By Harry Minium
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Jason Hartline knew he could play Division I baseball, and not only could he play, but he could be a star. Problem was, no Division I coach appeared to agree with him.
He was a standout for Greenbrier Christian Academy's state championship team as a senior, where he was 9-3 with an 0.45 ERA, meaning he gave up less than half an earned run for every nine innings he pitched.
The Chesapeake native went to camps, played travel ball and spent countless hours in the back yard training with his father, Jeff Hartline.
Yet the only offers he had were from Division III and Division II schools. You've got great stuff, kid, he was told. You just don't throw hard enough.
Finally, a few weeks before he graduated from Greenbrier Christian, he got a call from Old Dominion coach Chris Finwood. Come meet me in my office, he said.
Finwood offered him a place on ODU's team and a chance to earn a scholarship. The only promise he made was that he and pitching coach Mike Marron would work him overtime to make him a better pitcher.
A little more than five years later, Hartline proved for the umpteenth time what a keen eye Finwood and Marron have for talent and for listening to advice from high school coaches.
Pitching for the third time in four days, Hartline stepped to the mound Saturday afternoon in the Conference USA Tournament and shut down Louisiana Tech for 3 1/3 innings in a 9-6, 13-inning ODU victory.
Finwood called it one of a handful of the most remarkable pitching performances he's seen in his 34 years as a head coach. The game was played in hot, humid weather that had players sucking down Gatorade and energy bars by the dozen.
If it wasn't courageous, it was surely gutsy.
"He came into the dugout every inning sweating bullets," Finwood said. "I'd ask him, 'how are you feeling?' and he kept telling me 'I can keep going.'
"The truth is, at that point he was our only option.
"I kept telling him to go get a candy bar and get ready to go back out. And he kept going back down and getting outs.
"What he did today is something I'll never forget."
Catcher Brock Gagliardi shook his head at game's end when asked about Hartline.
"Jason is a bulldog," Gagliardi said. "He doesn't complain. He knows we need him, that he's a huge part of our bullpen and he's somebody that carries us. He made big pitch after big pitch and gave us a chance to break it open.
"That guy, the last two years, he went out and competed and gave us a chance to win every ballgame."
ODU will learn Monday at noon whether it makes the NCAA Tournament. If the Monarchs do, that 13-inning victory may have made the difference.
Not that Hartline needed any affirmation. He's long since earned a scholarship and proven he can play Division I baseball.
Last season as a junior, he was a second-team All-Conference USA selection as a relief pitcher on a team that won 44 games, the school's first Conference USA championship and advanced to the finals of the NCAA Regional held in Columbia, South Carolina.
He was 5-0 with a 1.88 ERA and had three saves and gave up only one home run.
Jeff Hartline watching his son pitch last season at South Carolina
This season he was 2-1 with a 3.74 ERA and six saves, and set the school record for most career pitching appearances with 102.
Finwood said he saw potential in Hartline but knew it would take a ton of work to bring it out of him.
"He was a left hander, he was a big kid and he threw strikes," Finwood said. "And he was a good kid. We liked his makeup and we thought he'd be a good teammate. And he has. He's been a great teammate.
"And he's been such a valuable part of our bullpen the last two years."
ODU's coaches did not recruit him in a vacuum. They liked what they saw, having scouted him during a game at Norfolk's Granby High School shortly before offering him. But had it not been for a couple of recommendations from local high school coaches who knew Hartline well, they might not have pulled the trigger.
Greenbrier Christian coach Pat Nichols is an ODU alumnus. Western Branch coach Roland Wright also called ODU pitching coach Mike Marron.
"Those are guys we really trust, and they told us, hey, the kid is having a great year and he can really pitch," Marron said.
Hartline went through a lot of growing pains at ODU. The Monarchs won just 15 games when he was a freshman and lost so many pitchers to injuries that he was called on to start.
"We had pitchers dropping left and right with injuries," he said. "I'd start and throw two or three innings."
He picked up victories against Kansas State and VCU, but knew he had a long way to go.
