Sixto Cabrera: From the Domincan Republic to the mound at USU

The light of the setting sun reflected off the Chattahoochee River as it rolled past Golden Park near downtown Columbus, Georgia on May 31, 2012.

Inside the ball park, the Utah State baseball team had opened up a 14-3 lead over the Colorado State Rams. From his spot in the dugout, Sixto Cabrera had a view of the field.

Needing one more out to seal Utah State’s first baseball national championship, pitcher Kyle Durrant stared down the Rams’ batter. He threw the pitch and the batter made contact: a fly ball to the centerfielder. Aggies win.

Two years later, Dustin Christensen was on the mound at The University of Tampa Baseball Stadium facing a similar situation for the Aggies. One more out to seal another national title.

After pitching the first five innings of the game, Cabrera had again found a spot in the dugout to watch the final play. Contact was made, but it was the same result: fly ball to the centerfielder. Aggies win again.

“When I saw the ball in centerfield, I was like, ‘Man, this looks familiar,’” Cabrera said. “I remember that because the emotions you feel when you see the ball is caught and you know that it’s over.”

In his five years playing baseball for Utah State, Cabrera has helped the team develop as it has grown from barely having enough players to field a team all the way to national champions.

He originally came to USU from the Dominican Republic. After earning a bachelor’s degree in his first few years, Cabrera is preparing to graduate next fall with a master’s degree in electrical engineering.

“The beginning was difficult because you’re used to being home with your family and friends,” Cabrera said. “You don’t know what to expect.”

One of the most surprising parts of the transition was the weather in Utah, Cabrera said.

“The first time I saw snow in my life was November 2010, and it was a blizzard,” he said.

Cabrera has played baseball since he was 6 years old. He had traveled to the United States with a club team as a teenager and even participated in a St. Louis Cardinals camp in the Dominican when he was 18, he said.

He had some offers to play collegiate baseball but decided instead to accept the full-ride academic scholarship offer to come to Utah State.

After arriving on campus, he made his way to the team. Relying on baseball made the transition to Utah easier, Cabrera said.

“The only thing that makes me feel comfortable, doesn’t matter, is baseball,” Cabrera said. “You can play baseball here, in the DR, in Mexico. Anywhere you play baseball, it’s still baseball.”

Cabrera credited Norman Doyle, who was the head coach from 2012 to 2014, for giving him the confidence he needed to succeed.

“Norman’s just that kind of person that he was always confident that I was going to do a good job,” Cabrera said. “ … He was a good friend. You need that coming from a different country.”

Now in his final year at Utah State University, the pitcher is comfortable and is helping the baseball team make one more run for the World Series.

Cabrera’s experience makes other players on the team respect him more, said teammate Angel Brito, who also came to USU on an academic scholarship from the Dominican Republic.

“Having him on the team, I think, helps us get together and improve,” Brito said.

Cabrera is a quiet leader, said Scott Stranski, the pitching coach for the team.

“He’s not one of those real vocal guys, but when he walks out on the mound, everybody expects we’re going to win the game,” Stranski said.

Cabrera has become one of the top pitchers at USU, but it was out of necessity that he first took the mound for the Aggies in 2010.

“Our first year, we didn’t have a lot of pitching,” Cabrera said. “One of the games in the fall, I remember, they asked me to pitch one of the games and I pitched good.”

By the next spring, Cabrera had become a full-time pitcher for the Aggies.

“It was a challenging year for me because I had to learn how to pitch and pitch a lot, too,” he said.

Cabrera credited Stranski with helping him develop as a pitcher.

“I owe a lot of things to him because he was the one that made me,” Cabrera said. “He’s been key to my pitching.”

The team feels confident that it has a shot at winning the World Series again because of Cabrera’s performance.

“I have a lot of confidence in Sixto,” said head coach Brad Singer. “He’s one of our top guys, and I know that.”

Teammate Eric Stranski agreed.

“He’s a veteran. He’s a leader. The entire team feels confident,” he said.

Cabrera said that, so long as the team can win another title, he doesn’t really care who makes the final play or what play it is.

“We’ll take it on a ground ball or anything,” Cabrera said. “We’ll take it.”

The team will travel to Missoula, Montana on May 7 for the regional tournament. The winner of that series will advance to the World Series in Paducah, Kentucky beginning May 22.

— thomas.sorenson@aggiemail.usu.edu

Twitter: @tomcat340