Breaking into the starting lineup as a freshman is a tall mountain to climb, but Slippery Rock third baseman Abraham Mow has made an impact not only on the field but off it as well.
“He’s an interesting guy,” Slippery Rock head coach Jeff Messer said. “And he’s off to one of the best starts I’ve ever seen a freshman have.”
Having a coach with thousands of baseball players come through his system say that to a freshman makes it easy to inflate an ego, but Mow has stayed humble in his play this year.
“He’s the captain, this is his 33rd season, for him to tell me that, it’s an honor,” Mow said.
Mow started the year on the bench, collecting seven at-bats in the team’s first four games of the season. It was on the team’s spring break trip where Messer noticed his knack for hitting the ball hard each plate appearance, and Mow ended up starting seven of the team’s eight games played in Kissimmee, Fl.
“He blisters the ball every single time, even if it’s an out,” Messer said.
Ever since the second game of that trip, Mow has started every game either at third base or designated hitter. Mow has been batting out of the lead-off spot since the last game of spring break, because Messer wanted to get him “as many at-bats as possible.”
If you attend a Slippery Rock baseball game, before you would even see Mow swing a bat, you would notice the unique qualities of him, thanks to his peculiar walk-up music.
“I didn’t even pick [the song]. All the seniors picked it for me, I think it’s pretty funny,” Mow said of his walk up music, which is a remix of a line from Spongebob. “They got me Patrick the starfish, I think everyone knows the ‘is mayonnaise an instrument?’ [line].”
Mow’s enigma doesn’t stop there. Ask any SRU freshman about the much-maligned Boozel dining hall and it’s not likely you would hear a positive review, but for Mow, SRU’s number one dining hall is a pre-game must.
“There’s one thing I always try to eat, you get to make your own noodles,” Mow said. “I get that every single day, I’m always sure to get it”
If fun music and college cuisine aren’t your style, Mow’s on-field performance will certainly satiate any stat-head. Mow leads all Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) third baseman in slugging percentage at .641, and ranks in the top three on SRU’s team for every offensive category.
“There’s definitely been a switch I’ve had to toggle,” Mow said. “I’ve seen really similar pitching, because I played [on] a really good travel team. It’s been not difficult for me at all.”
With over 20 games remaining in his freshman season alone, this budding star is looking to continue mow-ing down the competition.
