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Former SCA ace Townsend gears up for run at national title with Chipola

• Ex-Eagles star pitcher Jason Townsend struggled through the beginning of his first  season at Chipola College but emerged late in the year to help lead the team back to the Junior College World Series.

Paul Dehner Jr.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Midway through Jason Townsend’s first season at Chipola College, baseball rattled the Sherwood Christian Academy graduate for the first time in his life.

The star high school pitcher with the sizzling fastball and major-league upside slammed face first into the cold reality of top level junior college baseball. An ERA that rarely rose above 1.00 at Sherwood suddenly hovered into the land of unspeakable as the freshman sweated through the 57-game grind on the Panhandle.

“Those were probably some of the longest games of my life,” Townsend said. “I was struggling. I have never struggled too much. I was getting down on myself.”

Now stationed in the chilly shadows of the Rocky Mountains at the Junior College World Series in Colorado, where Chipola will open up its defense of the 2007 national title today against Conners State (Okla.), the midseason struggles seem as far away as the humid foothills of North Florida.

Townsend adjusted to life on the next level and whittled his ERA down to a manageable 4.57, adding a 7-3 record.

But as the defending national champions persevered past a sluggish season start, their shining achievement coincided with that of their maturing freshman pitcher.

Townsend took the mound for his first start at the state championships last weekend and, under the greatest pressure of his young career, produced his most sterling outing.

In the state semifinal game against Pensacola Junior College, the 6-foot-3, 185-pounder threw his first complete game of the year, going seven innings, allowing just one run with nine strikeouts to one walk in a blowout win.

It took the pressure off a championship showdown that forced Manatee CC to beat them twice — and was the type of game that placed a roller-coaster season in perspective.

“This whole year paid off for that one moment,” Townsend said.

With his first major contribution in the books, Townsend hopes to write another chapter at this week’s World Series.

The double-elimination tournament begins today against Conners State College and runs through next Saturday as Chipola will need at least six wins to repeat as champions. The rotation is unknown, but according to 12th-year Chipola coach Jeff Johnson, Townsend “will probably start a game out here, at least one.”

And after watching his freshman’s development, Johnson is confident Townsend can handle that.

“He just had to get consistent with mechanics,” Johnson said. “Real pleased with his progress. The complete game was huge (and) I expect him to do some big things out here.”

Townsend expects big things himself. At Sherwood Christian, he would pitch in front of 200 fans on a good day. At Chipola, possibly a couple thousand fill the seats. At the World Series, the crowds are expected to range from 10,000 to 13,000 people.

Though he remembers an acute nervousness during the first start of his college career,he knows the sprawling crowd will bring a new level of pressure.

“I’ll be nervous,” Townsend said. “Once I start sweating, I’ll get through it.”

Using new mechanics which keep his motion more vertical, Townsend now shakes the pressure with consistency in his approach. Gone are the days of letting his 92 mph fastball blow batters away — that only worked in high school. Now, Townsend works corners, changes speeds and relies on his defense. Those are all part of the freshman’s evolution from hurler to pitcher.

Running parallel has been the evolution of Chipola from title holder to legitimate repeat threat. The Indians have now won 12 of 13 games and enter the tournament playing the best baseball of the season.

“There is definitely a lot of pressure,” Townsend said. “Everybody is trying to aim toward us. There is a lot of pressure.”

Another championship would shine a spotlight on the Indians and their players, including a pitching staff filled with graduating sophomores.

Then there is Townsend. If he returns next season he will likely take over as ace of the Chipola staff.

Yet, if a repeat performance of his state semifinal outing happens this week in front of a host of baseball’s most influential minds, Townsend could see his stock soar and consider his position in the Major League Draft.

It is a possibility he has not forgotten.

“I talk to plenty of scouts,” he said. “They have been trying to see what kind of round I was looking for and money.”

But that feels far off at the moment. Townsend understands he’s only a month removed from one of the lowest points of his baseball career. He’d prefer to ride this new wave before he thinks about where it will take him.

“It is a 180 from midseason to now,” Townsend said. “I have so much confidence now. I lost some confidence but the more I kept working it kept building and kept building.

“But we are going to concentrate on the World Series. I don’t really want to think about the draft. We want to win the championship. We win and everything will take care of itself.”

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