Mark Patton: Oakley Family Revels in Its Rich Past, Present in National Pastime

The baseball doesn’t fall far from Nick Oakley’s family tree.

Grandpa William is a former minor league pitcher who earned NCAA All-Region 8 honors at UC Berkeley in 1962.

His father, Bill Jr., won the 1982 Little League World Series while roaming centerfield for the Goleta Valley South’s Senior Division All-Stars.

And now Nick, the son of Bill Jr. and Jennifer Oakley, has emerged as the clutch-hitting, senior second baseman for a UC Santa Barbara club that was ranked 22nd this week in the USA Today coaches’ poll.

He leads the 13-7 Gauchos with 21 runs batted in 19 games.

“The sad part is that this is Nick’s last year at UCSB and it’s coming to an end,” grandpa Bill said. “I don’t have any other players in the family.”

At least, perhaps, not until he becomes a great-grandpa.

It didn’t take long for grandson Nick to follow the family chalk line. He recalls throwing out the first pitch at a Gaucho game when he was just 4 years old.

“I’d go over to my grandpa’s house when I was really little and all we’d do is watch MLB games and stuff,” Oakley told Noozhawk. “Every day after school, my dad and my grandpa would pick me up and take me to the Little League field and throw me batting practice and hit me ground balls.

“My grandpa would shag and my dad would throw.”

His grandfather often played catch with him despite having torn the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow while pitching in the New York Mets organization.

“Nick has enjoyed every minute out there,” the elder Oakley said. “He just loves it. He’s a hustler, and he’ll give you 100%.”

Nick’s love for the game made him a familiar face at UCSB’s youth camps.

“My dad would also drop me off at the cages there and a few kids and I would hit with a few of the Gauchos — guys like J.J. Muno and Thomas Rowan and Dempsey Grover,” Oakley said.

“I looked up to those guys and I still stay in touch with them.”

He recalls how his grandfather would pull him out of school so they could attend Gaucho day games together.

“That’s before they had lights,” Nick said. “My grandpa and my dad still like to give me hitting tips — they’ll never stop doing that.

“It’s pretty funny, but they really are, easily, the two most influential people in my baseball career.”

Don of an Earlier Age

William Oakley graduated from Santa Barbara High School in 1958 — 62 years before his grandson.

He became one of the top pitchers for the semi-pro Santa Barbara Foresters during the summer between his junior and senior years, and twice won the team’s most valuable player award.

He was also picked as Cal’s MVP in 1962 when he struck out 199 batters. He spun an earned-run average that year of 1.63, which remains tied for No. 7 in the school record books with Andy Messersmith, a former Los Angeles Dodger. His career ERA of 2.09 ranks sixth.

William Oakley celebrated a homecoming at historic Laguna Park soon after his graduation. The expansion New York Mets signed him to a minor league contract and placed him with the Santa Barbara Rancheros — their new California League affiliate.

“I played Junior League, and high school, and Foresters all at Laguna Park,” he said. “It was a fun place to play. There’s no place now for these kids to play since the city tore it down (in 1970).”

The elder Oakley went 2-0 for the Rancheros, winning one start at Laguna Park and picking up another victory in relief at Modesto. Then he tore his UCL in a game against Visalia.

“In those days, the doctors didn’t know if that was on your toe or your elbow,” Oakley said. “I didn’t have surgery — they just gave me prednisone and said, ‘Get back out there.’

“I tried coming back a couple of times, once at Bakersfield and once at Reno, and they were hitting them off the wall against me.

“I went to pharmacy school after that.”

He married his wife, Joan, and settled into family life in Santa Barbara. Their son, Bill, eventually continued the family’s baseball legacy at Santa Barbara High.

The younger Bill, who’s now a physical therapist, holds the family bragging rights for youth baseball for his exploits with the Goleta Valley South Little League.

Nick came close to matching it when the 12-and-under all-stars from the Santa Barbara Pony League advanced to the 2014 Bronco Super Regionals.

“That team remains, to this day, the one that went the farthest in our Santa Barbara Pony League’s history,” Nick said. “My teammates were guys like Carter Park, Bryce Warrecker, Derek True, Anthony Firestone — a lot of the guys who became my high school teammates.”

2020 Vision

Oakley’s high school career came to an abrupt end in 2020 when his senior season was canceled after just seven games because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We had something pretty cool going, so that was pretty tough,” Oakley said.

That spring of discontent turned into a glorious summer, however, when manager Bill Pintard invited him to play for the Santa Barbara Foresters.

