{{short description|American baseball player (born 1969)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}} {{Infobox baseball biography | name = Pat Ahearne | position = Pitcher | image = | team = | bats = Right | throws = Right | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1969|12|10}} | birth_place = San Francisco, California, U.S. |debutleague = MLB | debutdate = June 14 | debutyear = 1995 | debutteam = Detroit Tigers |finalleague = MLB | finaldate = June 30 | finalyear = 1995 | finalteam = Detroit Tigers |statleague = MLB | stat1label = Win–loss record | stat1value = 0–2 | stat2label = Earned run average | stat2value = 11.70 | stat3label = Strikeouts | stat3value = 4 |stat2league = CPBL |stat21label = Win–loss record |stat21value = 2–4 |stat22label = Earned run average |stat22value = 4.42 |stat23label = Strikeouts |stat23value = 25 | teams = * Detroit Tigers ({{mlby|1995}}) * Macoto Cobras ({{by|2007}}) }} '''Patrick Howard Ahearne''' (born December 10, 1969) is an American former professional baseball pitcher.
== Career == ===Amateur career=== Ahearne grew up in Albuquerque but later moved to Playa del Rey, Los Angeles where he attended St. Bernard High School.<ref name="irene" /> At St. Bernard, he and Royce Clayton led the baseball team to the California Interscholastic Federation semifinal as seniors in 1988.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fernas |first1=Rob |title=Shortstop Clayton Also Honored : Davison Named State's Top Prep Player |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-06-24-sp-5866-story.html |access-date=5 January 2021 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=24 June 1988}}</ref>
Ahearne did not receive any NCAA Division I scholarship offers after high school and, as a result, enrolled at Los Angeles Harbor College. At Harbor College, he set a school record with 24 wins in two seasons and, in 1990, led the team to a state title and was a first-team community college All-American and all-conference selection.<ref name="irene">{{cite news |last1=Garcia |first1=Irene |title=Wave Pitcher Has Success Down Pat : Colleges: Patrick Ahearne has an eight-game winning streak and leads Pepperdine with a 10-1 record and 1.63 ERA. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-04-23-we-1415-story.html |access-date=5 January 2021 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=23 April 1992}}</ref> He was later inducted into the Harbor College Athletic Hall of Fame.<ref name="irene" />
Ahearned received several scholarship offers on the strength of his junior college performance and chose to play college baseball for Pepperdine. As a junior in 1991, he was named to the All-West Coast Conference team.<ref name="irene" /> The following year, he was the winning pitcher in the clinching game of the 1992 College World Series; he was also named to the All-Tournament Team.<ref>{{cite news |title=PEPPERDINE WINS COLLEGE WORLD SERIES |url=https://www.deseret.com/1992/6/7/18988241/pepperdine-wins-college-world-series-br |access-date=5 January 2021 |work=Deseret News |date=7 June 1992 |language=en}}</ref> He was unanimously selected to the 1992 College Baseball All-America Team and was named the West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year. He finished his career at Pepperdine with 26 wins, a 2.86 ERA and 209 strikeouts. In 2007, he was named to the conference's 40th Anniversary Baseball Team.<ref>{{cite news |title=West Coast Conference Announces WCC/Rawlings 40th Anniversary Baseball Team |url=https://wccsports.com/news/2007/1/3/west_coast_conference_announces_wcc_rawlings_40th_anniversary_baseball_team.aspx |access-date=5 January 2021 |work=wccsports.com |publisher=West Coast Conference |date=January 3, 2007 |language=en}}</ref>
===Professional career=== Ahearne was drafted by the Tigers in the seventh round of the 1992 draft. He made his Major League debut on June 14, 1995, against the New York Yankees.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19950614&id=aj8xAAAAIBAJ&pg=6481,4219034|title=Ahearne makes debut tonight with Tigers|date=14 June 1995|work=The Blade|page=27|access-date=5 November 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=110&dat=19950615&id=DSlQAAAAIBAJ&pg=2058,6793878|title=Yankees manhandle Tiger rookie pitcher, 12-3|date=15 June 1995|work=Ludington Daily News|publisher=AP|page=8|access-date=6 November 2014}}</ref> In his one-year Major League career, Ahearne had a 0–2 record, with an 11.70 ERA, in four games.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pat Ahearne Stats |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/ahearpa01.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com |publisher=Sports Reference |access-date=5 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
After his brief Major League career, he bounced back and forth between affiliated Minor League Baseball and independent baseball. He pitched in the minors until 2004 in the New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners and Florida Marlins farm systems before ending his affiliated career with three seasons in the Detroit Tigers system. Between those stints in affiliated ball, he pitched in one game for the Duluth-Superior Dukes of the Northern League in 1996, giving up six runs in less than five innings. He also had three stints with the Bridgeport Bluefish of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball in 1998, 1999 and 2002. After his affiliated career ended in 2004, he returned to the Atlantic League again in 2005 and remained there with Bridgeport and the Long Island Ducks until departing during the 2007 season for the Macoto Cobras of the Chinese Professional Baseball League.<ref name="minors">{{cite web |title=Pat Ahearne Minor, Independent & CPBL Leagues Statistics & History |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=ahearn001pat |website=Baseball-Reference.com |publisher=Sports Reference |access-date=5 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref> Ahearne also spent seven winters in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League.<ref name="janda5.21.10">{{cite news|last1=Janda |first1=Jakub |title=Q&A with former Big Leaguer Pat Ahearne |url=https://www.mister-baseball.com/qa-big-leaguer-pat-ahearne/ |access-date=5 January 2021 |publisher=Mister Baseball |date=May 21, 2010}}</ref>
