As redshirt junior Jack Lane winds up on the pitcher’s mound, opposing batters are shaking in their cleats. Standing at 6-foot-10-inches tall, he stares down-almost directly down-at his opponents and fires an 86 mph fastball at a three-fourth arm angle causing the ball to sink and slide, giving his opposition fits.

Lane has secured a reliever spot on the UNC Wilmington baseball team this year, thanks to his previous year’s pitching for the Seahawks. His freshman year he was allotted a decent amount of playing time to gain experience in pressure situations, and to work on his fastball and change-up location around the plate. His most memorable pitching moment was last year against Elon University when he earned a win, throwing 2 2/3 shutout innings, including five strikeouts.

At the time, Lane felt he had a lot to establish, coming off a redshirt sophomore year. This performance gave him the confidence he needed to continue to perform.    

“(We’re) doin’ big things,” Lane said about the upcoming season. With an abundance of returning players and a prolific offense, the Seahawks are hitting their stride this season. Lane is glad the team is coming together and adding depth in every position with quality players. Most of the pitchers played summer ball, so their arms are conditioned to bring the heat this year, including the near 7-footer.

Lane has been working on dropping his arm angle in order to get more movement on his fastball. With his new three-fourths release point, the ball tails down and into right-handed batters and down and away from lefties. The movement on the ball from this new release point compensates for the loss of velocity, but this isn’t a problem for Lane who consistently hits a velocity in the upper 80’s on the radar gun. 

One would think a quality pitcher like Lane would have an arsenal of pitches he uses to “K up” batters, but think again. He uses a fastball, change-up and slider. As Lane stated, pitching is all about change of speed and location. If a pitcher cannot paint the corners of the strike zone and change speeds to fool hitters, the pitcher will get rocked off the hill. That is why Lane focuses on the basics, practicing his aim and change-up.