Whitecaps Head Baseball Coach Kevin Lallmann’s specialty is developing players and helping them move up the baseball ranks, continue their education and be good human beings, which are among the reasons the Galveston College baseball program is a premiere destination of choice for national and international ballplayers.
Three Whitecaps who benefited from Lallmann’s development and will be moving on to four-year university baseball programs after this season are catcher Parker Airhart, right-handed pitcher Ethan Brister and infielder Alfonso Villalobos.
“They are three very smart and talented ballplayers who earned the opportunities they have been offered,” said Lallmann. “I’m proud of them and they’ve worked very hard. I’ll miss them next season, but I’m happy for them to continue playing and pursuing their education.”
Airhart will make the drive up I-45 to play NCAA Division I ball at the University of Houston, Brister will play at NCAA Division III school, East Texas Baptist University in Marshall and Villalobos will attend NAIA Division I Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida.
“A college education has always been really important to me and my family so it’s a big thing to know where I’m going and that I’ll be getting a little bit of financial help with that, as well as getting a chance to play on the big stage,” said Airhart, who will play for the UH Cougars next season. “Galveston College has a really good program for catchers, a history of developing catchers and getting them to good schools so that was what pulled me here, and it paid off.”
Airhart, a Sugar Land native, has a .322 batting average with three homers and 42 RBIs in 83 games in a Whitecaps uniform. Currently, the GC catcher is batting .309 with one home run and 24 RBIs this season.
Brister, Airhart’s battery mate, will be moving up I-59 to Marshall next year to play for the ETBU Tigers. He is grateful for the opportunity to play for the Whitecaps and is excited to continue his journey as a student-athlete.
“My dad played here (GC) his first year of baseball so that helped me decide to come to Galveston College, they have a very good program,” said Brister, a Louisiana native. “I’m truly blessed. It means a lot to be able to have this opportunity and go on to a four-year university. My parents are really excited as well.”
The right-handed hurler has a 1-1 record and a 3.92 ERA for the Whitecaps this season in 15 appearances, including 22 strikeouts in 20.2 innings of work. Last season, Brister went 2-0 and struck out 19 batters in 12 appearances.
Finally, Villalobos is one of the Whitecaps international players, who is originally from Caracas, Venezuela, but has resided in Kirkland, Quebec, Canada since he was 12 years old. He learned about GC through a friend, a former Whitecaps baseball player.
“He (friend) told me about the opportunity of playing for Galveston College and after speaking to coach Lallmann and the assistant coach, I decided this was a good place for me and I wanted to commit here,” said Villalobos. “Living on the island was a great opportunity. I saw how committed coach Lallmann was to the development of players and that was one of the main reasons I wanted to come here.”
Villalobos is batting .309 this season for the Whitecaps with three homers, 27 RBIs and five stolen bases in 38 games. Overall, the Venezuelan infielder has a .312 batting average with 11 home runs, 63 RBIs and 18 stolen bases in 90 games over the past two seasons. He will now have the opportunity to play for the 2022 NAIA national champion Southeastern University Fire.
“I’m lucky that my academics and baseball have been able to pay for my school most of the time,” said Villalobos. “It’s something my parents are grateful for that I’ve been able to go to school and get my education at an affordable price. I would love to make it to the major leagues, but I know the difficulties of it. I’m realistic. I work hard every day for it, but I just want to play baseball as best as I can and get my education.”
After a three-game away series against San Jacinto-North this weekend, Villalobos, Airhart, Brister and the rest of the Whitecaps return home to host Alvin Community College on April 18 at 6 p.m. at Bernard Davis Field.
For more information about the Galveston College Whitecaps baseball program, rosters and season schedule, visit https://www.gcwhitecaps.com/landing/index.
ABOUT GALVESTON COLLEGE
Galveston College was founded in 1967 and is a comprehensive community college providing the residents of Galveston Island and the surrounding region with academic, workforce development, continuing education and community service programs.