Mock saving games with poise in the moment
3/21/2017 12:34:00 PM | Baseball, Features
Millersville, Pennsylvania - Leading by one and need three outs? Call Mike Mock.
Millersville baseball's sophomore closer has three saves and two wins in five appearances in 2017. He has not allowed a run while striking out 13 in his 9 2/3 innings pitched. This comes after a brilliant freshman season in which he posted a 1.37 ERA with four saves and was named All-PSAC East Second Team—just the sixth Marauder reliever to be honored since 1971.
Millersville can count on Mock.
Mock isn't imposing or intimidating. He stands just 6-0. He doesn't blow away hitters with an overpowering fastball. He topped out at 87 mph in his most recent two-strikeout, one-inning save against Indiana (Pa.). Mock has only one other pitch: a deceiving 12-6 curveball. But with that two-pitch repertoire, Mock has surrendered just two hits in 2017 and has allowed an earned run in just two of his 20 career appearances. For Mock, closing games isn't about stuff--it's about mentality.
"You have to love the pressure," said Mock. "I've been that way since I was young. I feel I do better in big situations. Going in the ninth inning, up by one or in a tie game, you know that if you do poorly, you are going to lose. I love being in that spot."
This mentality is not only why Mock is so good for the No. 6 team in Division II, it is the only reason that Coach Jon Shehan recruited him at all.
Mock grew up in tiny Roaring Spring, Pa., and was a three-sport star as a pitcher, wrestler and quarterback of the football team at Central High School (graduating class of 112). Mock shares the same hometown as Shehan's father, and it was Shehan's uncle that tipped him to Mock. Shehan made the trip to Western Pennsylvania to watch Mock pitch in a district playoff game at the Altoona Curve's stadium—only 15 miles from Mock's home. The undefeated Central squad brought the entire town of Roaring Spring with it.
"We don't recruit many 6-0 right-handers that throw in the mid-80s, but there had to be 3,000 people there. I've never seen anything like that for a district championship game," said Shehan. "Mike threw a three-hit shutout. It was a huge game, huge crowd. That sealed the deal for me. I knew he was going to get people out and have poise, which is one of our recruiting priorities."
In the fourth quarter with the game on the line, the football was in Mock's hands every snap as his team's quarterback. He started wrestling when he was six, and wrestling is nothing but intense, head-to-head competition; who is the better man? Mock carries that crunch time craving to the mound where he is an aggressive strike-thrower, walking just nine batters over 29 1/3 career innings pitched.
"He attacks hitters," said Shehan. "He goes in and throws strikes. Even when he falls behind or gives up a hit, he attacks, attacks, attacks."
Yet Mock's aggressiveness on the mound is a stark contrast to his life away from the diamond.
"I'm a pretty boring person. I go to school and I play baseball," said Mock. Mock loves the quiet life. He hopes to return to Roaring Spring and settle down soon after graduation, using his degree in advanced manufacturing technology to design products for Appvion, a paper mill that is the heart of a town with a little more than 2,000 residents. More than anything, he loves the stillness of hunting in the woods.
"I was raised in a small town," said Mock. My grandparents are two minutes one way and 10 minutes the other way. My whole family is close. I love it there. I don't like cities. Outside of baseball, hunting with my dad and my grandfather is my favorite pastime. That's what I love about hunting, it's about spending time with family and creating memories.
So Mock, like the super hero shedding his everyman disguise, exchanges his boots, jeans and trucker cap for baseball cleats and glove when it is time to save the day for the Marauders. Mock takes the ball in Millersville's pressure cooker moments and uncannily delivers. As a freshman, he was on the mound for the final outs of the NCAA Atlantic Regional championship victory. As a sophomore, he's clinched five victories for a 14-4 club that has overcome the growing pains of its inexperienced starting pitching.
"The town where he grew up is blue-collar, it's hard-working," said Shehan. "He's a former wrestler, high school quarterback, so he has grown up in a competitive environment. It fuels his fire. He loves pressure situations so he's going to be successful in no matter what he chooses to do."
