by Peter Geppert<\/p>\n
After taking 16-years off from their international-friendly series due to political posturing, the United States and Cuban national baseball teams returned to the field to renew a long-time rivalry. Former Mallards\u2019 pitcher Jonathon Crawford (Florida) was right in the middle of the action, earning the start in the opening game of the Collegiate Team USA\u2019s summer schedule.<\/p>\n
Despite having to go through customs, a lengthy pre-game rain delay, and a stacked Cuban lineup full of future Major League talent, Crawford rose to the occasion. Through 6.1 innings the right-hander had six strikeouts and allowed two runs on four hits in Team USA\u2019s 4-3 win.<\/p>\n
Mallards might remember hearing Crawford\u2019s name earlier this summer when he threw only the seventh no-hitter in NCAA baseball tournament history on June 1st<\/sup> against Bethune-Cookman. The game, which the Gators won 4-0, put him in the national headlines for the first time in his career.<\/p>\n Before his rise to fame, things weren\u2019t so easy for Crawford, as he struggled early on to find his identity with the Mallards when he was pitching with the team in 2011. The right-hander finished his lone season on the club with a modest 2-2 record and a 5.21 ERA.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe had great stuff, probably the best in the league.\u201d Labbe said. \u201cHe could come at pitchers with four quality Major League level pitchers that most hitters he faced had no chance at.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite quality pitches, it was his mechanics and mental approach to the game that kept him from becoming elite.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we had him we worked with him to emphasize that he didn\u2019t have to make the perfect pitch every time to get outs,\u201d Labbe said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t realize that he was good enough to pitch to contact and still make hitters miss.\u201d<\/p>\n Taking that advice to heart in addition to working with Florida head coach and pitching guru Kevin O\u2019Sullivan on his delivery saw Crawford take his game to the next level when he returned to Gainesville in the fall. In his sophomore season at Florida he became a fixture in the Gator\u2019s rotation, going 6-2 with a 3.13 ERA.<\/p>\n \u201cGoing from an overhand release to a three-quarter delivery was huge for him,\u201d Labbe added. \u201cIt took a lot of hard work on his end, but he really took to it and it paid dividends for him.\u201d<\/p>\n With the strong start against Cuba and an even stronger year in Florida\u2019s rotation, many scouts are now viewing Crawford as an elite prospect.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t surprise me at all that people are beginning to notice his talent,\u201d Labbe added. \u201cHe is a really hard working kid, who is also a great athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Peter Geppert After taking 16-years off from their international-friendly series due to political posturing, the United States and Cuban […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archived-news"],"yoast_head":"\n