Marshall University Athletics
BOGACZYK: Boster Bounces Back, Brings New Chemistry to the Mound
4/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
By JACK BOGACZYK
HERDZONE.COM COLUMNIST
           HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- His ERA is 1.78. His GPA is 3.37.
           Which of those numbers is more impressive for Chase Boster?
           Maybe neither. Consider how the Marshall right-hander has pitched recently as the Conference USA series-leadoff starter, and maybe it's this:
           "His fastball command, he's at 67 percent fastball strikes right now," said Marshall's pitching coach and former Major League lefty Josh Newman.
           Veteran Herd Coach Jeff Waggoner said he figures the 6-foot-4, 220-pounder Boster will be selected in the June MLB Draft. However, considering Boster's commitment to academics -- if he isn't a high pick -- he might return to the Herd as a 2016 senior.
           Boster isn't getting ahead, however -- except in the count, and in the classroom, with a major in chemistry and minor in entrepreneurship..
           "I thought, after how I pitched last summer, that I could be pitching like I have," Boster said. "I had success (with the Beckley-based West Virginia Miners in the wooden-bat Prospect League) and I carried that into this season.
           "I'm not really sure about this summer. I honestly haven't given it too much thought. I'm just focusing on the season, winning games, making the conference tournament. After the season, maybe I'll see what opportunities present themselves."
           Boster will go to the mound Friday night as the Herd (16-27, 8-13) starts a three-game series at Southern Miss (24-16-1, 10-10). Marshall has won three consecutive C-USA series, and needs another one if it is to reach the eight-team conference tournament bracket.
           Boster (5-0) has helped Waggoner's club climb back into striking distance. In winning starts the last three Fridays against Charlotte, Old Dominion and Middle Tennessee, he's worked 21 innings, allowing 11 hits and two earned runs, striking out 14.
           A month ago, there was little indication of this kind of success. Boster, of Stafford, Va., made two early starts before forearm tightness kept him off the mound for three weeks. He then pitched one inning on March 14 against UTSA and went another two weeks without an appearance.
           The setback came after his success last summer, when he made the Prospect League postseason all-star team and was named a Perfect Game Summer Collegiate All-America third team selection after going 5-2 with a 0.74 ERA for the Miners. He allowed 28 hits and had 60 strikeouts and only 10 walks in 60 1/3 innings.
           "I had an MRI and there was no structural damage," Boster said of his shelving. "I had inflammation in my ulnar nerve and worked in rehab with our trainer, Russell (Smotherman). I still wasn't really feeling that well, so what we decided was to completely do rest. For a five-day stretch, I didn't pick up a baseball, and I think that really helped out a lot."
           Newman said Boster was "carving up" Mississippi State in the fourth inning of his second start when things went south.
           "We shut Chase down three weeks with no games. We went to a throwing program, monitored his arm, were being careful at that end of it. The biggest thing now is he's healthy. Maybe we were a little conservative, but we erred on the side of caution and that's something, as a pitching staff, in player development, you take care of him and make sure he's healthy. And it's all helped him."
           Besides confidence after a big summer, Boster brought something else to his third season with the Herd -- a new pitch.
           "I kind of started throwing my slider over the summer," he said. "Sometimes it worked, sometimes not, but it's added a harder breaking pitch for me. And so I kind of have a different speed for all my breaking pitches -- curve 70-72 (mph), slider 79-80, changeup 83, you get a speed difference and that's helped. My fastball, it's been up to 93 (and consistently 89-90). And my arm feels very good."
           When Boster was at Colonial Forge High School -- one year behind Marshall's football Frohnapfel twins -- his only Division I baseball offers were from Marshall, Campbell and UNC Asheville. That left him, he felt, with plenty to prove.
           He said some of his recent success is rooted in his recruiting experiences.
           "I feel like, individually, I try to keep the same exact routine every week, rehab-wise, icing, throwing bullpens," Boster said when asked to pinpoint his mound mindset the last three weekends. "I think what also helped is I had a pretty big chip on my shoulder when I was pitching against Charlotte and ODU.
           "When I was coming out of high school, those were two schools that told me I wasn't good enough, didn't throw hard enough, didn't have what it took to play Division I baseball. So, that added fuel to the fire.
           "Team-wise, we've been playing very good defense, a lot of double plays. Matt Reed has been great back there behind the plate, catching, throwing runners out and controlling the game, and our hitting has been there as well when I've been out there."
           Boster, 21, said he is a different pitcher than in his first two Marshall seasons. Newman explained how and why.
           "I really feel Chase has come to understand his identity as a pitcher -- what makes him successful -- and that's his fastball command, pitching to both sides of the plate with his fastball, getting ahead, pitching to advantage counts," the Herd pitching coach said. "Chase is throwing a slider this year; last year we went with just a three-pitch mix (fastball, change, curve).
           "This year he's developed that slider as an out pitch ... just attacking the hitters with his strength. He's done a remarkable job. His fastball command, he's 67 percent fastball strikes right now. He just pounds the zone. He's throwing his two-seamer at times, and he really wasn't comfortable throwing it last year. He's pitching to his strength and pitching to who he is, and attacking the game like that, and it's paid off."
           Off the diamond, Boster is carrying a 14-credit load this semester during the season. He took entrepreneurship "because it gives me a wide range of business classes," and he wants to use his major and minor to get into medical or pharmaceutical sales,
           "It's pretty tough a lot of times after games, or on road trips on the bus, when you'd like to sleep and relax," Boster said of his academic commitment. "But then you're going to be up until 2 a.m., finishing up work, finishing up projects and then you have to go into late classes, finish up labs.
           "I really give credit to a lot of people in our chemistry department, because they've helped me a lot, working with me and my schedule and allowing me to make up work."
           Newman and Boster concurred that those smarts on the mound have to be managed just like the pitching arm.
           "Being smart, it's huge, but it also can get in the way," Newman said. "Being a pitcher, you have a lot of time to analyze things, and sometimes we overanalyze things. So, we've got to keep it to having an understanding of the game, and Chase has really done a great job of just slowing things down and trusting who he is.
           "He's a remarkable student, very intelligent and really is in control of the game. He understands hitters, looking at swings, what the plan of attack is. He's using his strengths against hitters' weaknesses, and attacking accordingly."
           Boster said he was one of those "over-thinkers" in previous seasons.
           "I think I did that my freshman and sophomore years," the dark-haired right-hander said. "I tried to be too perfect with my pitches. I think that contributed to the number of walks I had -- too many.
           "I felt like I wasn't really pitching to my potential until (last) summer. My mindset now is just to attack hitters, attack, attack, and make them prove themselves to me. I've got seven guys behind me and one behind the plate, so the chances of that batter getting on are very slim.
           "Over last summer, I kind of just told myself that when you're on the mound, you really have nothing to lose. Just throw as long as you can, as hard as you can. And at the end of the day, you had nothing to lose. And that's carried over and that's the attitude I take out there."
