Highland grad Pearson excels in short relief at Lewis and Clark Community College

Blaise Pearson’s freshman baseball season at Lewis and Clark Community College did not start off well this year, but it definitely finished well for him.

Pearson, a sophomore-to-be from Highland, overcame an early season pectoral injury and shifted from starter to the bullpen for the Trailblazers and became a valued reliever that helped the Trailblazers advance to the NJCAA Region 24 Tournament quarterfinals this spring.

Coming out of the pen as a short reliever, Pearson appeared in 13 games, pitched 21 innings and sported a gaudy 2.14 ERA.

Given his slow start, Pearson was pretty pleased with how his freshman season played out.

“I feel like I performed pretty well as a freshman,” Pearson said. “I wish I had gotten more opportunities at the start of the year, but I was injured, it took some time getting back out there and my first two starts weren’t what I wanted. And then I really got used to the relieving role and I think it really helped.”

An injury to his right pectoral muscle during a lifting session in late January just after semester break hampered Pearson.

“I got hurt during weight training and almost tore my pec (muscle), so I had to take a few weeks off and had to go to the trainer for a little bit and I couldn’t throw for a while,” Pearson said.

When Pearson finally got back to pitching in mid-spring, Lewis and Clark coach Alex Ferguson made the decision to move him from starting and relieving to working strictly as a short reliever and closer.

On April 17, Pearson got is first meaningful work of the season in the Trailblazers’ 13-6 victory in the first game of a doubleheader at Spoon River College.

Pearson closed out the win pitching two scoreless innings, striking out two with no walks.

Eight days later he followed that outing up with a strong performance in Lewis and Clark’s 10-5 win over the Illinois College JV team at Illinois College, striking out five, walking one and giving just one hit to close out that contest.

‘I was just more comfortable’

Pearson said moving into short relief was good for him and took a lot of mental pressure off him in terms of being able to pitch effectively.

“I was just more comfortable with it since that’s what I did in high school, so I didn’t have to think very much and just come out and just throw,” Pearson said. “I also really like the whole on-the-spot pressure thing — it makes you not think as much. I love just coming in and having to throw well.”

During the season, Pearson logged 24 strikeouts and walked just 10 batters. He credited a nasty slider, a solid fastball and a steady Trailblazers infield defense for his success in getting opposing hitters out.

“I have a two-seam (fastball) that was working petty well this year but lean on my slider,” Pearson said. “It really helped that I knew that if I did throw it in the zone and they did put it in play that I had guys behind me that would make the plays.”

Lewis and Clark ended it season at 32-27 after being eliminated by Lincoln Land Community College (7-5) in the quarterfinal round of the Region 24 NJCAA Tournament on May 17 in Normal.

Summer ball, look ahead to sophomore season

Since May, Pearson has been busy preparing for his sophomore season at Lewis and Clark when not pitching in summer ball with The Extreme Club in the Metro Collegians summer league in St. Louis.

Pearson has two goals he wants to achieve his sophomore season: Regaining his lost pitch velocity from earlier in the year and developing another go-to pitch to use with his two-seamer and slider for next season.

“I’m really trying to work on my velo and I know I can throw harder than I did because at one point in the winter I was. But I got injured and I lost it and was more focused on accuracy ... and I want to get that bumped back up for sure,” Pearson said. “Right now I’m really just working on mixing pitches and really working on my changeup over the summer and trying to have more than just two go-to pitches every game.”