He worked hard to no avail to increase his pitching speed. He was in the low to mid 80s in high school and was able to add a few miles per hour, but not enough to call his fastball fast.
In fact, he's never truly had a fastball. No matter how hard he tried to throw the ball straight, it always curved.
"Throughout my career, coaches have worked with me to help me throw a straight fastball," he said. "It never worked. I tried gripping the ball a million different ways and it never went straight.
But by changing the grip on the ball, he developed a true cutter and his curveball added some motion as well.
Saturday afternoon, as he dripped with sweat while mowing down the Bulldogs, hitters flailed helplessly while trying to hit his breaking ball. One of his last pitches measured 87 miles per hour on the radar gun.
Marron said Hartline is that good because he worked hard.
"He trained a couple of summers at the Florida Baseball Ranch," Marron said. "He worked hard to prove himself. He was relentless. He came back a better version of himself every time.
"He learned how to move better in his delivery and the quality of his pitches improved, but most importantly the work he put in gave him a ton of confidence in who he was."
"He learned, 'this is who I am' and began to answer the question, 'how do I get hitters out?' Once he did that, he really took a step forward."
The biggest step came in 2020, the season that COVID shut down baseball and every other college sport in early March. Shut in with his teammates in off-campus housing, and forced to take classes online, he was forced to do a lot of reflecting.
Deprived of their ability to play baseball, he and his teammates learned to appreciate the game and each other. The team grew closer. And Hartline's work ethic, already had a high level, increased exponentially.
"I learned to appreciate the opportunities I had here so much more," he said. "I was able to make something good happen from it."
Last season, he finally emerged as a star. "He's been the anchor of our bullpen the last two years," Marron said.
Hartline graduated with his degree in marketing last spring and even though the NCAA granted all athletes an extra year of eligibility because of the pandemic, he briefly decided to go out and find a job.
But then he had a talk with Tony Guzzo, the veteran coach who is Finwood's special assistant.
"Coach Guzz told me I had the rest of my life to work," he said. "He said I only had one more year to play college baseball. He told me if I leave, I might regret it."
He huddled with his parents, Jason and Tracy Hartline, and they echoed Guzzo's sentiment.
His dad, a physical therapist who runs a group of PT clinics in Virginia and several surrounding states, has played a huge role in his son's career.
"My dad has always been a big part of keeping me motivated," he said. "When I was younger, he pushed me to work, to throw, to stick with it.
"There were times when I was stubborn. I would tell him I didn't want to do it today. He would say, 'No, you've got to go out and do something.'"
He said his memories of playing catch in the back yard with his dad go so far back he doesn't know when they started.
"He would put on a catcher's mask and have an old mitt and I can't even begin to count the number of times I hit him with a breaking ball," he said.
"He was always there to push me to go to the gym or work out or go work out with me."
Jeff Hartline has traveled all over the country with his second wife, Lori, to watch his son play. Each time his son pitches, Jeff steps up and paces.
"I can't sit still," Jeff Hartline said.
After Saturday's victory, father and son embraced emotionally.
As with any pitcher, Jason has had pulled muscles and other ailments, and as the son of a physical therapist, doesn't lack for a place to go get treatment.
"If I feel like I need that, I call my dad and he always tells me it's fine" to go into one of his clinics, Jason Hartline said.
His father was there in Finwood's office when he committed to ODU.
"That was a real privilege," Jeff Hartline said. "I'm my son's biggest fan. To have the chance to watch him play so many games here has been a real blessing."
For both father and son. Jason graduated with a degree in leadership earlier this month, his second at ODU. And he said the made the right decision in coming back.
"Everything that's happened here has been a dream come true," he said. "The coaches made me feel that not only was my pitching important, but also the way I carry myself, the way I help lead the team.
"I owe the world to them because they put me in a position where I could grow and lead. They kind of built me into the person I am today."
Minium: ODU Baseball Gave Jason Hartline a Chance to Excel, and he Took Advantage
