April 2, 2021

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

It’s been a challenging collegiate freshman season for left-hander Eric Pettipiece.

On the mound, the 18-year-old Dorchester, Ont., native and former two-way player with the London Badgers is adjusting to being a full-time pitcher with the Goshen College Maple Leafs in Indiana.

Off the hill, COVID-19 border restrictions have meant that he has only seen his parents, Paul and Brenda, and his older brother, Alex, once since August. It’s been a lot to absorb for a teenager living on his own for the first time.

“It’s definitely been difficult,” said Pettipiece. “I’m only really five hours away from home, so in a regular year, I’d be able to come home for a weekend if I had it off, but I came home for the Christmas break and that was the only time I was able to see my family since I came here in August.”

But Pettipiece isn’t complaining. Sure, he’s had bouts of homesickness, but he talks to his family on FaceTime almost daily and he loves the Goshen College campus. He’s also proud to be one of three players – along with David Mendham (University of South Carolina) and Alex Liem (D’Youville College, New York) - from Dorchester to be competing in the U.S. college ranks.

“I think I’m handling myself pretty well,” he said in a recent phone interview from Indiana.

And in talking to Pettipiece, you believe him.

Good grades seem as important as a good fastball to the 6-foot, 170-pound southpaw. So it’s not surprising to learn that he was named Male Academic Athlete of the Year in his senior year at Lord Dorchester Secondary School (LDSS).

And his freshmen season has really just presented another set of challenges for the determined Canadian who overcame long odds to even have an opportunity to pitch for a U.S. college.

Pettipiece grew up in Dorchester, Ont., a growing village east of London, where the Dolphins, the community’s Junior C hockey squad, carries most of the sports headlines. Pettipiece, himself, was a solid left-winger, but he developed a love for baseball at a very young age.

“I have baby pictures of me holding baseballs, so it’s been a part of my life for as long as I can remember,” he said. “I think I started playing T-ball when I was three years old.”

He played T-ball and Rookie ball in Dorchester, before he moved on to play Minor Mosquito (age 10) in nearby St. Thomas. Around that time, he was also introduced to Mike Lumley and the London Badgers program.

He would join the Badgers at the 11U level and continue with them through their 18U squad.

“I started there and then I fell in love with the program,” said Pettipiece. “Mike does a really good job of teaching how to play baseball the right way. Respect is a big part of it. And then he also does a really good job of teaching mechanics. He always wants to get the best out of his players.”

Pettipiece says the one-on-one coaching from Lumley during the winter was particularly helpful.

“He taught me how to pitch from the ground up because before going there, I never really pitched at all and now here I am pitching at Goshen College,” said Pettipiece. “So I can’t thank him enough for what he has done for me and for my family.”

Pettipiece was actually a two-way player with the Badgers. When not on the mound, he patrolled left field or sometimes manned first base.

“I think the biggest thing about Eric is just how hard he works,” said Lumley. “He’s just so determined to be the best version of himself.”

Pettipiece is not a hard thrower, but he has the smarts, control and work ethic to get hitters out. And Lumley says the young lefty has gotten stronger in recent years.

“I think the biggest thing with him is that he really attacks the zone,” said Lumley. “I don’t think he’s going to be a 90-plus mile-per-hour thrower, but in all reality, that really doesn’t matter when it comes to college baseball. It’s about the fact that you can attack the zone and go after the hitters and control the running game and control your environment. And those are things that he does pretty well.”

Pettipiece was fortunate to be in the Badgers program because his high school squad was one that had to be thrown together.

“High school baseball isn’t really popular back home,” said Pettipiece, who also ran cross-country and played basketball and hockey at LDSS. “When I was there, it was just a few guys who wanted to go out there and have some fun. I joined [the Lord Dorchester team] when I was in grade 9 and I think 10 guys all bought matching T-shirts, they weren’t jerseys or anything. And we made them look cool. We had our last names on them.”

His dad, Paul, and fellow parent Rudy Liem coached the team that played around six games a season against neighboring high schools.

When he was 16, Pettipiece realized he might have a shot at playing collegiate baseball and Lumley encouraged him to pursue this goal.

“Mike always preached that if you loved baseball, you should go and try to play college baseball,” said Pettipiece. “He said if you have the work ethic and you have the ability to do it that there’s always a program out there that will take you.”

So Pettipiece worked on getting stronger and his left arm eventually caught the eye of Justin Grubbs, the pitching coach at Goshen College, whose sports teams are coincidentally nicknamed the Maple Leafs.

“It was about December 2019 when I got a text from coach Grubbs, the pitching coach and he asked if I was interested in coming down for a visit,” said Pettipiece.

Pettipiece travelled to the college in February 2020, just prior to almost everything being shut down by COVID-19, and fell in love with the program and the campus.

“I had a tour of the campus and I went to a practice with the baseball team and one thing that I found really cool is that they set me up to stay overnight with some of the guys on the team just to get a feel for what the campus has to offer away from the tour,” said Pettipiece.

It didn’t take long for Pettipiece to commit to the program.

The young lefty has been used as a starter and reliever this season by Goshen, who compete in the NAIA’s 10-team Crossroads League. On March 4, he fanned Kade Vander Molen from Taylor University in the fourth inning to record his first collegiate strikeout.

“It was pretty exciting to get that under my belt,” said Pettipiece. “It happened against Taylor University who is ranked No. 20 in the country. At that point in the game, it wasn’t really the closest game, but it was great to get my feet wet and to get to compete out there. Now, I’m hoping to get that first win.”

Another highlight for Pettipiece was starting the team’s home opener against Cleary University on March 17.

The Canuck southpaw, who tossed 5 2/3 innings in his second start against Siena Heights on March 24, considers himself a work in progress and is always looking to improve.

“I think for me right now definitely getting stronger is important and increasing my velocity,” he said.

Pettipiece is one of three Canadians on the Goshen Maple Leafs. The others are catcher Reese Whelen (Medicine Hat, Alta.) and OF-RHP Keegan Kwong (Edmonton, Alta).

“I didn’t know them when I came here, but Reese caught my bullpen when I was here on my visit,” said Pettipiece. “And now he’s my catcher whenever I’m out on the mound, so there’s a little Canadian chemistry there.”

Pettipiece, who plans to spend four years at Goshen College, is pleased with the progress he has made in his first season as a full-time pitcher.

“I’ve gotten stronger over the last year,” he said. “I’ve started throwing a little bit harder and every mile per hour counts . . . I really believe that as a freshman I have a lot of growing to do as a player and I think that in the future I can be a key part of this organization.”

Away from the field, Pettipiece is working towards a degree in Education and plans to follow in the footsteps of his mother, Brenda, and become a teacher, but before he does that, he wouldn’t mind playing professionally, perhaps overseas.

“I know overseas there are a lot of leagues in Europe and Australia,” said Pettipiece. “I think it would be cool to play professionally for a couple of years, but my end goal is to become a teacher back home.”