John Arel noticed that some of his University of Maine baseball teammates were dejected after a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Stony Brook in their America East baseball tournament opener in Lowell, Massachusetts, on Wednesday night.
The 6-foot-7, 275-pound right-hander was going to pitch against one of the conference’s best-hitting teams, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, in an elimination game 45 minutes later.
With the pressure of an elimination game on his right arm, the sophomore went out and tossed a gem. He allowed just two hits and one unearned run over eight innings with a career-high 11 strikeouts and three walks as they triumphed 11-1.
“Some of the guys were down after the Stony Brook game and that got me fired up,” said Arel, who threw 128 pitches, 81 for strikes. “It motivated me to do well. When I walked out onto the field, I felt pretty confident. I told [senior catcher] Jon Salcedo that this wouldn’t be his last game.”
He said that in terms of “accuracy and the execution of my pitches, I felt more like a pitcher than I had in my entire career.”
“He was lights out,” said UMaine coach Steve Trimper. “He really kept them at bay.”
The run support was unusual for Arel.
Ih his 10 previous starts, his Black Bears had mustered only 21 runs for him, but he doesn’t dwell on it and just concentrates on doing his job.
“Every time I go out there, my goal is to not allow any runs. If I get run support, it’s great,” he said.
And he admits that he would rather pitch in a 1-0 or 2-1 game than a lopsided affair.
“The 1-0, 2-1 games are a lot more fun,” said Arel. “When you’re pitching in a close game, every pitch matters.”
Arel has made a dramatic turnaround in a year after throwing just five innings as a freshman.
The Burlington, Connecticut, native has thrown 75⅓ innings this season and has allowed 76 hits with 77 strikeouts, 20 walks and a 3.94 ERA.
“After last season, I went home and told my parents that I wasn’t going to have another season like that,” Arel said. “So I worked on a lot of things. I got in shape and worked on my mechanics.”
He said the adjustments he made to his mechanics has “been the most important aspect of my success.” He features a fastball, changeup and slider.