Locked and loaded
Former Mariner ace Eric Locke earns scholarship after catching the eye of a pro scout
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A former Mariner legend is adding chapters to an already storied career as he continues to move up the college ranks.
Eric Locke, a Mission Valley pitcher from 2004-2008, extended his pitching career by at least another two years by earning a scholarship to Bellevue University in Omaha, Neb.
The southpaw with a four-pitch arsenal – fastball, curveball, slider and changeup – just finished a two-year stint with the Northern Oklahoma Mavericks, a junior college in Tonkawa, Okla.
After winning three games and posting a 4.18 ERA to become the Mavs’ number two starter in his first year, Locke became the Mavs’ ace this season and was selected as their Most Outstanding Pitcher for 2010.
In the 2010 season, Locke led the team with a 3.87 ERA and 1.20 WHIP. He also was second on the team in innings pitch and wins.
One of Locke’s wins was against Western Oklahoma State College, who finished the season with a 53-5 record and are ranked as the number one NJCAA Div II team.
While pitching against WOSC, which Locke said had eight players drafted this season, Locke caught the eye of a Kansas City Royal scout who was at the game to look at WOSC’s catcher. The scout, who lives in the Omaha area, dropped in a good word about Locke to Bellevue’s coach and said he wanted to keep an eye on Locke’s progress. Two nights after pitching against WOSC, Locke was offered a scholarship to Bellevue.
He will join another Mariner at the NAIA school. Former teammate Brandon Thompson played last year for the Bruins and will be Locke’s roommate this fall.
“It’s going to help me out a lot,” Locke said of knowing somebody that has played at Bellevue. “It makes me a lot more comfortable and more at ease knowing somebody that’s been in the program. That really helped me in making my decision to go there.”
Locke, whose fastball tops out at 87 MPH and can decrease his offspeed pitches to the low 60s, will start fall ball at the end of August. After winter workouts the Bruins will start playing spring ball in Florida and Texas this February.
Playing college ball is something that Locke has always dreamed about doing, but wasn’t sure he could growing up in Montana, where there is no high school baseball.
“... We don’t have the fair shake most states have, so it’s tougher for us to get looks. I feel like I’m pretty lucky that things have worked out the way they did,” Locke said.
Locke had a 27-5 record as a Mariner with two of his wins coming in the 2007 district and state championship game – he went the distance in both games. Locke also had four saves and finished his career with a 2.86 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. He set the Mariners’ season ERA record in 2008, finishing the season with an ERA of 1.58. That season, which was the first time Montana had an all-state team, he was selected to the team as a pitcher and a first baseman.
Locke said there was a steep learning curve moving from American Legion ball to college, where they play nine months out of the year.
“If you make a mistake, you’re going to pay for it. Pretty much any mistake you make is going to be a costly one.” Locke said.
Locke’s command is probably his biggest asset on the mound and that helped him adjust to the level of play in college, where if you can’t throw a strike on the outer-half of the plate you’re not going to last long.
“I’ve been working on a lot of things. My control is really the thing that helped me out the most. To be able to spot up and pitch it to where I need to in certain situations,” Locke said. “If you throw a pitch inside they’re going to pull it and hit something hard,” he added.
