Saturday, July 27th, 2024

Brad Ralston | 1993 - 1995 | Coronado High School | Baseball

During a highly decorated career as a Coronado Mustang baseball player, Hall of Honor inductee Brad Ralston established himself as one of the all-time greatest pitchers to ever perform for the west Lubbock high school program. A three-year letterman from 1993-95, Ralston played for CHS head coaching legend John Dudley and helped lead the Ponies to the state tournament in 1995. He was also a two-year letter winner in basketball for CHS, but his star brightly shined the most on the baseball diamond.

Over his final two years as a hurler for the Mustangs, Ralston managed to post a 26-3 overall record, including the 16-2 mark in his senior campaign. As a senior in 1995 he was 16-2 with a 1.21 ERA in over 91 innings of work and he tossed three one-hit contests that year. His junior season was no less impressive, managing a 10-1 mark with a 2.44 ERA.

The honors came in droves for Ralston in his final two seasons with the Mustangs, including being named to All-State honors in both seasons. He was named to the Texas High School Coaches Association All-State squad in both 1994 and 1995 and also garnered Texas Sports Writers Association All-State honors as a senior. In his junior season he was named All-District, All-City and All-South Plains. As a senior the accolades continued to pour in as he was named the district, city and South Plains “Player of the Year” as well as being named to the 1995 UIL State Tournament All-Tournament squad. He was later selected to play in the ’95 Texas High School Coaches Association All-Star Game and he received a special invitation to play for the nationally known Dallas Mustangs (17-18 year olds) that summer, helping lead the squad to the Connie Mack World Series title where he pitched and won the national championship game.

After the illustrious career at CHS, Ralston stayed in the Hub City as he signed to play for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. He served in the role as a late-inning reliever and closer for the Red Raiders over a four-year career, appearing in 85 games and posting an 18-9 overall record on the mound. He recorded 14 saves, while tossing 236 innings and tallying 263 strikeouts in his career – an average of 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings. Ralston was named to the 1996 All-Southwest Conference squad as a freshman.

He went on to have a successful career away from the Tech campus as he played two seasons in the Jayhawk League (collegiate summer baseball) and helped led the El Dorado Broncos to the National Baseball Congress (NBC) title. He spent the summer after his sophomore season at Tech in the Cape Cod League (east coast) as he pitched for the Hyannis Mets in 1997. Ralston was a 1999 draft pick of the Milwaukee Brewers following the completion of his Texas Tech career.
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