Millersville baseball's sophomore closer has three saves and two wins in five appearances in 2017. He has not allowed a run while striking out 13 in his 9 2/3 innings pitched. This comes after a brilliant freshman season in which he posted a 1.37 ERA with four saves and was named All-PSAC East Second Team—just the sixth Marauder reliever to be honored since 1971.
Millersville can count on Mock.
Mock isn't imposing or intimidating. He stands just 6-0. He doesn't blow away hitters with an overpowering fastball. He topped out at 87 mph in his most recent two-strikeout, one-inning save against Indiana (Pa.). Mock has only one other pitch: a deceiving 12-6 curveball. But with that two-pitch repertoire, Mock has surrendered just two hits in 2017 and has allowed an earned run in just two of his 20 career appearances. For Mock, closing games isn't about stuff--it's about mentality.
"You have to love the pressure," said Mock. "I've been that way since I was young. I feel I do better in big situations. Going in the ninth inning, up by one or in a tie game, you know that if you do poorly, you are going to lose. I love being in that spot."
This mentality is not only why Mock is so good for the No. 6 team in Division II, it is the only reason that Coach Jon Shehan recruited him at all.
Mock grew up in tiny Roaring Spring, Pa., and was a three-sport star as a pitcher, wrestler and quarterback of the football team at Central High School (graduating class of 112). Mock shares the same hometown as Shehan's father, and it was Shehan's uncle that tipped him to Mock. Shehan made the trip to Western Pennsylvania to watch Mock pitch in a district playoff game at the Altoona Curve's stadium—only 15 miles from Mock's home. The undefeated Central squad brought the entire town of Roaring Spring with it.
"We don't recruit many 6-0 right-handers that throw in the mid-80s, but there had to be 3,000 people there. I've never seen anything like that for a district championship game," said Shehan. "Mike threw a three-hit shutout. It was a huge game, huge crowd. That sealed the deal for me. I knew he was going to get people out and have poise, which is one of our recruiting priorities."
In the fourth quarter with the game on the line, the football was in Mock's hands every snap as his team's quarterback. He started wrestling when he was six, and wrestling is nothing but intense, head-to-head competition; who is the better man? Mock carries that crunch time craving to the mound where he is an aggressive strike-thrower, walking just nine batters over 29 1/3 career innings pitched.
"He attacks hitters," said Shehan. "He goes in and throws strikes. Even when he falls behind or gives up a hit, he attacks, attacks, attacks."
Yet Mock's aggressiveness on the mound is a stark contrast to his life away from the diamond.
"I'm a pretty boring person. I go to school and I play baseball," said Mock. Mock loves the quiet life. He hopes to return to Roaring Spring and settle down soon after graduation, using his degree in advanced manufacturing technology to design products for Appvion, a paper mill that is the heart of a town with a little more than 2,000 residents. More than anything, he loves the stillness of hunting in the woods.
"I was raised in a small town," said Mock. My grandparents are two minutes one way and 10 minutes the other way. My whole family is close. I love it there. I don't like cities. Outside of baseball, hunting with my dad and my grandfather is my favorite pastime. That's what I love about hunting, it's about spending time with family and creating memories.
So Mock, like the super hero shedding his everyman disguise, exchanges his boots, jeans and trucker cap for baseball cleats and glove when it is time to save the day for the Marauders. Mock takes the ball in Millersville's pressure cooker moments and uncannily delivers. As a freshman, he was on the mound for the final outs of the NCAA Atlantic Regional championship victory. As a sophomore, he's clinched five victories for a 14-4 club that has overcome the growing pains of its inexperienced starting pitching.
"The town where he grew up is blue-collar, it's hard-working," said Shehan. "He's a former wrestler, high school quarterback, so he has grown up in a competitive environment. It fuels his fire. He loves pressure situations so he's going to be successful in no matter what he chooses to do."
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