Smooth transition from outfield to mound

Pasco player is now a pitcher through and through.

By DAVID MURPHY
Published March 21, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - See the kid out there on the mound Tuesday night? The one with the 88 mph fastball that seemed to get faster each inning? The one who pitched all seven, who walked just two, who struck out nine while willing his teammates to their biggest district victory of this 2007 season?

He wasn't there last year.

Not on the mound, anyway.

Nope.

Dustin Brown was in rightfield.

"I had to learn how to pitch," Brown said matter-of-factly.

Safe to say, it worked.

Pasco entered its district showdown with Nature Coast with a win streak of 12 games, and you get the feeling if it wasn't for the unassuming junior standing on the rubber, it would have never made it to 13.

In a game that was billed as a pitcher's duel between him and Nature Coast ace Bryan Daniels, Brown was everything he needed to be. He allowed three hits, walked two, put together three 1-2-3 innings.

But more impressive than the numbers was the way in which Brown compiled them.

In the first inning, Nature Coast hit him, and hit him hard. Sharks designated hitter Travis Murray's RBI double was probably the hardest hit ball of the entire game. Brown allowed four balls into the outfield, three of them for hits, and couldn't have kept his fastball down if it he had soaked it in water.

With a few swings of the bat, an upstart Nature Coast team few believed would even compete held a 1-0 lead. And a junior making the fifth start of his varsity career was responsible for overcoming it.

"They were tearing it up," Brown said.

But after getting Lowell Bebout to fly out to end the inning, Brown walked calmly to the visitor's dugout, sat next to Pasco coach Ricky Giles and asked him what he needed to do.

No. 1 on the list? Don't panic. And Brown didn't.

He pitched a 1-2-3 second, struck out two in the third, allowed one base runner in the fourth, then struck out two in the fifth, sixth and seventh.

Brown didn't allow a hit in the last six innings. He struck out nine. Nature Coast hit just two balls out of the infield in the final six innings.

"He got better as the game went on," Nature Coast coach Dan Garofano said.

Last year, that might not have been the case. Though he had pitched for as long as he could remember, Brown arrived for his first day of practice and was sent to the outfield. He remained there throughout last season, strengthening his arm and learning about the varsity game.

"Before," Brown said, "I would just go out there and throw."

Now, he is a pitcher through and through. Giles told him at the end of last season he would spend most of this season on the mound, and he has rewarded his coach's confidence. He is now 5-0 on the season and, until Tuesday, had rarely been tested.

"I knew I would get my shot," Brown said.

And he's making the most of it.

David Murphy can be reached at dmurphy@sptimes.com or 352 848-1407.

[Last modified March 21, 2007, 00:30:44]