Millersville, Pa. - Daniel Ross' journey to Millersville sounds like it was lifted from a 1990s baseball comedy movie script. A hard-throwing Japanese pitcher, who had only just learned the English language, is discovered in a small town men's summer league and winds up a perfect fit for a small university in Lancaster County, hurling 93 mile per hour fastballs and diving split-fingers from a mound where corn is panted just beyond the center field fence.
 
In five appearances with the Marauders, Ross has revitalized the bullpen with a 0.00 ERA, nine strikeouts and .192 batting average against. But a decade ago and 7,000 miles away in Yokosuka, Japan, Ross' eyes and thumbs were glued to a Nintendo Gameboy. He was far more interested in Pokémon than throwing a baseball. At least until his father, Duane, a 25-year U.S. Navy man, threatened to take away that Gameboy unless he started playing baseball. Reluctantly, Ross started to play, practicing from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday.
 
Baseball was as much a part of the Ross family as serving in the military. Duane's 25-year career was spent serving on submarines, and he was stationed with the U.S. Fleet Activities in Yokosuka for much of that tenure. There Duane married his wife, Mihaso, and raised their three children. Mihaso was born and raised in Japan. The family lived off the military base in the city for the majority of Daniel's youth, and all three siblings attended Japanese school. As Daniel reached high school, Duane retired from the Navy. The family's oldest son, Donald, graduated from the United States Naval Academy and was living in the states. A move across the ocean was looming for the family, and Duane and Mihaso enrolled Daniel in Nile C. Kinnick High School, an American Department of Defense Education Activity school.
 
At that time, Ross could speak almost no English. Mihaso spoke Japanese in the family's home. Ross heard nothing but Japanese in school and spoke the language his friends in the community. This made transitioning to an American-based school especially difficult for Ross.
 
"I didn't have many friends the first three years," said Ross. "The first few years I only knew a few words of English, so when I was asked a question, I would just say 'yes' or 'no.' When I had an essay due, I would type it into Google translator and submit it. I was probably at a level one in English but I was taking level 10 English courses."
 
Because of the significant language barrier, Ross turned to sports to help him assimilate. He played wide receiver in football and was a forward with the basketball team, but it was in baseball where he excelled. Baseball soon became a passion. He became even more motivated to pursue baseball when Donald suffered a catastrophic throwing injury.  
 
"My brother influenced me to continue playing," said Ross. "He loved baseball more than I did but he broke two bones in his elbow. Part of me wanted to play baseball from him."
 
Ross' high school coach learned to speak English while playing baseball at Fresno City College in California and insisted that it would be a good fit for Ross, too. Ross left Japan behind and attended the school for three years. However, he pitched only a handful of innings, dealing with a partial tear and inflammation of his ulnar collateral ligament.
 
Ross graduated from Fresno City College in the spring of 2017 with nowhere to go and no coaches offering an opportunity to play. Meanwhile, Duane and Mihaso also left Japan, moving to Central Pennsylvania where Duane started working at the Naval Support Activity in Mechanicsburg. Ross, still searching for a college, moved to Mechanicsburg in the summer and joined the local Mechanicsburg Cardinals of the West Shore Twilight League. His team included a number of former PSAC baseball standouts but it isn't a league where college coaches look for prospective talent.  
 
"It was in the middle of summer I didn't have a college to go to yet," said Ross. "I wanted to play baseball so I joined the team."
 
A fellow Cardinal took notice of the right-hander's potential and started making calls to area Division II and NAIA programs on Ross' behalf. Millersville's Jon Shehan was one of the coaches to receive a call.
 
"I was in Georgia recruiting and got a call from one of his teammates—a guy we had recruited who went to another PSAC school," said Shehan. "He said, 'Hey we got this kid who came in from Fresno City and didn't throw a lot. He's Japanese, he's got an interesting story and he's throwing tonight.' I was in Georgi,a but I talked to a local scout who was going to check him out. The scout called me back and said he was a guy we had to get on campus ASAP. I only saw him throw once or twice but once we got him on campus he was a match from a make-up standpoint. He has great character and his values fit our program perfectly."
 
Ross also saw the program as a match.
 
"The first thing I thought was that I really wanted to come here," said Ross. "They talked about the process and how they develop their players. I bought into it. When we got to the car my parents asked what I thought. I had already determined that this was where I wanted to go."
 
While Ross has been lights out for the Marauders this spring, striking out at least one in all five of his outings, he rarely pitched in the fall as he continued to deal with a sore arm.
 
"He was a little banged up in the fall, and we shut him down," said Shehan. "We knew he had good stuff from watching him in the recruiting process but we didn't see him throw a lot. We didn't know how he would attack hitters or what his mentality was like."
 
What Ross has been for the Marauders is a strike-thrower, hitting the zone with more than 60 percent of his pitches. 
 
"His repertoire is a little different than the rest of our guys," said Shehan. "He has that typical Japanese delivery with typical Japanese pitches: the slider and split-finger. He throws a lot of strikes with his split-finger which is pretty rare."
 
Once an unknown commodity, Ross is now making an impact on and off the field for the Marauders. He is not only a linchpin for the bullpen and working his way toward a starting role, he is also a leader in the clubhouse as the model teammate.
 
"Growing up around the military, I was always taught to say 'yes sir, no sir,'" said Ross. "Japanese culture teaches to be respectful to others. With both (influences), I think about others, being a team player, looking out for others."
 
"He is an absolute pleasure to coach," said Shehan. "He works his tail off. He is always one of the last guys in the weight room. He is constantly working on things he can improve on. You would rather coach kids that you have to back down rather than having to motivate them. He is one we have no issues motivating. This day and age, there are a lot kids that want to know why with everything. With his cultural upbringing in Japan and growing up in the military, he wants to know why, but he does it quietly and respectfully. He understands when we tell him to do something that there is a reason for it, and he doesn't question it."
 
In addition to baseball, Ross is taking a heavy course load in biology. While his brother, half-brother, father and grandfather are and were military men, Ross isn't planning to join the service. Instead, his goal is to work with recovering soldiers as a kinesiotherapist, helping them regain mobility and functionality. In fact, he has already put his studying to work. He relieved the nagging elbow pain by altering the arm angle in his pitching mechanics.
 
"He is crazy about his mechanics," said Shehan. "He is constantly working on adjustments. He has as good a feel for mechanics as anyone on the team in terms of what he is trying to accomplish. He always has a plan."
 
Millersville, however, wasn't always Ross' plan. When he was playing his Gameboy, living in the shadow of Mt. Fuji, he never imagined he would be a collegiate pitcher in the United States. When he was mastering English and struggling to stay healthy at Fresno City College, Millersville was an unknown university 2,700 miles away. The Ross-Millersville match seems improbable, but Ross and Shehan share a common faith and neither believe that Ross coming to Millersville was a coincidence.
 
"I'm not a believer in luck, and I think God has a plan for everyone," said Shehan. "I just think that Daniel Ross and Millersville were supposed to cross paths at the right time. We did, and here he is. He can help us as a selfless, respectful teammate, bringing a different viewpoint on life and the sport. And we can help him as a pitcher and as a student-athlete."