NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Lipscomb ace Logan Van Treeck is the ASUN Pitcher of the Year. A surprise to anyone who watched him struggle through a winless season last year.
The southpaw from Lincoln, Nebraska struggled to get anyone out as a sophomore. He walked more people than he struck out last season and had an ERA of 11.69.
“I was actually hurting the team more than I was helping them last year,” Van Treeck said.
But it’s been a complete 180 this season with Van Treeck becoming a reliable Friday night ace for Lipscomb as it ran off a school-record 22 conference victories and won a second straight ASUN regular season championship.
Van Treeck described this season as “night and day” from his past struggles. The question is how was he able to turn it around?
“The difference, honestly, my number one answer that I tell everyone is the Lord,” Van Treeck said. “He just completely transformed my life and baseball.”
With his priorities in place, Van Treeck turned his focus on being the person he was meant to be instead of the pitcher he was trying to be. Last summer he got a little extra encouragement from an unlikely source.
Lipscomb Director of Sports Nutrition Grace White challenged Van Treeck to be himself on and off the field.
“She asked, ‘Logan, do you try to act different on gamedays than every other day?’” Van Treeck said. “And I was like, ‘Grace, of course, that’s what I’m supposed to do. You know, create a persona. Be this tough guy on the mound getting guys out in the batter’s box.’ She was like, ‘well, what if you didn’t do that? What if you were just yourself?’ And I was dismal at that point, so it was like, ‘might as well give this a shot.” And since then, it’s just clicked.
The new mindset has led to better results.
Van Treeck solved his command issues. This season his struck out 97 batters, the second most in the ASUN. Even more impressive, he now ranks third in the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio.
He won a team-high seven games for a team that’s won 10 straight series and has a sparkling 2.70 ERA.
“In a game where we’re judged off performance, off stats, off how we contribute to a team, that’s where my faith comes in,” Van Treeck said. “I realize I don’t have to perform. I’m already accepted. I’m already valued for who I am, not how I perform or execute. (So) I have the freedom to just go out there and play.”
By making life about more than baseball Van Treeck became the pitcher he hoped to be. This week he’ll look to make another dream come true.
The Bisons are the no. 1 seed in the ASUN Tournament in Deland, Fla., opening pool play Tuesday against Liberty. They’re looking to complete the regular season and tournament championship sweep and punch their tickets to the NCAA Tournament for just the third time in the program’s division one era.
“A regular season title’s incredible, but what’s bigger is (the) conference tournament coming up,” Van Treeck said. “We want to make it to a regional. We’ve got bigger things in mind than just winning a regular season.”
