Filia

Bubba and His Baseball Brothers: Baseball Runs in the Filia Family

By Gillian Husovsky

The Filia brothers are certainly not rookies when it comes to baseball and that couldn’t be more true for UC San Diego sophomore catcher Marc “Bubba” Filia. All three of the Filia brothers have been playing baseball for as long as they can remember, and have grown in the sport alongside each other.

Some can say they are close with their siblings, but for Bubba Filia it runs much deeper than that. Although the 6’2 catcher has had a strong support system to guide him through his baseball career, it does not discredit the hard work he has put in to forge his own path. Growing up with both of his brothers being heavily immersed in baseball contributed to his drive and competitive environment, but it was important to Bubba Filia to shape his own future.

The oldest of the Filia brothers, Eric Filia, is a UCLA alumnus who currently plays for the Seattle Mariners organization, while middle brother Mikey Filia was drafted out of UC Irvine in 2019 by the Kansas City Royals organization. 

Bubba Filia is the youngest of the three brothers and has already proven that he has the potential to compete during his past two seasons with the Tritons. 

Bubba Filia knew that he wanted to create his own path and did not necessarily want to go to either of the universities his brothers attended, but staying in the UC system appealed to him. He was hoping to stay in California, and the opportunity to play at UC San Diego seemed to be the perfect fit. The Tritons’ Assistant Coach Mike Ramazotti previously coached Mikey Filia’s summer ball team, so while Bubba Filia wanted to forge his own way, there were still some connections between him and his brother’s baseball career.

He highlighted that, “It wasn’t just one specific thing that drew me here but it was a variety of things that made UC San Diego so attractive to me.” Filia also emphasized the proximity to home, as well as the coaching staff. 

“The fact that I would be able to get a UC education out of all of this was a huge part as well,” he added.

Bubba
Bubba Filia

“My time spent around the Filia family has been incredible," stated Ramazotti.  "I first met the family when I coached Mikey Filia (UC Irvine) in the Northwoods league for the Green Bay Bullfrogs. Mikey was a hard working player and always open to coaching. I was always amazed by the love an support the Filia family brought when they visited. From the beginning, I felt like I had known them forever. I first met Bubba when the family came to visit Green Bay and I was excited to learn he had college baseball aspirations. At that time I knew he had a few colleges looking at him and when I joined the staff at UC San Diego it was very interesting to learn that in the near future I would be coaching another Filia brother. My experience with Bubba has been very similar. He is a hard worker, very coachable, and has aspirations of playing at the next level. Players like Mikey and Bubba are fun players to coach, and it speaks volumes as to how they were brought up. Michael and Stacey Filia are a mainstay at Triton Ballpark (when fans are allowed), and often make majority of the road trips. I look forward to seeing them around for the next couple years and working with Bubba for the remainder of his time as a Triton.”

As a sophomore, Bubba Filia has shown himself to have a strong influence in the Tritons’ line-up. He attributes part of his game to the extremely competitive environment he was surrounded with growing up. While there was always some intense competition going on between him and his brothers, they grew up close to one another and remained supportive throughout each of their individual baseball careers.

Filia shared that, “It was really competitive, especially being the youngest, I looked up to both of [my brothers] and they’re both my heroes and best friends… All three of us are really close and it was definitely super competitive.”

During the summers of their college careers, Eric Filia previously played for the Kenosha Kingfish and Mikey Filia played for the Green Bay Bullfrogs, which is also in the Northwoods League. Bubba Filia recalled during his early years of high school attending his brother’s games in Kenosha. 

“I remember going out there to visit for a weekend and we got to watch a game… All I remember was that I really wanted to go there,” Bubba Filia shared. He emphasized the dedication of all the fans in Kenosha, and the atmosphere surrounding the team there. 

This dream was made a reality this past summer as Bubba Filia received an opportunity to play in the Northwoods League with the Kingfish in Kenosha, Wis. During this previous summer, many leagues were postponed or canceled due to the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Kenosha Kingfish were able to take careful precautions in order to compete safely. Not only was this a rare opportunity, but the Northwoods League was already very familiar to the Filia family.

Summer ball in Wisconsin was a vast change of scenery for Bubba Filia, but was partially eased as he lived with the same host family his older brother previously stayed with. 

“It was really cool,” he shared. “I met a lot of good people, and made a lot of really good friends so it was a good experience.” 

Although there was not as large of a game attendance as what he experienced watching his brother’s games in Kenosha, he acknowledged the dedicated fans that still safely watched games this past summer with the dramatically reduced stadium capacity allowed.

Despite the limited capacity, the Filia family was able to visit and attend some games. One of Bubba Filia’s favorite memories in Wisconsin was hitting a home run in front of his extended family that was visiting from Chicago. After going 2-3 that day, he received the title of Valeo’s MVP of the Game and led the Kingfish with 2 RBIs that not only gave them the 2-1 win, but also put them in the lead of their ongoing series with the K-Town Bobbers.

Bubba Filia enjoyed this past summer ball season in Wisconsin, but his journey doesn’t end there. This summer he will receive the opportunity to return back to Wisconsin to play yet again with the Kenosha Kingfish. While his brothers will always have an influence on his baseball career, he continues to forge his own path at UC San Diego, in Wisconsin, and beyond.

Bubba

About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions III and II and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America accolades, while 38 have received prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.

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