Pitcher of the Week - Week Four - Chuck Boring - Southern Ohio Copperheads

You have to have a certain mentality to want the ball when the game is on the line. Not all pitchers can handle the stress because closers can make or break a game. That is why Chuck Boring, a closing pitcher for the Southern Ohio Copperheads, has been chosen at the Pitcher of the Week for the week of July 2 to July 8 of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League, a wood bat baseball league for college athletes. He has “made” several games for the Copperheads.

“His role as a closer is important. He has a good mindset late in the game. He wants the ball to finish the game,” say head coach, Mike Deegan.

Boring himself seems to enjoy the down time that being a reliever gives him.

“I pretty much just sit around. I don’t even get my cleats on until the seventh and then I start warming up,” says the freshman from The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.

But when he does get his chance on the mound, the wait was worth it, for the team and for Boring.

“He has good stuff,” Coach Deegan states. “His fastball is running around 90mph and he has good movement on it.”

Boring concurs, saying that his fastball is what gets him through those last two inning of any game. The six saves credited to him, not to mention the 0.00 ERA, can certainly attest to the fact that whatever he’s throwing, his opponents can’t hit it.

And that’s just the way Boring likes it.

“[As a closer,] you can burn out and throw the best pitch you can every time as hard as you can,” he says of his strategy.

As the season goes on, the skill of the closer can only become more apparent, and Chuck Boring already has a head start.

Apparently no team can take the heat of Boring’s fastball blazing by them.

Pitcher of the Week - Week Three - Kevin Leady - Lake Erie Monarchs

The statistics are in, and the Pitcher of the Week for the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League, a wood-bat baseball league for college athletes, has been announced. It comes as no surprise that the man of the hour is Kevin Leady of the Lake Erie Monarchs. He currently has the lowest ERA in the league at 0.36.

Leady, a native of Luckey, OH and junior at Bowling Green State University, says that being the league leader isn’t his priority.

“I don’t really worry about it,” he says. “I just try to give our team the chance to win, the best chance of winning.”

Judging from the three wins credited to Monarchs with the help of Leady’s excellent pitching this season, the chances are good. Considering that in the last 11 innings he’s pitched, Leady’s given up only one earned run, the chance he’s giving his team is exceptionally good.

Head Coach of the Monarchs, Chris Arvay, attributes Leady’s success to an unshakeable focus on the game, and a genuine joy in playing it.

“He just stays focused on what he wants to do and what he wants to accomplish. He competes every time he’s on the pitcher’s mound because he loves baseball and loves being around it.”

A love of the game certainly puts a little extra effort into the pitching, especially his change-up, which Leady says is the pitch he has the most handle on.

There are still big differences, though, between the Great Lakes League and college baseball, which Leady seems to appreciate. Namely, the wood bat.

“It seems like with a metal bat any pitch can be hit out. It’s tougher with a wooden bat. And sometimes when a pitch gets hit back at you, it’s so fast it’s scary with metal,” Leady says.
Facing batters in any league can be a nerve-wracking experience, but Kevin Leady looks to be holding up under pressure, even when his change-ups come flying back at him.