Crowe impresses in first start since Tommy John surgery
The crowd buzzed as Gamecock right-handed pitcher Wil Crowe took the mound at Lexington County Baseball Stadium. He squatted behind the mound, took a deep breath and dug in.
“(I was thinking) Don’t fall, don’t do anything stupid, don’t mess up,” he said chuckling.
After a year rehabbing, Crowe was finally throwing in his first competitive start since Tommy John surgery.
Crowe, who is playing for the Lexington County Blowfish this summer, went two innings and gave up one run on one hit Wednesday. He struck out two batters compared to only one walked. The junior threw 27 pitches.
“I was expecting me to go out there and pitch like I usually do, but I got to give some and I got to take some,” Crowe said. “I’m glad how it went—I wish I didn’t walk that guy—but it’s whatever, it happens. I ‘m just glad to be back out here playing the game.”
He left after the second inning with the Blowfish up 3-1. His velocity ranged from 95 miles per hour on his fastball to 78 miles per hour on his curveball. He also threw a low-to-mid 80s slider.
“I didn’t know I was throwing that hard. I didn’t think I was throwing that hard. So that’s fine. I was just trying to spot up and get guys out; that’s the name of the game,” “I’m glad my velo’s like that, but that’s not what I’m worried about. I’m here to get wins.”
While Crowe was left off the 35-man active roster this year, it doesn’t mean he hasn’t been keeping up with the Gamecock successes this year, and he’s very impressed with the 2016 team.
“They deserve it all. We worked our butts off in the fall and when we got back for the spring we did the same thing,” he said. “We didn’t have that mentality we had last year of ‘Whatever happens, happens.”’
This was Crowe’s first start since he pitched against Florida on April 10, 2015. He went 4.1 innings, giving up seven earned runs on seven hits. Wednesday’s start marks almost 14 months he’s been without playing competitive baseball.
“Mentally it’s really tough,” Crowe said. “You have to thank the people around you: my family, my girlfriend especially—she was there for me the whole time—everyone really: my friends, my teammates. Everyone just kept encouraging me and gave me the push I needed when I felt down.”
Crowe will continue to pitch for the Blowfish for the rest of the summer. He is scheduled to start next week. After throwing around 30 pitches against Florence, he said the plan is to increase his pitch count by 15 each start and go and go one inning longer as well.
He will have one more start before the Major League Baseball draft on June 9. A few scouts were in attendance Wednesday monitoring all of Crowe’s pitches. But with a professional career potentially looming, he said that’s not on his mind and reinforced he will be back at Founders Park next season.
“The plan right now is I have two summer classes,” he said, “take those, get back on schedule to graduate next year and be on the Gamecock baseball team.”
