top prospects in the country and using a wooden
bat for the first time, Pena hit .318 and led the league in homers (eight)
and runs batted in (thirty-three) while being named league most valuable
player.
"We've had some great ballplayers here over the years, but Carlos
is unique," says Wareham coach Don Reed. "We had Mo Vaughn here
and he was a guy you watched and you knew he was going to be a great one.
Carlos is in that category, except maybe better."
But as his junior season gets under way and Pena alternates between
knocking balls over fences and generating a 3.4 GPA as an engineering major,
he seems unfazed by the attention.
"I've got a pretty good view on all of this," he says. "I
got a great opportunity to play down on the Cape and I'm extremely thankful
for that. God can take that away in a second if he thinks it's good for
me."
"Carlos is that rare, charismatic person who really knows what
life and competition are all about," says McPhee, in his thirteenth
year coaching N.U. "There's no doubt he'll succeed at whatever he
does."
Flyng High Jumper
When Northeastern women's track coach Sherman Hart watched Andrea Clarke
perform in high school, he saw an impressive raw athlete who lacked the
seriousness and direction to succeed at the next level. He figured that
if he could just get her to discipline herself and focus, he would have
a potential Olympic athlete on his hands.
Two years have since passed, and Clarke, now a Husky sophomore, has
indeed become a potential Olympian. But discipline and focus aren't two
words that come to mind when watching her compete.
"When we recruited her, we saw this kid running back and forth
from event to event, always late," says Hart, who enters his tenth
year as Huskies coach. "She would be changing shoes, flying around
. . . I figured she's had to be a great athlete to do so well under
those conditions.
"I tried to change her approach at first. But after a while it
was obvious that she was at her best when she was having fun. When she
has that happy-go-lucky attitude, we're in the money."
That's just where Northeastern has been in Clarke's two years. The Huskies
captured the America East indoor title during the winter-their fifth in
the last six years-and Clarke accounted for thirty-six points. She participated
in the high jump, long jump, triple jump, and the hurdles. At the New England
championships, N.U. came in second, losing to the University of Connecticut
by just one point.
"The thing I liked most about Sherman was that he didn't try to
change me," says Clarke. "Once he found out who I was, he understood.
Track is so much fun for me. I have to listen to music, jump around . .
. that's the only way I can do it. Now when things aren't going well, Sherman
laughs at me and tells me, 'Don't think too much.' "
Clarke didn't get involved in track until her freshman year at Northwest
Catholic High School in West Hartford, Connecticut. While other more popular
sports like basketball ("no coordination") and softball ("no
interest") didn't fit the bill, she found the team atmosphere in track
to her liking.
Unlike most track athletes, Clarke prefers the field events over the
running. She wants to create the same attention for the jumpers and throwers
that generally is reserved for runners. She also competes in the pentathlon,
which consists of the 55-meter hurdles, high jump, long jump, 800 meters,
and shot put.
"I've done the high jump and long jump the longest," says
Clarke, who is a communications major and would like to work in public
relations eventually. "I love doing so many different events. The
hurdles is something I kind of love to hate. I feel that I'm good at it,
but it's not my favorite. The 800, though, I hate that. Sherman pretty
much has to force me to do it every time."
Another thing Hart forces Clarke to do is relax. Because of her high
energy level and exuberance, she is always looking for something else to
do. "She had so much success when she gave the triple jump a try,"
says Hart. "She has a chance to qualify for nationals if she continues
to improve. Now she wants to try another event-the pole vault. I just said,
'No way!' "
- Paul Perillo
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