100th Article at the Independent

The 20K man no one knows about: Mitchell Bouwman

CHRIS DRUMMOND

cdrummond@marshallindependent.com

“My job was to make sure they didn’t score regardless of what runs we have,” Mitchell Bouwman said.

Bouwman, a redshirt freshman for the Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team, also plays on the Marshall A’s amateur team. On May 20, Bouwman would have a career night on the mound, striking out 20 batters en route to a 3-0 opening night victory for Marshall against Granite Falls. In his pitching debut for the A’s, Bouwman definitely did his job but had to go through some trials and tribulations before his career night happened. It was a jaw dropping performance and I had to find out about the 20k man no one knows about.

Bouwman, 19, born to parents Mandy and Justin, is a Marshall native who grew up playing three sports in his days of youth. The three sports he played were football, baseball and wrestling. Bouwman would wrestle all through high school and even earned a trip to state in his senior year while attending Marshall High School. Bouwman would stop playing football at the age of 15 and added the reasons why.

“I was only 5-foot-4 and maybe 120 pounds,” Bouwman said. “I was just too small at the time and I was tired of being thrown around.”

I certainly can relate to being too small; I was 190 pounds playing defensive end at my high school. Going up against opponents that were 255 pounds or heavier at the time made me switch to basketball full-time. The sport that caught Bouwman’s attention the most, though, was baseball. He absolutely had the passion to play and as a kid would throw into a net for hours at a time having a lot of fun doing so.

However, the road to him being a starting pitcher did have some bumps along the way. In his junior year of high school, Bouwman wasn’t selected to be on the Varsity team, instead playing on the B-squad or Junior Varsity team, a team which his dad was the head coach of. Bouwman shared his thoughts on what he felt by not being selected.

“At first I felt pretty bad, because my friends were up a level and no one wants to be put on the B team,” Bouwman said. “After thinking about it though, I just took the opportunity to get more innings and experience, so when I do move up, I’ll be ready.”

It was a talk from his former head coach of the Marshall Tigers Chace Pollock that shaped Bouwman’s thinking. At first, Bouwman questioned his baseball mortality. He wasn’t sure of the reason why the team didn’t select him, but Pollock reassured him that more innings will help him become a better pitcher in the future. Bouwman trusted the process and the results came.

The day of May 20th, Bouwman recalled being “a nervous wreck” when he got the call that he was going to start in the opening night game on the road against the Kilowatts. He was deceptively smooth, though, mixing up his pitches from a curveball, fastball, changeup and 2-seam fastball keeping the opposing batters off balance the entire night. Bouwman recounted his mindset stating that “It doesn’t matter what we score, just as long as I don’t let them score.” A battle-tested mentality allowed him to dominate the game in an impressive fashion after not starting a game pitching for over a year. Justin Bouwman, who was in attendance, spoke about his emotions watching his son play that night.

“I sat close that night and I was calm, quiet but very impressed with what he was doing,” Justin Bouwman said. “I typically don’t say too much to him outside of helping him refocus at times but that’s about it.”

At the end of the night, Bouwman had no clue he struck out 20 batters and stated that he couldn’t feel his arm. He iced down that night and the day after to recover. His first initial reaction to someone telling him he had 20 strikeouts was “Oh my God, did I really just do that.” Even as masterful as Bouwman was, he was locked in to the task at hand, securing a win for his team on opening night.

With performances like these Bouwman won’t be an unknown man for long. He will continue to pitch throughout the summer and will play for his hometown University next season. 20 strikeouts is impressive but what’s most impressive is the doubt you have to overcome to believe in the work you put in and the process/journey it takes you on. Without being sent down for more innings, the story of Mitchell Bouwman might be different. Keep being determined and driven to be the best to your abilities because for the 20k man, this is just a start for many accomplishments to come.

— Chris Drummond is a

sports reporter for the

Marshall Independent.

Email: cdrummond@marshallindependent.com

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