Former Steer accepts offer to pitch with Division I college

Years of hard work and persistence have paid off for 2019 Graham High School graduate Owen Loesch. After pitching for two years at Seminole State in Oklahoma, Loesch will move to Division I college baseball when he attends New Mexico.

Loesch was among team leaders in games played in both his junior and senior seasons as a member of the Graham Steers. He went 4-2 during his 2018 junior season with 50 strikeouts, second only to Luke Stone who was the number one starter that season. His numbers dropped slightly in his 2019 season with a 1-4 record in six starts and 27 strikeouts in 27.1 innings pitched. However, early in Loesch’s career with the Steers, he proved to have potential with a seven-inning perfect game at Decatur.

“The biggest thing I learned with the Steers was the mental aspect of the game from Coach Brewster,” Loesch said. “Mentally, was the biggest deal.  I am a very passionate player in everything I do. I am very competitive. Sometimes I let anger get the best of me. Being able to control yourself mentally and not show your opponent any weakness like anger blowing up or throwing fits and staying calm on the outside is one of the biggest things Coach Brewster really helped me with. We would have talks after bad games and he would calm me down. He really helped me with that a lot with my Dad.”

In his freshman season with Seminole State, he did not see many innings, which is normal for freshman players. He pitched 11.2 innings in five appearances with giving up 10 hits while earning 11 strikeouts. During his first college appearance, on Feb. 15, 2020, against Crowder, Loesch threw 3.1 innings, giving up two hits and one earned run, a fifth-inning home run, while striking out four batters. He also struck out four batters on March 1, 2020, against Murray State.

For the rest of the story, see the July 24 edition of The Graham Leader.