By Tucker Paquette
@tpaquette17
Springfield College starting pitcher Connor Caverly has been a standout performer for the Pride this year. The senior has posted a 3.03 ERA through six starts this season, easily his best mark in his three years with the team. However, the road that led Caverly to this point featured several notable adjustments along the way.
Caverly began his collegiate career at the University of Maine, where he was a catcher. However, after his freshman year, he decided it was time for something new.
“I didn’t really love it there, I wanted to find something new,” Caverly said. “My parents both went to Springfield, [they] met here.”
As Caverly looked into transferring after his freshman year, Springfield College caught his eye for other reasons, too. He had his sights set on being a physical education teacher, with Springfield’s prestigious program holding strong appeal to him. And when he stepped on Alden Street and got a feel for the campus, he knew where he wanted to be.
“I took a tour to Springfield, and I ended up falling in love,” Caverly said.
Caverly definitely wanted to continue playing baseball with the Pride. However, he ended up making another significant change, one that is paying off this year more than ever before: he became a pitcher.
Considering that Caverly had been a catcher up until this very moment, it may have seemed to be a risky decision. But Caverly felt confident that this was the right move for him as he began his career at Springfield.
“I decided that I wanted to switch over to pitching full time,” Caverly said. “I’m gonna just do that instead. So Springfield gave me a new chance to restart my baseball career.”
As Caverly made the transition to the mound, his approach was more general, with the goal of simply getting the ball over the plate. This was to be expected for someone who didn’t have extensive pitching experience. Nonetheless, his sophomore year proved to be an adjustment period.
“When I started pitching, I knew I could throw the ball well,” Caverly said. “But at first, I was definitely much more of a thrower. I wasn’t pitching, I was just kind of getting on the mound, throwing it and hoping it goes in the zone. My sophomore year, [I had] a lot of command issues.”
As Caverly got more and more reps on the bump, however, he started to get the hang of it.
“Last year, it slowly got more comfortable, and I [started to become] more of a pitcher,” Caverly said. “I definitely [got] a lot more comfortable on the mound, and I felt much more like a pitcher as opposed to just a thrower.”
Sophomore Nate Kelleher-Mochak, another member of the Pride’s starting rotation, made a similar transition to the mound after focusing on hitting prior to college. He credits Caverly for helping him with the finer points of the change.
“He helped me make that transition from using my body as a hitter compared to as a pitcher,” Kelleher-Mochak said. “He taught me a lot of different things, whether that’s going to the gym or early morning lift, or looking at videos of us pitching and him comparing us to one another and what I do [well], what he does [well].”
What’s more, despite the two pitchers’ different styles – Caverly is a hard-throwing right-hander while Kelleher-Mochak is a lefty who relies more on finesse – Kelleher-Mochak appreciates the mindset Caverly has when pitching.
In Caverly’s continuing quest to improve, he also seeks out advice and strategic tips from his teammates. He likes to get a sense of what has helped them succeed, then try and implement that into his own repertoire.
“I think a big thing is being able to talk to teammates about different pitches they throw and how they throw,” Caverly said. “Talking to [graduate student] Blake Roberge, he’s been here forever, he knows what he’s doing. Talking to some of the other guys, like [sophomore] Nate [Kelleher]-Mochak, just picking people’s brains to figure out what works for them.”
Caverly uses these information-seeking conversations to help him widen his horizons in terms of what might work for him on the bump.
“I’m using that to try to build off that and figure out who I am and what I want to do, but also using their experiences to help myself improve,” Caverly said.
Caverly’s uptick in results has coincided with his development as a leader. A member of the NSO e-board and a co-chair of the Student Athlete Leadership Team, Caverly has been using his voice for all the right causes.
“That’s my favorite thing about Springfield, is you have the opportunity to wear a lot of different hats and do a lot of different activities on campus,” Caverly said. “You’re not just an athlete. You get to develop those other skills. So I think those different organizations, getting to learn how to interact with people and really seeing different walks of life has been really helpful.”
Kelleher-Mochak believes Caverly’s leadership qualities carry over from his off-field pursuits and have been beneficial to those around him.
“He’s very outgoing,” Kelleher-Mochak said. “He’s an NSO e-board [member], [so] he had to be very outgoing to do that kind of stuff. He brings that right to the baseball field.”
With the Pride sitting at 13-11 on the season and having shown serious signs of improvement from last year, things are looking up for the program. To Caverly, the tight-knit nature of the team strikes him as one of the biggest positives of the season to date.
“This is the closest we’ve ever been,” Caverly said. “We’ve got a lot of guys that are pushing for each other, [who] want to do well. I think this year [the team’s togetherness] has definitely paid off a lot, and I’m excited to see where we can go from [here].”
Ultimately, the right arm of Caverly will play a key role in determining how far the Pride go this year. And to his teammates, whether it be in the heat of the moment on gameday, in the weight room or during film study, Caverly is someone they want by their side.
“[Seeing him pitch has] made me appreciate that I’m not a hitter anymore, [that] I don’t have to face a guy like him,” Kelleher-Mochak said. “He’s a great kid, makes you want to come to the field every day, watch him play, play with him. He’s a great teammate, a great person, a great leader.”
Photo courtesy: Springfield College Athletics