Daniel Bibona Returns To UC Irvine Baseball
July 19, 2012 | Baseball
IRVINE, Calif. --- All-American pitcher Daniel Bibona will join the UC Irvine Baseball staff, announced head coach Mike Gillespie.
"I'm looking forward to the opportunity in front of me and am excited to be back at UCI," said Bibona. I am grateful Coach Gillespie has the confidence in me to lead the pitching staff this upcoming season. This program has been built around pitching from the time it was brought back and I don't intend for that to change."
Bibona played from 2007-10 and was the first Anteater to be named Big West Pitcher of the Year back-to-back seasons. The southpaw collected five All-America honors and also was a two-time all-conference first-team selection. Bibona helped the Anteaters to four NCAA Tournament berths and was voted to two NCAA Regional All-Tournament teams. He was named a USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award semifinalist and holds the career record in strikeouts. Bibona also won the prestigious Lowe's Senior CLASS Award for displaying excellence in four areas; community service, the classroom, character and competition.
"We are excited to welcome Danny Bibona to our staff at UCI," said Gillespie. "Those who follow college baseball and specifically UCI baseball know Danny as one of college baseball's most outstanding pitchers from 2007 thru 2010 when he was the Big West Pitcher of the Year twice and a five-time All-American. His professional career was cut short by a shoulder injury and his desire to teach pitchers coincidentally timed with our need for an additional coach, and he fits our needs perfectly. As a graduate of UCI, as the Big West Scholar Athlete of the Year, and as one of UCI's finest athletes in its history, Danny brings qualities possessed by no other. We are fortunate to have him become a key part of our efforts to maintain UCI baseball excellence."
Bibona, who received a degree in sociology, was drafted in the eighth round by the St. Louis Cardinals and pitched for the Quad City River Bandits, where he was 4-0 with a 1.91 ERA while striking out 39 batters in 33 innings.
Bibona will serve as the program's volunteer coach with Bob Macaluso moving into a full-time position that was vacated by Jason Dietrich, who left to serve as the pitching coach at Cal State Fullerton.
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