Slippery Rock baseball coach Jeff Messer believed the scouts who he said told him Gage Gillott could help his team.
It wasn’t until the 2021 Connellsville graduate arrived on the Rock’s Butler County campus as a transfer from NCAA Division I USC-Upstate that he could show Messer just how much he could be of assistance.
“The recommendations we were getting were as a pitcher,” said Messer, now in his 39th season as Slippery Rock’s baseball coach, of the scouting he received on Gillott. “Then in the fall, we had intersquad [games] maybe two, three times a week and we lost a couple kids to injury and other things so we were a little short offensively.”
And that’s when Gillott, a 6-foot, 210-pound right-handed pitcher, came to Messer with a seemingly odd request.
“He came up to us and said, ‘Coach, can I try both?’” said Messer of Gillott’s request to pick up a bat in addition to his duties on the mound. “We hadn’t seen him take any swings at all.
“We started having him kind of work into it a little bit with batting practice and after seeing about three or four balls with his exit velocity over 100 [mph], we said, ‘We might be able to work with you here, Gage.’”
In the ensuing months, Gillott has rewarded his coaching staff’s faith in him by blossoming into one of the best two-way players across all of NCAA Division II baseball.
The redshirt sophomore entered Saturday’s doubleheader against California University of Pennsylvania with a 5-1 record on the mound, a 0.82 ERA and a .159 opponent batting average in 43⅔ innings across seven starts. He led all of Division II in ERA, while his 0.85 WHIP ranked seventh and his 4.95 hits allowed per nine innings ranked eighth, nationally.
Gillott took a hard-luck loss in the first half of Saturday’s doubleheader, conceding three runs, two earned, on seven hits with eight strikeouts over six innings in a 3-2 setback. His ERA now stands at 1.09, just behind Millersville pitcher Alex Mykut, whose 0.97 ERA is now first in the nation.
On his off days from the mound Messer also pencils Gillott into the third spot in his lineup. The left fielder is hitting .347 with 5 doubles, 3 triples, 13 runs scored and 8 RBIs. He is slugging .500 with a .382 on-base percentage.
“It was something I thought I could do out of high school,” said Gillott of his success on the mound and in the batter’s box. “I went to Upstate as a two-way and then after my first year there they kind of told me, ‘We think your career is on the mound. We think you should just focus on that.’ So, that’s what I did my second year at Upstate, and coming to Slippery Rock, that’s kind of what I figured it would be.
“Coach Jeff gave me the opportunity, and, again, things are kind of just piecing themselves together. It’s been exciting.”
Gillott pitched just 4⅓ innings during his tenure at USC-Upstate, conceding four earned runs with four walks and four strikeouts.
Now a major contributor at Slippery Rock, Gillott said he is thankful for the chance to resurrect his career after a false start at the Division I level.
“I try not to look at stats,” Gillott said. “I’ve obviously heard about the stats and want to perform and do well, but the focus is on winning. Typically, stats are a result of winning. That’s been great, but ultimately, too, my past years at Upstate weren’t the greatest years of my career. I definitely had to fight through some battles.
“To come out on the other side of it and push through the hard times to see the success now, it’s been very rewarding,” he added. “It’s been a good experience and hopefully I can keep it going.”
For Gillott, that most assuredly means remaining dominant as a starting pitcher. He leans mostly on his four-seam fastball, which lands anywhere between 88 to 91 mph, while also working in a slider and splitter to his arsenal.
“It’s just working ahead in counts and filling the zone, ultimately, “ Gillott said. “My whole mentality every day is don’t beat yourself, make them hit the ball and get themselves out. You don’t want to give up any free bases and typically when you do that you’re going to be successful.”
Gillott has recorded a team-leading 48 strikeouts to just 13 walks and five hit-batters. He has thrown four complete games and has been involved in four shutouts.
“He throws all his pitches for strikes,” Messer said. “The No. 1 thing about him, maybe different than other people we’ve had or whatever, is he just competes. He competes every single pitch. There’s no off pitch. He has a really good idea of what he wants to do.”
The same can be assumed of Gillott’s approach at the plate.
“I try to keep it really simple,” he said. “I’m not trying to do too much, just trying to hit balls back up the middle and really just thinking barrel the ball. There’s not much to it.”
Messer said Gillott’s cerebral approach to the game, combined with his athletic ability and work ethic, make him a special player.
“He hits the ball as hard as anybody we’ve ever had,” Messer said. “We’ve had some pretty good guys, including [former Major League player] Matt Adams. With his exit velocity, he’s just a strong, raw talent to where he’s really helped us out.
“We thought he would help us out pitching-wise, but he’s been just as successful at the plate, and he’s an excellent base runner with good speed,” Messer added. “He’s been in the middle of our lineup since day one and the only day he’s not in the middle of the lineup is when he pitches, and that may change before the end of the year. He may be DH/pitcher before the end of the year.”
And Gillott’s baseball career may not end at Slippery Rock.
Messer said Gillott has the potential to land a spot on an independent league roster or earn a future Major League draft selection.
“He’s durable,” Messer said. “He’s a two-way guy right now. He’s not concentrating on one or the other. He’s putting the time in to do both by his choice. It’s to our benefit that that’s something he decided to do. I don’t know where we’d be without him either as a pitcher or offensively.”
In the meantime, Gillott said he is focusing on making the most of his time with the Rock (18-10, 9-5), which is currently in a tie for first place in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division standings with California (22-9, 9-5).
The Rock and Vulcans split Saturday’s doubleheader at Wild Things Park in North Strabane, Washington County. Cal won the first game, but Slippery Rock won the night cap, 5-0.
“For me, the biggest thing would be to take us to a PSAC tournament and a PSAC championship and get us to a regional and fighting for national contention,” he said. “That’s the biggest goal for me. Then again, like I said, typically, stats and PSAC player of the year or All-American honors are a result of winning.”
John is a copy editor and page designer at the Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at jsanta@unionprogress.com.