Former Turlock High baseball standout Damon Treadwell is heading to Cal State Fullerton on a full ride scholarship.

This time last year, Treadwell was focused on making it work at University of California, Berkeley.  After academic setbacks cut his journey at Berkeley short, he will now pick up at one of the most consistent and prominent Division-I collegiate baseball programs in the nation — Fullerton.

“Joining a program like Fullerton is every kid’s dream,” said Treadwell. “Everyone is aware of their constant success especially into playoffs. What kind of gets overlooked is the work they put in in the offseason and the grind every player does to get better. That's really what made me fall in love with their program.”

Just a year ago, Treadwell had committed to University of California, Berkeley despite suffering a season-ending injury that kept him off the field during his senior year of high school.

He had surgery on his throwing arm in May 2017.

“I was in a brace for about three months, just working on range of motion back to 100 percent,” said Treadwell. “After range of motion was back I worked on building my strength back up. Once I felt comfortable with my arm strength I very slowly started throwing.”

That was about nine months post-surgery.

“It wasn't until at about a year after surgery that I was throwing off a mound again,” said Treadwell. “I was up to 94 [mph] before I had my surgery and my velocity has already came back as I've been up to 93 this summer. I still feel like not only my arm but also my entire body can get a lot stronger and with Fullerton's weight lifting program in the fall I feel like I will succeed this upcoming spring.”

While at Turlock High, the 6-foot-6 right hander was part of back-to-back Central California Conference titles in 2016 and 2017.

During that span, Turlock went 23-4 in the CCC.

In his junior year in the spring of 2016, Treadwell was the team’s ace and he delivered consistently.

As a junior, Treadwell tossed 42 and 1/ 3 innings, allowing just 15 runs on 27 hits, walked 15 and struck out 52.

His ERA was 2.48 with a 5-2 record after starting eight games and pitching two complete contests.

Treadwell also performed with his bat after he hit.286 in 28 plate appearances.

It also helps that at 19-years-old, Treadwell is still considered an incoming freshman as he enrolls in Fullerton this upcoming fall.

The opportunity at Fullerton comes after Cal dropped interest due to academic conflicts. 

“Once I committed to Cal, I knew after high school I would have to take a couple of junior college classes to meet their GPA requirements,” said Treadwell. “After completing and passing all these classes Cal still felt I would be behind, the assistant coach at Cal informed me I would not be able to continue at Cal so I then opened up my recruitment process again. With the help of my summer coaches and prior coaches I was able to get in contact with Fullerton.”

This past spring the Titans of Fullerton went 36-25 overall and 18-7 in conference games.

Fullerton also reached the NCAA Division-I Super Regionals where they fell in two of three games to University of Washington.

“What I ultimately hope to achieve at Fullerton is to not only be the best baseball player and person I could be, but the best teammate and learn the most respect for the game,” Treadwell added.