By Tom Joyce, Contributing Writer
Marlborough – Without heavy academic commitment in the summertime, local college athletes have the opportunity to continue building themselves up in their sport.
Marlborough native Kevin Scerra took the opportunity to improve his game by facing Division 1 quality competition as he played for the Brockton Rox of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League over the course of the summer.
“It’s an honor to be honest,” he said. “I’m glad to be here. It’s good baseball every day. It’s a grind but it’s definitely worth it.”
Like he did at school, Scerra pitched in relief for the Rox. He made 10 appearances and got stronger as the year went on; three of his last four outings were scoreless. In all, he posted a 5.26 ERA and showed strong command, walking just four batters over 13.2 innings as he gained experience against tough competition.
“I’m just staying in shape here and spotting up my pitches,” he said. “That’s my best attribute. Plus I’m trying to stay healthy with all these games.”
As a freshman at Framingham State this past spring, Scerra earned his way into this team’s bullpen over the last few weeks of the season. He proved that pitching him was the right move as he allowed just one run over 8.2 innings pitched.
Despite his success on the mound, Scerra spent the first half of his team’s season patiently waiting for the opportunity to throw in a game.
“Just by working hard in practice and by doing well in my appearances in our intra-squad scrimmages, that got me the opportunity to pitch in games,” he said of how he was able to work his way into his team’s bullpen. “And when I pitched in games, I thought I did pretty well.”
Next spring, Scerra said he would like to win a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) title and he is preparing to do whatever he can to help his team achieve that feat.
“I want to continue throwing strikes and come out of the bullpen and do my job,” he said. “I probably want to throw harder, too. I want to try to get that velo[city] up on the fastball. I think I definitely could and that would help me out.”
With his arm feeling good this year, Scerra is in a position where he could do that. In 2016, however, he did not play college baseball as he nursed his arm back to health.
“I pitched a lot in high school,” he said. “That amount of work certainly had a toll on my elbow. I’m fine now though. You’ve just got to rehab it every once in a while. It’s going well now though. I’m coming out of the bullpen and I don’t have to throw too many pitches. I’m feeling comfortable.”
At Marlborough High, Scerra was a multi-sport athlete. In addition to baseball, he was an outside linebacker in football. His senior year, the team made a playoff bid in the Division 2 bracket and on Thanksgiving, they shut down Hudson, 33-0. Although he enjoyed success on the gridiron, Scerra was more drawn to the prospect of playing baseball in college.
“I knew I was going to go the baseball route,” he said. “I was always a better baseball player. Football I loved to play with my friends. Some of my best friends played football. It was a lot of fun, but I knew baseball was going to be my sport in college.”