“I grew up going to the Foresters’ games with my grandpa and my dad,” he said. “That was really special just because of the talent I got to play with and the maturity of the guys.

“I got a taste of what the highest level of college baseball players looks like and how they go about their business on the field and off the field.

“I also got to train in town with a lot of UCSB players like Chris Troye, McLain O’Connor and Jason Willow. It all got me ready to play for the Gauchos.”

He batted .273 as a freshman backup and .260 as a sophomore regular. He got crucial hits against both Warrecker and True that year during a three-game sweep of Cal Poly.

Oakley went 6-for-11 in the three games while driving in seven runs, and he nearly matched that in this weekend’s series by going 6-for-14.

“We have a lot of good memories playing together and against each other,” he said of Warrecker and True. “I definitely have bragging rights over them, but we’re all happy for each other.

“They’re both playing pro ball now and we’ll talk every week. They follow me and I follow them. Those have been really cool friendships.”

Oakley, who bats left-handed and throws right-handed, changed his approach at the plate, however, after hitting just .197 last year as an over-aggressive pull hitter.

He walked only nine times in 136 plate appearances.

“I’m obviously not a bigger guy and not much of a power guy, per se, but I think last year I got a little outside of that,” he said. “During summer ball, my main goal was pretty much to get back to using my strengths, which is ultimately using all of the field.

“I began shortening up and taking what the pitcher and the defense give me. It’s paid off, for sure.”

Oakley batted.367 in 30 games with the Bismarck (North Dakota) Larks of the Northwoods Collegiate Summer League.

He’s remained potent at the plate for UCSB so far this season, hitting .318 with 13 walks in 85 plate appearances.

His hits include four doubles, an opposite-field triple on Friday at Cal Poly, and a 455-foot home run that he yanked over the right-field fence against Long Beach State last week.

“I’ve shown that I can still do damage over the fence while also having the ability to hit to left, if that’s what the pitcher is giving me,” Oakley said.

“I’d say it’s a maturity thing, which is something I struggled with early in my career.”

Matt Fonteno, the Gauchos’ new associate head coach and offensive coordinator, helped him in that transition after returning to UCSB after two years at USC and another at Cal Poly.

Fonteno replaced Donegal Fergus, who is now the head coach at Loyola Marymount.

“I think I’m the only hitter left here who played for Fonteno when he was here my freshman year,” Oakley said. “Ferg’s a great coach and a great guy — we loved him, and we’re happy that he got a chance to get one of his dream jobs.

“But I couldn’t be happier to have Fonteno back, as well.”

Fonteno preaches five standards to his hitters: mentality, balance, making the opponent earn outs, scoring runs and good contact. That approach has produced several comeback victories this season.

“We know that no matter what the scoreboard says, if we’re able to do those five things, we can score as many runs as the game requires,” Oakley said. “It really doesn’t ever feel like we’re out of games just because we’re not an offense that relies on one thing.

“And all that we’ve been through this year, and have achieved in spite of that, is indicative of what Fonteno preaches … and that is pure mentality.”

Obstacle Course

The Gauchos were forced to train and play at the fields of other schools throughout the entire fall and during the first 11 weeks of this year.

Their own field at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium had been skinned while the California Coastal Commission considered — and then rejected — UCSB’s plans for artificial turf.

“There was a lot of uncertainty with the practice plans, uncertainty with getting ABs (at-bats), and having pitchers ready,” Oakley said. “But overall, as a group, we did a great job of just going, ‘Anytime, anyplace,’ and working with what we have.’”

The Gauchos have won all six of the games they’ve played so far on their new, grass surface at Uyesaka Stadium.

“Personally, I prefer the real playing surface,” Oakley said. “Obviously it sucks when it rains here every now and then. It’s a lot easier to maintain an artificial surface.

“But I like playing dirty. And we also now have a really nice, new surface.”

UCSB has also been dealing with the emotional shock of the death of Gordon Checketts, father of head coach Andrew Checketts. He suffered a fatal cardiac arrest while watching the Gauchos in a March 12 home game against UNLV.

Coach Checketts was with his family in Oregon while UCSB played last week’s three-game series against Long Beach State. He was back in the Gaucho dugout for this weekend’s games at Cal Poly.

“It was obviously tragic for coach Checketts and for our program,” Oakley said. “But we have a great support system through the school and through our athletic department — and for each other.

“Our coaches did a great job understanding the situation and giving us a day or two to process everything.

“We’re still working through it. And we’re obviously there for coach Checketts and his family.”

The Gauchos, after all, have been part of Oakley’s family for as long as he can remember.