PHOENIX ---
Former South Mountain Community College left-handed pitcher Cade Povich made his Major League Baseball debut on Thursday, June 6, when he started the game for the Baltimore Orioles against the Toronto Blue Jays from Rogers Center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Povich went 5.1 innings against the Blue Jays, allowing five hits, six earned runs, and two strikeouts while taking the loss in a 6-5 Toronto Victory.
"There were definitely some nerves. There wasn't a lot of sleep the last couple of days. Tough to eat this morning," Povich told Jake Rill of MLB.com. "But it's a great experience, and I've been told by a bunch of guys to just slow it down and really try to take it all in because this only happens once. So I definitely stepped back and tried to keep breathing and tried to make sure I looked around as much as possible and just take everything in."
His parents, Tim and Kelly, received emergency passports so they could travel up north and witness the moment firsthand.
"We've never dreamed of it. He has," Tim said to Rill. "But as parents, you know, you support it. There's millions and millions of kids that dream of it. I dreamt it as a kid. I was nowhere near this. So to see your son do it, it's surreal."
The Minnesota Twins selected Povich, a left-handed pitcher who played for SMCC in 2019, in the third round with the 98th overall pick of the 2021 MLB Draft.
In his one season with the Cougars, Povich finished 10-1 with a 1.58 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 79.2 innings of work. He then transferred to the University of Nebraska, where he finished with a 6-1 record with a 3.11 ERA and 88 strikeouts in 15 starts and 81 innings of work in the 2021 campaign.
After the season, he earned First Team All-Big Ten honors and helped lead the Cornhuskers to the Fayetteville regional in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Povich also made four starts in Nebraska's pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
He steadily rose the ranks in the Minor Leagues and was one of four pitchers traded from Minnesota to Baltimore in 2022 for Jorge Lopez. Povich began 2024 at AAA Norfolk of the International League, where he was 5-1 with a 3.18 ERA in 11 starts.
Povich is the second former Cougar on the Orioles' roster this season, joining former SMCC pitcher Danny Coulombe. Another left-handed pitcher, Coulombe was a member of the 2010 SMCC team, but injuries limited him to one appearance that year before he transferred to Texas Tech for the 2011 season.
Photo by Vaughn Ridley of Getty Images.