May 24, 2009

One would think that a first-year collegiate pitcher would need to spend some time adjusting to stronger, quicker and more skilled hitters.

Instead, the batters in the Northeast-10 conference found themselves adjusting to freshman hurler Jack Leathersich.

UMass Lowell's powerful southpaw overwhelmed the competition in a rookie year that saw him rank in the NE-10's top 10 in every major pitching category: wins (7), earned run average (2.18), batting average against (.226) and strikeouts (63).

For his efforts, the Beverly High product was named Northeast-10 Freshman Pitcher of the Year and earned a spot on the All-Conference First Team.

"Before the season our whole team writes down goals that we hang in our locker. Mine were to be Freshman Pitcher of the Year and make First Team All-Conference," said Leathersich. "I had a great fall and felt like I had the stuff to do it."

For the 6-foot, 185-pound freshman to expect to stride onto a Division 2 diamond and not just be the best pitcher in his class, but one of the best in his league, is half the battle. Nerves and rookie jitters doom many talented arms.

"He believes that he's better than you. He's an extremely confident kid that comes at guys, challenges guys and throws strikes," said UMass Lowell coach Ken Harring. "We knew we were getting a power arm that could compete right away."

From the day Leathersich arrived on campus in September, he was improving. The River Hawks conditioning program was more intense than anything he'd done before. Logging countless miles strengthened his legs, and he says he added 15 pounds of muscle lifting four times a week.

"My stamina was a lot better and my arm felt stronger," Leathersich said. "In high school I was probably throwing 85 (miles per hour); I'm up between that and 87 now. The conditioning is huge."

So, too, is that the Northeast-10 is a wood bat league — in other words, extremely pitcher friendly.

"It's a hard thing to hit a baseball. Pitchers have a lot more fun in that environment," said Harring, noting that Leathersich's willingness to attack hitters and pound the zone helped him take advantage of that edge.

A Fresh Start

Leathersich won his first college start, a 2-1 six-inning gem over Adelphi — who would go on to finish second in the NCAA's East Regional. The victory marked a new beginning for a kid whose time at Beverly High didn't end the way he expected.

Leathersich and two teammates missed the end of the Panthers season, and two state tournament games, after they were caught drinking at the school.

"I've never been more embarrassed than I was when that happened — embarrassed to leave the house," Leathersich admits. "I know I let our coach (Dave Wilbur), our team and the whole town down. To be having the season I was having end that way, not have any of the postseason honors or awards, it was the worst thing that could've happened."

At the time, Leathersich had already committed to UMass-Lowell and the support he got from Harring and the River Hawks' staff played a big role in helping him mature and grow from the unfortunate incident.

"We had a long talk with Jack and his family. He looked me in the eye and said it would never happen again. I think he learned a lot from that — he grew up," said Harring, who's coached UML for five seasons. "I've had no issues with him at all in terms of maturity or off the field stuff and that's a credit to him."

It also sent Leathersich down a path to redemption on the diamond. That included throwing innings in various amateur leagues last summer and attacking the fall workouts with the vigor of a man with atonement on his mind.

"I wanted to prove to Beverly in general that I could do this — that I wasn't such an idiot," he said.

A New Weapon

Leathersich always had a biting curve to compliment his heat. That was more than enough to dominate Northeastern Conference hitters, but in college it takes a little more. A changeup added to his arsenal was just what the doctor ordered.

"The hitters at this level are a lot better. If all you're mixing is fastball and curve, they're going to be able to read what you're doing pretty easily," Leathersich explained.

Hitters were so off-balance against the lefty that he carried a miniscule 0.56 ERA through his first seven starts. As the season went along, he started fanning more batters and wound up with 63 in 70 1/3 innings — 26 of them looking.

"Obviously being a freshman, the hitters had never seen me before and that helped. But I was pretty nervous before most of my starts," Leathersich admitted.

Midway through the season, the River Hawks were as high as No. 2 in one NCAA East Regional poll, but faltered and lost six of their last seven. Leathersich lost his final start, running up against a very good Franklin Pierce team in the NE-10 tourney.

"His velocity was down at the end of the year; every freshman hits that wall," said Harring. "I think he really appreciates what the weight room and conditioning will do to make sure there's no wall next year."

Busy Summer

At the end of the month Leathersich leaves for Virginia, where he'll pitch for the Haymarket Senators in the NCAA-sanctioned Valley Baseball League. He'll be under the tutelage of Ryan Fecteau, who pitched for Harring when he was the coach at St. Anselm.

"There are some things Jack can learn. He needs to do a better job holding runners on and stopping guys from running on him, for example," Harring said. "It's a great league down there, and he'll pitch against a lot of vert good players.

"The best is yet to come for Jack, no question. I can't wait to get him back next year."

As for Leathersich, he's thrilled with the results of his freshman season. But he knows this is far from his ceiling, and he's going to keep climbing the ladder until he gets there.

"It was awesome to show everybody what I can do at the college level," he said. "But I need to get better — and I will."

HEY ROOKIE

Here's a look at Beverly native Jack Leathersich's stats from his first year at UMass-Lowell. The powerful left-hander was named Northeast-10 Freshman Pitcher of the Year.

Category Statistic NE-10 Rank

Earned run avg.: 2.18, 7th

Opp. Average: .226  8th

Innings: 70.1, 12th

Strikeouts: 63, 8th

Wins: 7, 4th