After a stellar start including wins over West Virginia and High Point in front of a bevy of scouts, including a few cross-checkers — who usually only come out if a player is seriously considered as a high draft pick — Lewis has struggled in his
With the possibility of being drafted in the back of his mind and the pressure of helping his team avoid a rare losing season, the former Francis Lewis star has lost his first two America East Conference games and fell to 2-5 with a 4.20 earned run average.
Junior year has arrived, which means me and every other junior in college is eligible for the Major League Baseball Draft.
As a player, you try not to think about this overwhelming event since it’s out of your hands and a very small percentage of players in college actually get drafted.
I think every single kid who has ever put on a glove has had inspiring dreams of playing at the next level with the thought always in the back of his mind.
For my Stony Brook team and me, we have gotten off to a rough start. Our record is 12-18, 1-5 in the America East Conference.
In the past 12 years we have only had two losing seasons. So as you can imagine, this losing is new to most players and coaches.
On the other hand two of my other junior teammates, Matt Devins and Andrew Larsen, have started this season very strong and have had many Major League scouts out to look at them. Their success will be a very big part of the future of our program.
I have had my ups and downs this year in pitching. Early on I had big wins against the University of West Virginia and High Point University in front of many scouts.
Recently, though, I have struggled, which has led to my first losing record. This has been a very frustrating year, which is something I have never had to deal with in my life.
As a pitcher the pressure is immense, since the whole game revolves around you.
The pressure of failing and letting down your teammates, family and friends is something you must forget while playing the game. You must always think positive, otherwise the negative can drive you crazy and you will never be productive.
With about five starts left for me this season, I must take this horrible feeling from losing and use it to my advantage to make me work harder and strive to win.
So for the rest of the season we’ll all be working hard and playing to the best of our potential to help our team win and, I hope, help our chances to fulfill our childhood dream and get to that next level.
