By Wayne Witkowski
Brandon Holup of Jackson wants to end his college baseball career at East Stroudsburg University (ESU) the way he started as a freshman four years ago — pitching for a conference champion and NCAA Division II Regional baseball tournament qualifier.
“I’ve been training a lot over the winter and fall ball went very well for me pitching-wise and defensively, too,” Holup said. “There are high expectations for the season.”
Holup said that goes for him individually as well as the team. A year ago, the 6-foot-6 right-hander was named to the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper preseason All-American team and was a preseason National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association second-team All-Region selection. It came on the basis of his sophomore season when he was 5-2 with a 2.19 ERA, completing three of seven starts, including a shutout. His strikeout-to-walk ratio was nearly 2-to-1 (29-17) over 49.1 innings as he earned Daktronics and American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-Region second team and All-Pennsylvania State Athletics Conference (PSAC) East first team selection, the first ESU sophomore to earn the latter distinction in 14 years.
But statistically, Holup did not live up to the hype as a junior. He started eight games and was 2-3 with a 5.20 ERA. The one bright spot was that in 36.1 innings, he struck out 44 and walked 12 using his four- and two-seam fastballs. He also uses a curveball, slider and changeup, which has gotten a little more attention for this season. He’s also put in more work on getting stronger and has bulked up to 243 pounds.
It’s something that Holup said he has learned most about being an NCAA Division II athlete in his four years at ESU — to be even more disciplined with an even more productive workout rate.
“I wasn’t too bad,” Holup said of last season. “I was pitching pretty good but some outings I was not as good as I thought I’d be. My focus is on being more consistent with my pitches. I was just overthrowing. My mechanics were a little tweaked, minor things.”
He said his work with the pitching coach “is throwing inside-out.”
Holup said the key is to keep his head in the game a bit — being more mental and more focused into the game.
He said he’s been spotting his pitches better, getting his curveball over the plate.
“My fastball is rotating inside a little better than what it was,” he said.
Last year, ESU was 21-19 but was 13-15 in conference games. But he said that with all but one pitcher back, the outlook for this year two weeks into preseason workouts is for an upswing. The season starts with a set of games at Chowan University the weekend of Feb. 20.
“The team is a bunch of great guys, a lot of team chemistry,” Holup said. “We looked really good in the fall, really fundamentally sound, with good defense. We had good intrasquad games. It seems like everyone’s training in the offseason went pretty well and we’re in good shape with high expectations. We definitely hope to make a run in our division. We have the team to do it.”
Certainly,Holup still remembers that run in the PSAC tournament to the NCAA tournament.
“That was fun, a blast,” he said. “As a freshman, going through that, I got a good taste. I want to get something more of that now that we’re all seniors.”
