When Californian Steven Escarcega signed with the Burlington Bees, he didn't know he was returning to his roots.

His great-grandfather, Edward Boltz, was born in Burlington in 1916. Escarcega, a Monrovia, California, native, just completed his freshman year at Hawaii Pacific University.

"At the very beginning, I didn't know" about the Burlington connection, Escarcega said. 

"I called one of my uncles. I was originally going to play for a team up in northern California where he lives and I was planning on staying with him," Escarcega said, "but then my coach from Hawaii Pacific told me (his uncle's home) might be a little too far and they didn't have any more host families.

"Then he reached out to (Bees field manager) Owen (Oreskovich) and they signed me here," Escarcega said. "I told my uncle, 'Hey, I'm not going to be able to stay with you this summer, but I'm actually playing in Burlington with the Bees.' 

"Immediately, he just told me the whole story about everything. It's kind of cool."

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His great-uncle Tony Boltz, 68, recently watched Escarcega pitch for the Bees, his first trip to Burlington in 63 years.

"His great grandfather Edward Boltz and his twin brother Everett were born there in 1916," Tony Boltz wrote in an email to The Hawk Eye. "So Steven's great great grandfather Bill (Boltz) was a huge Bees fan in the early 1900s, The stories of him attending games in the old stadium were part of my childhood. He wore a straw hat and apparently could be obnoxious."

Escarcega's step-great-great grandfather Fred Schneider, Tony Boltz wrote, "was the curator at Crapo Park for 50 years."

Through Thursday, Escarcega has made six appearances on the mound for the Bees. His record is 1-0 and he's compiled a 2.61 earned run average. In 10 1/3 innings, he's allowed six hits and six walks while striking out nine.

Since he red-shirted his freshman season at Hawaii Pacific, it's the first he's pitched in a little over a year.

"Before I came here, I hadn't pitched in organized competition games since my last game as a senior in high school, which is last June," he said. "So, I was so used to facing people who are a lot like me, the same age, but now I'm facing people who are in their early 20s. It's a lot better competition."

In his senior year at Monrovia High School, he compiled a 3-1 record with a save. He had a 1.67 ERA and struck out 38 opponents in 29 1/3 innings.

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On June 8 this year, Escarcega was among four Bees pitchers who combined for a 7-0 shutout win over the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes at Community Field. Starter Garrett Moltzan went five innings for the win. Escarcega retired the Horseshoes in order in the eighth inning on just 13 pitches.

Compared to southern California, Burlington "is definitely laid-back, but I do like it," Escarcega said. "The only reason I didn't like California is that it's very busy. It was good to go to Hawaii. It's a little more laid-back. And come here, get us out in the country, it's more of a chill, a relaxed environment."

His decision to go to Hawaii Pacific was largely an academic reason.

"They have a program and a degree called Diplomacy in Military Studies," he said, "so my goal after college is to become an officer in the Navy. That'll put me in a good spot and then they have a masters program, too, so if I wanted to go back and do some more I could do it there, too.

"They don't have it anywhere else, which is surprising."

He's not enrolled in Navy ROTC, however.

"They actually don't have Naval ROTC," Encarcega said. "I thought that was weird because you're on an island (Oahu). They have Army and Air Force, I think."

Although he hasn't actually played a game for the Sharks yet, "I like it a lot," he said. "My coach gave me an opportunity even though I red-shirted this year. It's fun to be part of the team and have the chances to get better. It was a really good first year."

He was warned about the Iowa humidity before he arrived.

"My uncle, my dad's brother, went to Grinnell and played baseball and football, I believe," Encarcega said. "When I told him I was coming here, he said it was a completely different type of summer out here."

Hawaii gets humid, too, "but nowhere comparable to here," Encarcega said. "This is completely different."

Escarcega has played other positions, but he prefers the mound.

"I mainly pitched (in high school), but I played left field a little bit. I couldn't really hit the ball, so when I got to college I was like, I'm going to stick to pitching."

He doesn't miss stepping into the batter's box. "Hitting just never really clicked for me," he said.

Although the Prospect League is a collegiate wood bat league, it operates much like a professional league. There aren't many days off.

"The road schedule is hard to get used to, hard to adapt to," Encarcega said. "But it's fun to travel, fun to see different stadiums, see different states."

At Hawaii Pacific, "the road trips are longer," he said. "There are only three of them a year and it rotates. Every other year we'll go to southern California or northern California. This last season they went to southern California. This year we'll go to northern California and those teams will swap when they go to Hawaii. And there's a weekend series where we go to the big island to play. It definitely feels like there are more home games, but I'm pretty sure it's around half and half."

He thinks about half of his Hawaii Pacific teammates are from California. "I think on our team I want to say half came from (California) junior colleges or straight out of high school (from California). There's a lot of people from California."

He has goals for his tenure with the Bees.

"My coach wants me to gain weight and gain a little bit of velocity," he said. "I've been working on that. I've actually gained three miles an hour since I've been here. I think during the (college) season I was only hitting 83, 84 tops. I did 86 I think the other night, so it's going pretty well."

The righthander is listed on the Bees roster at 6 feet, 170 pounds.

While his displacement from southern California to Iowa is a change of pace, that's also his best pitch.

"The changeup is always a good one," he said. "Curveball is kind of hit or miss, but the changeup seems like it's been the one at 100 percent every single day."