Pike Staying Close To Home To Play Baseball In College

Owen Pike RHP / Berlin , CT / 2025

BERLIN, Ct. - In the words of Owen Pike: “I wasn’t born a baseball player.”

He is now.

A commitment to Central Connecticut State is proof that a strong work ethic has paid off.

“With my parents' help, I worked really hard,” Pike reflected. “I wanted to play in college and did a lot of programs to get better.”

A change in travel teams in his early teens helped the cause.

“I switched to a program that college baseball was the expectation for players,” the Berlin High School senior noted. “When I was young I thought it would be impossible, but when I got older I began to think it was a possibility and really started working hard.

“I always loved pitching, I wasn’t a big position player, so pitching was what I focused on the most. This winter I topped at 87 and started to get interest from JUCO, D-II, D-III and D-I, the whole spectrum.”

But a weight loss at the outset of summer brought some doubt from colleges.

“My velo went down and those schools began wondering what went wrong,” Pike explained. “I was pitching well, but with less velocity. Later in the summer I put more weight on, got some looks and toured a D-III school a month ago but it didn’t work out. It was back to the drawing board.”

But then Central Connecticut State entered the picture.

“My coach is buddies with Pat Hall (CCS assistant coach) and I had the opportunity to go to a Central camp with two of my teammates,” Pike said. “They’d seen me a bunch of times before, but a couple days after the camp I got a call from Pat Hall saying he wants to give me a chance to pitch there. It’s close to home and this is a great baseball opportunity.”

It did not take long to decide whether to take the offer to go to the university located 20 minutes from home.

“I talked to my parents and then told him 10 minutes later I was on board,” Pike related.

It was a no-brainer according to the 59th-ranked 2025 right-handed pitcher in New England.

“The campus is a lot bigger and nicer than I had thought in my head,” Pike explained. “It helped that I used to play with the person leading the tour. I asked a lot of questions and got a lot of good information from him.”

Attending Central was something Pike, admittedly, never dreamed about.

“When I was younger I had the idea to go far away to college,” Pike said. “But as I got older I figured out the northeast has great baseball. As it turned out, the schools I looked at were all within an hour from home.”

Still, there were doubts, especially with senior year of high school in session.

“I definitely started to worry,” the 86th-rated senior in Connecticut admitted. “My coaches had no doubts, so that helped. But with the new rules and roster size, spots were filling up quickly. Having teammates in the same situation helped knowing it wasn’t only me. I kept doing what I was doing and it worked out.”

The 6-4 172-pounder pointed to Kevin Rival with benefitting the cause.

“I was topping 83-84 last winter and not throwing a ton of strikes,” Pike reflected. “I joined a program working with Kevin building up arm strength and shoulder stability and I started throwing harder and more strikes.”

Marcus Hill with Pro Performance Network and his team 5 Star Connecticut were also credited by the 20th-ranked 2025 right-handed pitcher in Connecticut with aiding his baseball journey to the Northeast Conference university.

“So much stress was lifted off my shoulders,” the 17-year-old said of his commitment. “I’ve worried about this for two years and it’s finally over. It feels really good. Now I know where I’m going and I don’t have to apply to all these colleges.”

A shoutout also goes to his parents for support during it all.

“They told me things I didn’t want to hear to get me better,” the 211th-ranked senior in New England related. “They pushed me to work harder. They wanted me to be happy. I couldn’t have done this without them.”

A major in business is on the horizon for the 3.5 student, thrilled about going to college at Central.

“I’m looking forward to playing with a lot of good players older than me,” Pike concluded. “I’ll get to learn a lot from them. I’m also excited about being in a good program.

“I am nervous about balancing the baseball part and school with all the travel. But there are guys there that can not only help with baseball, but also with that as well.”