May 26, 2018 4 min read

One person who was paying particular attention to the Pitt baseball team’s first appearance in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament this week was Wild Things relief pitcher Sam Mersing.

One of only two rookies to make the Wild Things’ opening day roster this year, Mersing played the last four years at Pitt and never had the opportunity to pitch in the ACC tournament.

“My freshman, sophomore and seniors years, it came down to the final series of the regular season before we were knocked out of tournament contention,” Mersing recalled.

This year, Pitt qualified for the conference tournament in Durham, N.C., then stunned Georgia Tech and North Carolina in pool play to advance to the single-elimination semifinals before losing to Louisville, 5-2, Saturday afternoon.

“This year was great for the school and the program,” Mersing said. “The program is definitely on the upswing. Being from Pittsburgh, I knew the kind of guys Pitt had when it was in the Big East. They had a bunch of blue-collar guys who always played hard. Now that we’re in the ACC, we’re able to go after and get some of the blue-chip recruits.”

Mersing is a sidearming right-handeder who played in the WPIAL at Montour High School. Mersing pitched in 36 games his first three seasons at Pitt, including 20 as a starter, and had a 10-9 record. The Panthers’ pitching staff was shit hard by graduation after the 2016 season and pitching coach Jerry Oakes had an idea for Mersing, who at the time had a conventional throwing motion.

“It was August of 2016 and Jerry Oakes asked me if I would be willing to drop down and throw from the side,” Mersing said. “The pitching staff had lost some guys to the draft. Coastal Carolina had won the national championship that year and had a reliever who threw from different arm angles.”

Mersing liked the idea and decided to be all-in about changing throwing motions. For him, there was no mixing of his old throwing motion with the sidearm variety. He was all-out sidewinder.

Though it didn’t help Pitt make the elusive ACC tournament, Mersing had a 3-2 record, three saves and a 3.20 ERA in 26 relief appearances last spring as a senior. He was able to pitch more than 50 innings and walked only nine batters.

“The recovery time when you’re throwing sidearm is like night and day difference,” Mersing said. “There is almost no time needed throwing this way. I told (Washington manager Gregg Langbehn) that if he needs somebody to throw every day, then I can do it.”

Mersing was the first player the Wild Things signed after the 2017 season ended, though Washington already had a reliable sidearmer, Davis Adkins, on the roster. That didn’t stop the rookie from landing a spot on the opening day roster.

“He just throws strikes,” Langbehn said. “The thing that impressed me in spring training is that he didn’t think the situation was too big for him. He’s composed, he’s always getting outs. It’s about his presence and his demeanor.”

Mersing had five consecutive scoreless outings, covering seven innings, before giving up three hits and two runs Friday night in Washington’s 4-3 win over the Florence Freedom. He had yielded only two hits in his first seven innings.

“He’s earned important innings,” Langbehn said. “He’s unflappable.”

Good Eaton news

The Wild Things received some good news about pitcher Jake Eaton, who has been on the disabled list with an elbow issue. Eaton will not need surgery. He recently had an injection in the elbow and could start throwing in a month. Washington is hoping to get Eaton back after the all-star break.

Eaton joined Washington late last season and had a 1-0 record and 2.24 ERA in 12 relief appearances.

Minor details

Former Wild Things pitcher Vidal Nuno (2011) was recalled to the major leagues last week by the Tampa Bay Rays. Nuno pitched in his 139th career major league game Friday night, throwing a scoreless inning against Baltimore.

Nuno had been one of five former Wild Things in the minor leagues this year. Chris Smith (2011-12) is a relief pitcher for Class AAA Syracuse in the Washington Nationals’ system, outfielder Bralin Jackson (2017) is with the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Class AA affiliate in Altoona, and Hunter Williams (2017) and Jacob Condra-Bogan (2017) are in extended spring training with Colorado and Kansas City, respectively.

Jackson made his professional pitching debut Friday night when he retired the only batter he faced in the Curve’s 14-2 loss to Harrisburg. He is batting .278 in 20 games for Altoona and hit his first home run with the Curve Saturday night.