SAN MARCOS -- Had he stayed home, Sam Jew might still be playing Australian Rules Football.

But rather than lay a hard tackle on an unsuspecting mate, Jew preferred another athletic endeavor: pitching a baseball. Unfortunately for a boy growing up in Western Australia with balls and strikes on his mind, a baseball diamond can be hard to come by.

"They don't have high school baseball there," said Jew, who hails from the Australian west coast city of Perth. "You can play on the state-sponsored teams, or the city teams, if you're good enough."

With the athletic ability to hold his own in the sport favored by locals and the sport known as America's pastime, Jew had a decision to make.

"I was pretty good at Australian Rules Football," Jew said, "but I didn't have enough time to do both sports, so I picked baseball."

Why baseball?

"It's the feeling I get when I'm pitching," he said.

And that's a feeling that goes over very well with the Palomar College baseball program. Now in his second season with the Comets, Jew has played a big role coming out of the bullpen and as a spot starter for a Palomar team which has won 15 of its first 22 games en route to a No. 5 ranking in the California Community College Baseball Coaches Association Southern California poll.

"The first time we saw Sam, he showed us that he had a plan," said Comets pitching coach Tyler Kincaid. "He has a great work ethic."

Not to mention an array of pitches that includes a four-seam fastball, a two-seam fastball, a slurve (slider-curve) and a changeup. He mixed up his deliveries to the tune of seven shutout innings in his last mound appearance, a starting assignment last Thursday at Imperial Valley College. Jew silenced the Arabs by allowing just four hits and no walks while striking out three in a 13-0.

"Sam threw really well," said Chip Baumann, the Comets' catcher in the win at IVC. "His two-seam (fastball) was a little off, but he battled back and pounded the zone. Sometimes (the two-seamer) was running a little too much and other times not as much.

"We figured out what was going on the first couple innings and it didn't matter he didn't have the best command of his stuff."

After a 12-3 win at home on Saturday against the Arabs, the Comets are tied for first place in the Pacific Coast Conference with a 5-2 record. Palomar is 15-6-1 overall, and Jew has done his part with a 4-0 record and a sparkling 0.71 earned run average in 25 1/3 innings pitched. The 6-foot, 190-pound right-hander has allowed only three walks all season while fanning 13 batters, and he doesn't have to be overpowering.

"I've always been a ground ball pitcher," Jew said. "We have a real good infield, so I just let the defense make the plays."

Jew, 21, has been living in the U.S. since January 2008. He knew he would have so leave Australia if wanted to seriously pursue a baseball career.

"We used to have a really good league that was about the same as Double-A ball," Jew said of his homeland. "There were (American) minor-league teams that would send players during their offseason, which is our summer."

Rather than make an attempt at a quick pro contract, Jew wanted to continue his education.

"I had been looking at going to college for a few years," said Jew, who was playing summer ball in Europe in 2007 when he made a connection that led to Palomar.

"I was playing in Germany, and I met a former Palomar College player, Chris Sweeney. He told me about Palomar College, so I looked up the school's Web site."

Then came a phone conversation with Palomar head baseball coach Buck Taylor.

"I talked to Buck, and I had a chance to practice a little bit with the team that October," Jew said. "I came back the next January, and that's when I realized that this was really good baseball.

"It was a good decision coming here, definitely. As soon as I got here, I moved in with a couple of guys and I could tell I liked it. It's nice and laid back here."

During his first season with the Comets, Jew had to overcome a hip injury that kept him out of action for more than a month. He came back with a 3-0 record and an ERA of 0.80 in just over 20 innings.

Jew's pitching coach indicated there was something else he needed to overcome: metal fatigue.

"This year, Sam has grown a little bit, and he had to get used to the metal bats," said Kincaid. "That was the big thing for him last year, adjusting to the metal from the wood bats he had been used to. He had to trust in his ability, and that's been a big difference."

Kincaid admitted that taking in an unknown player from another country is not something he was used to as a coach.

"We took him sight unseen," Kincaid said,"but we told him we were not going to bring him out here and have him not play."

Initially, coach and player differed over pitching strategy.

"His first year, we butted heads a little bit over throwing inside to the right-handed hitters," Kincaid said. "This year, his ability to command the ball inside has given him more confidence."

Jew has yet to commit to a four-year school.

"Hopefully, I'll find out if I can play for a D-1 school, but if not, I'll see what else is available," he said.

For now, his main concern is the current season.

"We just have to stay focused, because we definitely have a talented team," Jew said. "We just need to stay together for nine innings every game."