Former Blue Waves pitcher invited to try out for collegiate national team

His freshman year at Winthrop University, Riverhead alum Matt Crohan will tell you, was an adjustment period. The left-hander posted a 4.37 ERA, starting only five games while hitters batted .317 against him. His sophomore season? I guess you can say he’s well adjusted. With a 3.05 ERA, 87 strikeouts in 76.1 innings, .220 opposing batting average, the results speak for themselves.

“After my freshman year, I was doubting myself,” Crohan said, reflecting on this season in an interview with RiverheadLOCAL Thursday night. “I was telling myself, ‘I don’t know how I was going to adjust to all this college ball stuff.’ I didn’t have a bad freshman year but it wasn’t a great one either and I came out this year and it just changed.”

The number 97 may have had something to do with it. On March 15, pitching against Kennesaw State, was the first time he heard someone say it.

“That was the first game that things started going well for me,” Crohan said. “In the first three innings, I gave up four runs like right off the bat. I’m sitting in the dugout like ‘I’m screwed. I can’t do anything today. They’re hitting everything I throw at them. We’re not going to win this game.'”

“I gave up two home runs,” he continued. “Absolute mush balls.”

Then for the first time in the season, the (8-8) Eagles showed true resilience and put up a five spot to take the lead.

“I was like ‘alright, these guys are behind me’,” Crohan said. “I remember my senior outfielder came and talked to me and said ‘relax, do your business and have fun. They’re not going to touch you.'”

He retired nine straight batters after that and Winthrop won the game 11-4, adding that victory to what would amount to be their first 40-win season since 2006.

“That support he gave me, just backing me up meant everything,” Crohan said. “From there on out I tried to pretty much go out there every time and put up a zero.”

Later on he was notified by a coach and scout reports that he hit 97 MPH on the radar gun in the later innings, a year after he topped out at 93 MPH. It was a testament to all the hard work he put in during the offseason after scouts had labeled him just a minor league player.

“I literally did nothing but throw, train and run,” Crohan said. “I went on this weighted-ball program that really made a huge difference, too.”

Coastal Carolina, which finished No. 20 in the Division I national baseball rankings, got to see Crohan at his absolute best on March 29. The 6-4, 200-lb. sophomore phenom held them to only one hit over eight innings. He struck out 12 in that game.

Coastal Carolina head coach Gary Gilmore was asked about Crohan by WBTW News afterward and said: “That’s the best arm in the nation right there. That’s a first-round arm.”

Though Winthrop’s season came to an end in the Big South conference tournament, Crohan’s season is far from over. A new door opened Wednesday out of the blue and Crohan threw out all his offseason plans to walk through it.

Crohan was selected to compete for a chance to join the 2015 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team. Only the best in the nation are invited to a team of this caliber. He’s the first Eagle to ever get invited. He’ll report to training camp in Cary, N.C, on June 18. He’s in line to secure one of the 12 pitchers’ roster spots as a starter. Sixteen pitchers were invited.

Crohan will play in the series against Chinese Taipei beginning June 22 as his tryout. If he performs well, he’ll be on the roster against the Cuba in a five-game series. All eyes will be on him. This is the stage you make a name for yourself. This is how you make it to the MLB.

“I got three weeks to get ready,” Crohan said. “I’m going to do everything I can to make sure I’m prepared and as strong as possible to compete and earn one of those spots,” he said.

“It’s getting crazy.”

It definitely is.

What a difference a season makes.