Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 23, 1994 TAG: 9402230018
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-10 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
So when an assistant summoned Virginia Tech's 35th-year head baseball coach to the bullpen last August to watch a walk-on pitcher - and when Hartman saw how hard the stranger was throwing - he got suspicious.
He stood behind Steve Schulze to watch.
"That's when I got real nervous," Schulze said. "He said, `We've never had a guy throw this hard coming out as a walk-on.' "
Hartman was trying to sniff out the prank.
"I've been in this racket 35 years, and I think a big joke is being played on me, to see if I'm really looking at the players," Hartman said.
"My first reaction is, well, he's gone out and played a couple years of pro ball. I said, `Are you a freshman?' He said, `No, I'm a sophomore.'
"Now, I know I've got a guy trying to play a game on us."
Turns out Hartman was talking to his new No. 2 starting pitcher. The Hokies start the 1994 season Saturday at North Carolina-Wilmington, and Schulze starts his first game as a Hokie on Sunday.
Tech's coaches hadn't recruited Schulze, hadn't heard of him, didn't know he was on campus and didn't really know why. Most walk-on candidates, Hartman said, will recite their resumes before trying out in hopes of swaying the coaches. Schulze just showed up on the field.
After watching him throw, Tech's coaches knew only that Schulze's fastball was much less tentative and unassuming than its owner.
Schulze, from Sykesville, Md., played shortstop as a junior in high school. As a senior, he disappeared in the shadow of teammate Joe Goodwin, a fellow pitcher who got a scholarship to George Mason University, and wasn't heavily recruited. He was set to attend North Carolina State, but only because a friend of his was going and they could room together.
That friend changed his mind, so Schulze latched onto another buddy who was heading for Blacksburg. He didn't want to go to college and be without an acquaintance.
He made up his mind to concentrate on his engineering-school classes during his freshman year, lest he fall behind while trying out for the baseball team. And about trying out . . .
"I was afraid of even making the team. I was scared I was going to get cut," Schulze said.
Once he saw the Hokies the following spring, he said, "I figured I had a decent shot at making the team."
He did, by showing Hartman a three-pitch portfolio that included his loud fastball and a change-up with what Hartman calls "awesome movement."
Hartman says Schulze reminds him of former Tech pitcher Brad DuVall, who went from raw talent to St. Louis Cardinals draft pick - even down to Schulze's fondness for throwing at full speed against the wall of Rector Field House during indoor practice, creating a boom that used to, and will again, drive Hartman crazy.
Early returns might not be the best, however, because Schulze has hardly pitched competitively in two years.
"You see some of the mildew," Hartman said. "But he has a chance to have two or three games during the year in which he dominates. If he can come up with a little better mechanics, he can be something special."
Schulze figures he's already done something right. He said his grade-point average as a freshman was 3.15, higher than his goal of 3.0. He hopes that by not letting baseball hurt his first-year academics, he hasn't let first-year academics hurt his baseball.
"That year would have helped me, definitely," he said. "I'm sure there's going to be some rough times, just facing batters once again."
And though his pitches may be aggressive, he said his first-game jitters will be "real bad, I think."
His goal, at least for now, is predictably cautious - and, if Hartman's instincts are right, probably too modest.
"I hope to go about .500," Schulze said. "That's what I'm going to try for."\ \ UPCOMING IN BLACKSBURG: (All events at Cassell Coliseum unless otherwise noted). Women's basketball - Tulane, 7 p.m. Feb. 26; Southern Mississippi, 7 p.m. Feb. 28. Wrestling - James Madison, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 25; American, 7 p.m. Feb. 26. Men's tennis - Virginia Commonwealth, noon March 5 at Burleson-Burrows Tennis Complex. Virginia Commonwealth, noon March 4 at Burleson-Burrows Tennis Complex. Indoor track - Metro Conference Championship, 1 p.m. Feb. 25, 11 a.m. Feb. 26 at Rector Field House.
by CNB