March 28, 2011
PROFILE ON Ben TomchickBy Donnell Coley -Student Intern
ODU pitcher Ben Tomchick is having the best statistical year of his career. He currently ranks third on the team in ERA (3.13) and second in strikeouts (36), and ranks first in wins (4). But he feels that his personal success this season is not good enough and is focused more on how the team is performing.
"I can only pitch once a week. I want to do everything to help the team win," said Tomchick."
ODU has had to endure what Tomchick calls "a couple of bumps" throughout the season and has a 12-14 record after taking two of three games from CAA leader James Madison over the weekend.
Though the team has gone through a rough stretch, he feels the squad can still be able to attain their goal and win the CAA championship. Beating JMU lastweekend is a start in that direction.
Tomchick's pitching will prove to play a big part in the team's success and he feels ready for the challenge in part, because of the work he and pitching coach Tim LaVigne put in during the offseason.
"I haven't really worked on my legs as hard as I did this offseason and that helped me a lot," he said.
Coach LaVigne focus on leg exercises for his pitchers in the weight room in order for them to get a solid base. They also worked on his pitching mechanics with special drills that help with repeating the same motion and Tomchick puts it "taking the bad things out."
Tomchick admits that he had a lot of walks last season and that is something he and LaVigne wanted to improve on this year. He worked on what LaVigne calls "filling up the strike zone" making sure hitters earn their hits at each at bat. These workouts are proving effective so far as he has only surrendered six walks.
Off the field, the pitcher relishes the benefits of being a typical college student. This means lots of eating, sleeping, and watching favorite TV shows like Jersey Shore. He enjoys bowling and playing one of the most popular video games out in Call of Duty.
Though Tomchick has showed fast improvement from last season he still feels he can help the team even more. When speaking about the one thing he wants to continue to work at for the rest of the season he said, "I want to go deeper in games and have the lowest pitch count I can."
Tomchick and company will look to reach their championship goal as they head into the thick of their CAA schedule with upcoming series versus rival VCU.