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08/15/2023 11:04 AMFor both his personal seasons on the mound this spring and summer, and for the squads he played a part of, Ryan Bauman learned a great deal of resilience, and that it is not how you start but rather how you finish, after staying persistent and positive through any and all hurdles and obstacles.
Ryan played soccer as a youngster before moving to the diamond at the age of 6, and the rest was history as the love affair between Ryan and baseball was a marvelous match. Following helping the North Haven High School baseball team reach the Class L State Tournament after an 0-4 start, the junior pitcher helped repeat those efforts this summer on the Senior Legion circuit for Post 76, which not only qualified for the state draw after a winless start in four games, but also won a tandem of tussles in the bracket.
“With baseball, it is great to be out there playing with friends, to compete, and having that competitive energy as a team,” says Ryan. “My coaches helped a lot this year with helping me settle down and what I was doing right and wrong. I give credit to all of my coaches this year; they helped me hone in on my control, and that helped me big in legion season.”
No matter how much each North Haven club stumbled out of the starting gates in 2023, Ryan and the rest of his teammates knew they housed the right talent and intangibles to swiftly steady the ship and move full steam ahead towards postseason qualification.
“It is always tough to start slow as a team, but we knew we had better talent and work ethic than what our records showed,” Ryan says. “We just put in the work and kept grinding. We figured it out and played our best baseball the rest of the way for both squads.”
When it comes to assessing his arsenal of pitches, Ryan readies himself with the old and reliable heater to cool off batters. Yet he utilizes the speed to make way for the more intricate tosses to confuse and fluster sluggers.
“My favorite pitch is my fastball, because it really helps set up the batter for my off-speed stuff that they may not be expecting,” says Ryan. “I think it is a good set up pitch that helps me dominate out there and get outs for my defense.”
Speaking of those off-balance pitches, Ryan has a tandem of those that have aided him quite well. Through his frames of fanning batters, he has seen first hand that the adage of location, location, location is still alive and well with America’s pastime.
“My slider and splitter are two other pitches I have improved upon,” says Ryan. “I have gotten them down to mix them in with my fastball and how to get misses on swings.It really comes down to movement with each pitch and making them effective.”
At the onset of the spring, Ryan recollects that he got way into his head when he would work his way into a jam during any given inning. Although he counteracted all of those anxieties and apprehensions by simply putting the ball back in his hand, turning his attention to the next at bat, and taking things one pitch and one out at a time.
“At the beginning of the year, I was getting down on myself when situations would happen when I would allow guys on base with walks and hits,” Ryan says. “I just worked on keeping my focus on the next batter with the same approach, but maybe a little more different.”
North Haven Senior Legion skipper Mike Busillo details that Ryan came through in the clutch to help Post 76 complete its comeback to states, while being a selfless teammate despite not being an every-day player.
“Ryan had a good summer for us and has good stuff as a pitcher,” says Busillo. “He pitched probably our biggest game of the summer. We were in a sort of must-win situation versus Orange and he came through for us big time. As someone who only pitched for us, I was really impressed by Ryan’s ability to show up every day and be a good teammate. It’s not easy to do when you’re not in the lineup on a daily basis. He would warm up other pitchers and be one of the loudest guys on our bench.”
As Ryan looks to be an aspiring entrepreneur through his college education, he looks to continue to be a well-rounded student-athlete by continuing to bring the heat on the bump.
“Athletically, I want to hopefully play baseball in college, but I want to succeed in multiple facets of my life,” says Ryan. “I would like to go for some form of a business degree in college and be happy.”
Perseverance truly pays off in both baseball and life, per Ryan’s observations via his experiences in the center of the diamond. When faced with challenges, one can either back down or rise above, but truly the only response that triggers further prominence is the latter in that scenario.
“Baseball has helped me learn that things will not go your way; it is just the way it is,” Ryan says. “You have to learn from it and get back up. There are a lot of struggles with baseball. You can quit or keep trying and focus on things with a winning mentality. It all just drives you to be better as a competitor and as a person.”