Running away: Ceres baseball star, district runs leader Bussard named Western Athletic Conference MVP
When Brad Bussard feels momentum slipping, when his pupils narrow and his teeth gnash, no one is safe.
Not even Grandma.
“Brad is by far the most competitive kid I’ve ever coached,” his father, John Bussard, said. “He’s been that way in football, basketball and especially in baseball. He’s competitive in everything he does – in the classroom, at home, playing cards with his grandmother. He wants to win in everything. He’s been that way since he was a kid.”
That passion has served him well in the athletic arena, where Brad has shaped the discussion in three sports on the Ceres High School campus: football, basketball and baseball.
He was at his very best on the diamond, building the Bulldogs into a Western Athletic Conference power in four seasons.
He, twin brother Brent Bussard and catcher Ben Conway were promoted to the varsity team as freshmen by John Bussard, then in his first year as coach.
The move signaled the start of something new. Coach Bussard tapped into the trio’s savvy and intelligence – and played on Brad’s disdain for losing like strings on a guitar.
“When we started this thing, we wanted to get the program back to being a competitive program,” said coach Bussard, whose boys recently signed with Holy Names of Oakland. “You have to have kids that want to compete, no matter what they’re playing, who they’re playing or where they’re playing.”
Brad took on all challenges, a trait admired by most. He was named the 2015 Western Athletic Conference MVP in a unanimous vote of the league’s coaches.
His mantle overflows with baseball accolades, including all-league selections as a sophomore (second team) and junior (first team). But that means nothing to a warrior like Brad. He is still stewing over two losses, the 8-2 and 4-1 letdowns against Lincoln in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV tournament that ended the Bulldogs’ season.
“To me, he’s never been a kid that pats himself on the back or goes looking for any type of recognition,” coach Bussard said. “Winning is what he strives for. He wants the program to be successful way more than any of those individual things.”
With the Bussard boys at the controls, Ceres has assumed a throne in the WAC once occupied by Central Catholic, an 11-time section champion now competing in the Valley Oak League.
The Bulldogs have won back-to-back WAC championships, going 22-2 in league playCeres also has won 20 or more games in three consecutive seasons and reached the section playoffs in five straight.
Bussard was named the league’s Coach of the Year, and his son’s MVP award was the program’s second in as many seasons.
Brad shaped that discussion, too, leaving little argument for anyone else.
The ultimate competitor impacted the WAC in a variety of ways, unnerving his opponents with a different tool each time out.
On the mound, Brad was 9-0 with a 1.30 ERA and 48 strikeouts against just 12 walks. Along with WAC Pitcher of the Year and Beyer transfer Drew Stahl (7-2, 81 strikeouts in 631/3 innings), the Bulldogs possessed as formidable a 1-2 punch as any in the Stanislaus District.
In the field, Brad was plug-and-play type. He started his senior season at second base and eventually moved to shortstop. As a junior, he even platooned in the outfield.
He was a terror at the plate and on the basepaths, too. Brad batted .433 with 39 hits and 27 RBIs. He led the Stanislaus District with 37 runs, tied for 16th-best in the section.
More importantly, he evolved as a leader on a team featuring three sophomores in starting roles, and learned to harness that competitive spirit for good.
“What a lot of people don’t understand about this season is that we lost a lot from last year,” coach Bussard said. “We had that core group of seniors, but we had holes. I pulled up three sophomores and put them in the starting lineup.
“When you got young kids, they’re going to make mistakes. With his competitive nature, sometimes they clashed. He had to learn how to control his competitiveness and be a leader this year.”
James Burns: (209) 578-2150, @jburns1980
All-Western Athletic Conference baseball
MVP: Brad Bussard, senior, Ceres
Coach of the Year: John Bussard, Ceres
Pitcher of the Year: Drew Stahl, senior, Ceres
First team: Brett Conway, senior, catcher, Ceres; Santiago Cantu, sophomore, utility, Patterson; Kevin Phelps, senior, first base, Patterson; Merrik Price, senior, second base, Ceres; Jorge Alvarez, senior, shortstop, Central Valley; Antonio Bustos, junior, third base, Patterson; Izaiah Hernandez, senior, outfield, Ceres; Tyler Skelton, junior, outfield, El Capitan; Eddie Avila, junior, outfield, Livingston.
Second team: Chris Corral, senior, pitcher, Los Banos; Tyler Wilson, junior, catcher, Los Banos; Sammy Mora, junior, utility, El Capitan; Josh Gould, junior, first base, Los Banos; C.J. Avila, senior, second base, Livingston; Braiden Ward, sophomore, shortstop, El Capitan; Cole Brown, senior, third base, Livingston; Tristen Trevino, senior, outfield, Pacheco; Alec Keith-Espos, junior, outfield, Patterson; Kevin Spencer, junior, outfield, Los Banos.
This story was originally published May 27, 2015 at 12:30 PM with the headline "Running away: Ceres baseball star, district runs leader Bussard named Western Athletic Conference MVP."