After playing in Taiwan, Ahearne represented the United States in a series of exhibitions against Italy and Spain's national teams in Europe. From there, he began playing with Russian club Tornado Balashikha in 2008 and appeared in that year's European Cup. The following year, he helped coach the Czech national team in the 2009 Baseball World Cup and began pitching in Brno for AVG Draci Brno in the Czech Extraliga, a stint which continued until 2011.<ref name="janda11.4.10">{{cite news |last1=Janda |first1=Jakub |title=Interview with Patrick Ahearne, AVG Draci Brno |url=https://www.mister-baseball.com/interview-patrick-ahearne-avg-draci-brno/ |access-date=5 January 2021 |publisher=Mister Baseball |date=November 4, 2010}}</ref><ref name="janda11.6.11" /> In 2011, he served as pitching coach for the Czech team which made it to the semifinals of the 2011 European Junior Baseball Championship.<ref name="janda11.6.11">{{cite news|last1=Janda |first1=Jakub |title=Interview with Pat Ahearne of AVG Draci Brno |url=https://www.mister-baseball.com/interview-pat-ahearne-avg-draci-brno/ |access-date=5 January 2021 |publisher=Mister Baseball |date=November 6, 2011}}</ref> In 2012, he served as a player-coach for Kotlarka in Prague.<ref name="waldner">{{cite news |last1=Waldner |title=WALDNER: Pat Ahearne's love of baseball knows no boundary |url=https://www.dailynews.com/2012/09/05/waldner-pat-ahearnes-love-of-baseball-knows-no-boundary/ |access-date=5 January 2021 |work=Los Angeles Daily News |date=5 September 2012}}</ref>
In 2011, at 41 years old, he returned to the Australian Baseball League, where he had pitched for three seasons earlier in his career.<ref name="minors" /><ref name="janda11.4.10" /> While pitching for the Adelaide Bite, he was 15.5 years older than the average pitcher in the league.<ref name="minors" />
In 2013, he was hired as a pitching coach for the Bridgeport Bluefish.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Elsberry |first1=Chris |title=Chris Elsberry: Bluefish's Ahearne has worldly sense beyond baseball |url=https://www.ctpost.com/sports/article/Chris-Elsberry-Bluefish-s-Ahearne-has-worldly-4464778.php |access-date=5 January 2021 |work=Connecticut Post |date=26 April 2013}}</ref> He also returned to the mound for his sixth season pitching for the club, his first since 2007.<ref name="minors" /> He was three years older than Brett Tomko, the second-oldest pitcher in the Atlantic League that season.<ref>{{cite web |title=2013 Atlantic League Pitching Leaders |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/leader.cgi?type=pitch&id=c732b2bd#league_pitching::2 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |publisher=Sports Reference |access-date=5 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
Ahearne was the head coach of the Hong Kong national baseball team at the 2018 Asian Games; the team beat Indonesia in its only victory of the tournament.<ref>{{cite news |title=Official Result Book - Baseball |url=http://www.ocagames.com/orb/files/4/64/AG2018_OfficialResultBook_Baseball_v1.0.pdf |access-date=5 January 2021 |publisher=Olympic Council of Asia |date=2018}}</ref>
Ahearne was hired as the head coach of the varsity baseball team at Rye Country Day School beginning in 2018.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Silver |first1=Mitch |title=Not With a Bang, But a Whimper |url=https://ryerecord.com/not-with-a-bang-but-a-whimper/ |access-date=5 January 2021 |work=Rye Record |date=12 July 2018}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Portal|Biography|Baseball}} {{Baseballstats |br=a/ahearpa01 |fangraphs=1000089 |brm=ahearn001pat}}, or [https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/A/Paheap001.htm Retrosheet]
{{1992 Pepperdine Waves baseball}} {{1992 College Baseball Consensus All-Americans}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahearne, Pat}} Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:Adelaide Bite players Category:Águilas del Zulia players Category:Albuquerque Dukes players Category:20th-century American sportsmen Category:All-American college baseball players Category:American expatriate baseball players in Australia Category:American expatriate baseball players in Canada Category:American expatriate baseball players in Taiwan Category:American expatriate baseball players in the Czech Republic Category:American expatriate sportspeople in Russia Category:Asian Games baseball managers Category:Baseball coaches from California Category:Baseball coaches from New Mexico Category:Baseball players from San Francisco Category:Baseball players from New Mexico Category:Bridgeport Bluefish players Category:Calgary Cannons players Category:Detroit Tigers players Category:Draci Brno players Category:Duluth-Superior Dukes players Category:Erie SeaWolves players Category:High school baseball coaches in the United States Category:Lakeland Tigers players Category:Leones del Caracas players Category:Long Island Ducks players Category:Los Angeles Harbor Seahawks baseball players Category:Macoto Cobras players Category:Major League Baseball pitchers Category:Melbourne Reds players Category:Navegantes del Magallanes players Category:New Haven Ravens players Category:Norfolk Tides players Category:Pepperdine Waves baseball players Category:Perth Heat players Category:San Antonio Missions players Category:Tacoma Rainiers players Category:Tiburones de La Guaira players Category:Toledo Mud Hens players Category:Trenton Thunder players Category:Vero Beach Dodgers players Category:Adelaide Giants players Category:American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela