- November 18, 2024
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On the field at TD Ameritrade Park June 17, TCU and the University of Virginia were collaborating on an epic — a 15-inning long saga that marked the longest game in the College World Series’ 66-year history. Just beyond the right field fence, Alec Bettinger was readying to contribute his verse.
Bettinger, a freshman, rose in the Cavaliers bullpen, did his arm warm-ups, the heavy ball routine, the towel drill, and began tossing from his knees. After completing those tasks, he sat back down and took a swig of Omaha’s night air.
Five years ago, I watched Bettinger toss a bullpen inside a netted batting cage on a muggy, tired summer afternoon in Northern Virginia. The rubber rose high above the eroded clay, forcing a hurler to stand on his tippy-toes from the windup. Alec was a rising freshman headed to Hylton High in the fall, and I was the coach of the varsity summer team.
I quickly realized that Alec didn’t need my coaching — at least in the classical sense. The curly-haired teen didn’t need me tinkering with his mechanics or teaching him how to keep his arm speed the same for a change-up. That summer, Alec mowed down much older batters with ease. Whenever he got into a modicum of trouble on the bump, I’d call a pitching conference.
“Smile,” I’d order him. If he was missing high, “Aim lower, man.” Mid-inning is never the right time to start mulling over mechanics.
A few years later, as a journalist, I covered Hylton’s run to the state playoffs during Bettinger’s junior season. It was tough to stay objective while writing about so many boys I’d coached and cared about, but I managed. Besides, by that point in the playoffs the Bulldogs were facing schools from outside the News & Messenger’s coverage area — allowing me to be a bit of a homer.
Bettinger had “dead arm,” I remember. Most studs do by that point in the high school season. But, far from wilting like other 17-year old aces, he pitched (not threw) a complete-game, three-hitter in the state quarterfinals against a team with a MLB prospect on the roster.
No one was surprised when Brian O’Connor and UVA extended a scholarship offer to Bettinger, or when he accepted. Despite dominating in high school and on the showcase circuit, Bettinger admits he didn’t know exactly what to expect in Charlottesville.
“I was more surprised about what I could do,” Bettinger said. “Not as much what the other people could do — but how I was able to be successful. I went in there timid at times, and was a little scared I guess, then I just kind of figured it out — it’s not that much different as long as you throw strikes and pitch to contact. You’ll be perfectly fine.”
Bettinger’s stat line was more “perfect” than “fine”, as he went 6-0 with a 1.23 ERA, filling in as a mid-week starter after senior Artie Lewicki injured his oblique. When Lewicki returned healthy, he regained his spot in the rotation, a coaches’ decision Bettinger said he was “behind 100%.”
What sage words does Bettinger offer for soon-to-be college baseball players like Flagler Palm Coast’s Joseph Bernhard, an Ave Maria University signee? Be ready to work.
“The only way you can describe it is a grind,” Bettinger said. “During the season, you wake up and go to class from 9 a.m. to noon. Then, you go to practice for two to three hours, shower, go to study hall, then you go to dinner. You’re basically studying the rest of the night. You don’t have any down time. It’s an awesome experience, but it’s not for everybody.”
For players in “non-revenue” NCAA sports like baseball, there aren’t any lucrative tattoo-for-memorabilia deals (love you, Terrelle Pryor) or banks of ready-made essays from which to choose (we’ll climb that [Chapel] hill another time). But for student-athletes who choose to stick it out and invest the effort, there’s a big payoff in the form of about 30 new brothers.
Bettinger loved “just being with the team, that atmosphere,” he said. “I was with those guys more than I was with my own family. Being around them was just an awesome experience.”
When UVA’s Nate Irving led off the bottom of the 15th with a ground-rule double, Bettinger realized he might not pitch that night, after all. And that was a good thing.
“He hit the leadoff double, and I knew from there that we were going to be able to manufacture a run,” he recalled. “I was ready to go in, but once we got that double, I knew it was kinda a done deal.”
Two batters later, when Daniel Piniero lofted a fly ball to left-center, the marathon contest was finally in the books.
“As soon as the ball was hit, we all started crowding around the entrance to the bullpen to run out there,” Bettinger said. “As soon as he caught it, we knew he was going to score. We just started storming the field and jumping around like crazy men.”
From “Hoodbridge” to Omaha, from SOL tests to team autograph signings, Bettinger made it. You done good, kid.
