June 8, 2004
By MATT NESTOR of the Tribune's staff
Published in the Columbia Daily Tribune on Friday, May 7, 2004
The sun beat down on Simmons Field after the Missouri baseball team had wrapped up its practice. Junior pitcher Garrett Broshuis stood with his hands on his hips near the third-base line, the bill of his cap pulled down to cast dark shadows over his eyes.
After struggling through a difficult 2003 season with Missouri, junior pitcher Garrett Broshuis is having a spectacular 2004. Broshuis is 7-0 with a 2.83 ERA and 68 strikeouts in his 11 starts and has locked down the No. 2 spot in the rotation. The right-hander has emerged as one of the Tigers' most consistent pitchers and has a stranglehold on the No. 2 starting job. Broshuis is 7-0 with a 2.83 ERA in his 11 starts this season and has 68 strikeouts in 70 innings. Broshuis has helped settle a starting rotation that was supposed to be Missouri's biggest question mark heading into this year. The junior is expected to start tomorrow's game as the Tigers play a three-game series against Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas.
It's a familiar position for him. Broshuis was the Tigers' Saturday starter all through last season, but back then, things weren't working out so well for him.
"I don't want to think about it sometimes," Broshuis admitted.
The 2003 season wasn't a complete nightmare for Broshuis. He reeled off five straight wins early in the season. After a tough outing April 19 at Baylor, though, everything seemed to start crashing down around him. With the wind blowing out in Waco, Texas, Broshuis gave up eight runs in just two-thirds of an inning before he was pulled. The Tigers eventually won the shootout 23-18, but Broshuis was never quite the same.
"That hurts your confidence a little bit," Broshuis said. "The whole rest of the year, it seemed like I didn't get back into a rhythm at all."
He had completely lost his confidence. Trying too hard to make perfect pitches, Broshuis started walking batters. Then he would leave a ball up in the zone, and hitters would tag him with extra-base hits.
"It was hard, because he came out and threw so well for us at the beginning of the year last year," catcher Brad Flanders said. "And then for him to go out and basically just lose his confidence in himself and what he can do ... he was just trying to overthink, and he went out and he lost. Once you lose it, it's really tough to get back."
Missouri Coach Tim Jamieson said Broshuis hit a wall physically. After his freshman season, Broshuis pitched all summer before returning for MU's fall season. Jamieson estimated that Broshuis threw close to 200 innings that year.
Then, just when the Tigers needed a strong No. 2 guy the most, Broshuis found himself sitting. He pitched just one game in the Big 12 Tournament, a 9-8 loss to Baylor in the Tigers' last game.
Missouri received an invitation to the NCAA Regional in Starkville, Miss., but Broshuis didn't see any action. Jamieson felt Danny Hill and Nick Admire were ready and would give the Tigers a better chance to win.
"It's kind of embarrassing, too, when you've been a No. 2 starter all season," Broshuis said. "In my eyes, the type of season I ended up having was that I didn't even deserve to start. Going to a regional's a great thing. There's nothing really comparable to it in college baseball that I've found."
Broshuis and the Tigers didn't feel a complete overhaul was needed. There were just these little things.
He changed his arm motion from overhand to three-quarter, which helps him keep the ball down in the zone. It changed his curveball into more of a slider. He also worked on improving his changeup and learned how to throw that pitch for strikes. That also allows him to trust himself and his catchers and to quit over-analyzing what he's doing on the field.
He also hit the weight room and started running.
"I wanted to get in the weight room and work hard, I wanted to get my body in the best shape I could, because I had had a bad season," Broshuis said. "It was kind of embarrassing, the kind of season I had last year. Not only did I want to prove to other people that I was better than that, I wanted to prove to myself I was better than that, too."
But he wasn't quite out of the woods yet. Broshuis needed game experience before he really began getting his confidence back on the mound. Even against Coastal Carolina, a game in which he gave up two home runs, he was feeling better.
"Just being able to minimize that and make them solo shots instead of three-run homers because of walks," Broshuis said, "getting through that game was a big obstacle for me, because it's the first time I pitched with the wind blowing out since Baylor."
Now, teamed up with Hill, the Tigers feel they have a top two that can compete with any duo in the Big 12.
"You've got a chance to win your first two games of any tournament," Jamieson said. "And if you make it to a regional, a four-team regional, you're as good as anybody on those two days. That gives you a chance to get into the winners' bracket in a hurry."