Chabot Baseball Duo Bound For Div. 1 Grambling State

Fishing buddies Antoine “Twony” Valerio and Gerald Nervis Jr., who played baseball together at Chabot College and San Leandro High, now have another thing in common.

They both landed with Division I Grambling State in Louisiana.

Valerio, a freshman right-handed pitcher at Chabot last season, recently orally committed with the Tigers. He is following Nervis, a highly recruited sophomore right fielder who signed with Grambling in April.

It would be hard to design a better four-year baseball scenario for two friends and JUCO teammates. Baseball is only part of the package at Grambling State, considered one of the country’s best historically black universities.

Then again, Valerio and Nervis are like brothers. Factor in athletic talent, drive, and dedication in the classroom and you have two attractive players for any program.

“We hang out all the time when we can,” said Valerio, a freshman NCAA qualifier, of the two players’ friendship. “We go fishing together. We practice, work out together. We do a lot of stuff together.”

Chabot head coach Will Tavis, who puts an emphasis on moving guys along to four-year programs, had a hand in the two friends’ rise to the same Division I school.

“It is pretty cool,” Tavis said of the unique circumstance. “I talked to the (Grambling) coach when they were heavily recruiting Gerald and he asked me if we had any ‘arms’ and any guys that I thought would be a great fit, and I thought Antoine would be a very, very good fit for them, especially considering all of our guys are getting their year back.”

Indeed, college athletes will get an extra year of eligibility because their 2020 seasons were canceled in March due to COVID-19. That means Grambling will get Valerio for four years, but he comes with half a season of college pitching experience.

Nervis also put in a good word for Valerio at Grambling. Plus, “Twony” will fill a need.

“They needed some pitching, so everything just worked out perfectly. I guess I had a good year for them to show interest in me,” Valerio said.

During an abbreviated 2020 season at Chabot, Valerio struck out a team-high 42 batters and walked just 16 over 40.2 innings. He had a 2-3 mark and 4.87 ERA.

Tavis thinks Valerio made the right choice in Grambling, just like Nervis did.

“I think it made a lot of sense for him from an athletic standpoint,” Tavis said. “It was a guy coming out of high school with no four-year offers and now he’s going to still get to go pursue the four-year path and he gained a little bit of experience here.”

Nervis, who slugged 11 home runs at Chabot in 2019 (No. 2 in the state) after transferring from Saint Mary’s College, had several offers to consider but picked Grambling for its academic and athletic prowess. Nervis also had a prolific career at San Leandro High with a .548 batting average in 2018 as a senior.

Valerio, who boasts a wicked changeup and pounds the inner half with his fastball, had a 1.91 ERA with 55 strikeouts and just seven walks over 51.1 innings pitched as a San Leandro senior in 2019. He is excited to experience a new landscape at the four-year level. “I just feel like the change of culture is something I really liked over there, and I just wanted to go somewhere for baseball outside of California,” he said.

He considers his pal Nervis an ideal teammate.

“He’s always wanting to be on your side no matter what,” Valerio says. “He’s gonna do what it takes to win. He tried to get everyone on board with what we’re doing.”

High school play was a lot of fun for Valerio under San Leandro head coach Mike Bungarz. “I knew basically everybody from high school, so the environment was always positive, we always worked together," he said.

Soon enough, the fish will be biting in north central Louisiana. It’s almost time for Valerio and Nervis to cast their lines and make a splash, on the diamond and off.