June 8, 2004
By MATT NESTOR of the Tribune's staff
Published in the Columbia Daily Tribune on Thursday, June 3, 2004
It was during one of his long relief stints at the Big 12 Tournament when Missouri pitcher Mark Alexander realized that he had created a fashion trend.
A glance at the Missouri dugout and the stands at Ameriquest Field in Arlington, Texas, revealed teammates and fans with their hats cockeyed. It is a testament to the surprising success of Alexander's senior season that anyone noticed that he likes to wear his flat-billed hat twisted to the left-hand side. Alexander, who is 4-0 with 10 saves and a 1.92 ERA, started wearing his hat askew during fall practices.
"Every pitch, it would turn a little more," Alexander said. "And then it was like every time I put on my hat and it was straight, it didn't feel right. So I had to turn it. ... And it ended up, it's way over there now. More than I planned on."
The Tigers have depended on the closer known as "The Barbarian" far more than anyone could have planned on before the season began. He leads the staff with 34 appearances and figures to get some more work in the NCAA Tournament. Missouri opens at 2 p.m. tomorrow in the Fayetteville, Ark., regional against Wichita State.
When closer Travis Wendte was lost for the season with an arm injury, the Tigers needed to find somebody to fill that role. Alexander and freshman Max Scherzer were given chances to take over for Wendte. Alexander's fiery personality eventually helped him win the job.
It was a big boost for Alexander, who had a total of 26 relief appearances and an 8.16 ERA in his first three years.
"He's been through a lot in this program where he didn't get to pitch a lot the last couple years," junior pitcher Garrett Broshuis said. "He never stopped working. That's the great thing about him, he just kept working harder and harder."
The Independence native has not always been lights-out, but he constantly gives Missouri a chance to win. Alexander earned Big 12 pitcher-of-the-week honors after the Tigers' series at Texas Tech in which he made three appearances and earned one win and one save. He threw 9 2/3 innings in three appearances at the Big 12 Tournament, including a stint of 42/3 innings against Oklahoma State in the championship game.
Alexander credits three things with hepling him become a dominant closer. He improved his accuracy, allowing him to challenge hitters. He developed a changeup to go along with his fastball and slider. And he's building on his success.
"I just sit down there" in the bullpen "and I pray, 'Help me build on success and learn from failures that I make,' " Alexander said.
When he's on the mound, Alexander likes to tune out the crowd and just listen to his teammates rooting him on. But until it was pointed out, he said, he had no idea that everyone else turned their hats sideways.
Broshuis said it's a way for the Tigers to show Alexander they're behind him.
"Everybody in the dugout just kind of rallies behind him when he's in the game, and we all turn our hats to the side," Broshuis said. "That's just one of the things he does. He does a lot of odd things to fire the team up, too."
He stomps, screams gibberish and whacks the bench with whatever object is handy. Alexander enters home games to bagpipe music befitting "The Barbarian."
"I didn't want to ruin bats, so we just found poles or whatever was sitting in the dugout," Alexander said. "Tyler Williams gave me a table leg last week that I ended up carrying around, and I bang that around the dugout and the bench. Anything I can do to make noise and get in the guys' heads, 'Hey, we're behind you.' That's what I'm trying to do over there."
Alexander knows by heart the William Wallace speech from his favorite movie, "Braveheart." Alexander admitted that he will do the speech just for fun, but most often, somebody requests it.
"I had to do it a couple weeks ago," Alexander said. "I was visiting my grandma and grandpa up in Kansas City. My grandma's in the hospital, and my dad is like, 'Why don't you bust out the quote.' So I was sitting there in the hospital, my grandma's in a wheelchair, and I have to do the whole quote. People are walking by."