After a year at juco, Crouse ready to join the Rebels

Despite never throwing a single pitch in front of a University of Mississippi representative, Matt Crouse will be part of the Rebels’ pitching staff next spring.

Crouse is transferring from Young Harris College to Ole Miss after a successful freshman year at the Decatur, Ga., junior college.

“I went to the junior college so I could go play in the [Atlantic Coast Conference] or the [Southeastern Conference],” Crouse said. “It worked out that I could go [to Ole Miss] after one year.”

The 2008 Battlefield grad had the second-best ERA with the Mountain Lions this spring at 3.23 and posted a 7-1 record —also second on the team. Throw in 65 strikeouts and a nearly 2-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio and Crouse was intriguing enough for the Rebels to begin recruiting him.

This summer Crouse is pitching for the Clark Griffith League’s Carney Pirates, who play their home games at Paul VI Catholic High School in Fairfax. The CGL is an offseason wood-bat league for college players and Crouse, who will have three years of eligibility at Mississippi, is having just as much success with the Pirates as he did with the Mountain Lions, if not better.

Through June 30, Crouse is tied for the CGL’s best ERA with a mark of 0.90 (teammate Connor Mielock has equaled that), has the best opponent’s batting average at .147 and has struck out 15 hitters while winning all three of his starts.

“He’s very aggressive and he throws a lot of strikes,” said Carney pitching coach Brian Snyder, a former Major League hurler and father of current Orioles prospect Brandon. “He’s the type of pitcher that you always want to have out there when you need a win, when you need somebody that’s going to go deep into a ballgame.”

Crouse said Snyder’s presence was the main reason he signed up with Carney, looking to gain some additional tutelage from a source with a deep well of knowledge.

“He’s an awesome pitching coach,” Crouse said. “I’m reinforcing my mechanics and getting work in. He’s the best guy around.”

George Piccirilli, a former opponent of Crouse’s from Osbourn Park, is also with Carney and he’s happy he gets to watch Crouse from a different angle than he did in high school.

“Oh man, it’s good having him on my team so I don’t have to face him,” Piccirilli said. “I love playing with Matt. He’s a good pitcher and he gets the job done. I just happy I’m not facing him.”

The summer season is not just a place to just feel good about your numbers, though. Crouse has some work to get done while he’s in the CGL.

“My secondary pitches — the changeup and breaking ball — I’m working on getting them over for strikes,” said the 6-foot-5, 180-pound left-hander. “I’m just preparing to go down there in the fall.”

“Overall, he’s very sound,” Snyder said, “but he has some mechanical stuff he needs to iron out a little bit.

“He has a very projectable frame which is what makes him so attractive at the college level,” the coach added. “He could very easily put 20 pounds, 30 pounds on that body without hurting anything. That’s a big plus and I think that’s one of the biggest things for him.”

Ole Miss will be in need of pitching next year, seeing five arms (two seniors) picked in June’s Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

“I think he’ll fit really well. He’s very competitive,” Snyder said. “It’s going to be a challenge for him like it is for everybody when they go down there. When he gets down there and gets some consistent instruction from those [coaches], I think he’ll do really well.”

In addition to Crouse’s specific work, Snyder has tried to instill an approach of aggressiveness in the Carney pitching staff.

“What happens is, if you’ve seen SEC baseball and some of the better conferences in baseball,” Snyder said, “pitchers have a tendency to back off a little because it’s such an offense-oriented game. Aluminum bats make it difficult to pitch in the zone.

“We stress to all of [the pitchers] to fill the zone up with strikes and pitch to contact. That’s the core of being a successful pitcher. That’s how you pitch ahead and get guys out.”

Snyder said Crouse has been a very good example of accomplishing that this summer, attacking hitters early and getting ahead in the count. It’s a key strategy in the low-scoring wood-bat games in the summer league and the pros and Crouse has taken it to heart, walking just six hitters in 20 innings pitched.

At Ole Miss, Crouse will be joining some familiar faces in twins Matt and Mike Snyder, teammates at Carney and the youngest sons of the Pirates’ pitching coach.

“That was just kind of an extra,” Crouse said. “It’s pretty cool to hang out with them and play ball with them again.

“I went down for a visit and it was awesome. It was just like the Snyders said. I’m just excited about it.”

Staff writer Joe Conroy can be reached at (703) 878-8047.