By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
Bryce Loker’s time with the Burlington Bees will be brief.
But the right-hander from Omro, Wisconsin thinks the four starts he gets will be a good lesson for what he is going to be seeing next season at South Dakota State.
Loker, coming off a high school season in which he did not allow an earned run and struck out 62 in 33 ⅔ regular-season innings, has thrown 10 ⅔ innings in three starts with the Bees. He’ll make one more start this week before shutting down to prepare for his freshman season with the Jackrabbits.
Loker said his time with the Bees in the Prospect League has been an education.
“Obviously, being one of the younger guys on the team, I think it’s a great experience,” he said. “Just being around the older group of guys and preparing me for college are really the biggest reasons why I came here. Not only the physical part of the game, but also the mental part— learning how to deal with my own time, getting my lifting in, and then also just getting the schedule down of what it’s like in college and getting used to it, so I can help my team in as many ways as I possibly can.”
Loker has learned what it is like to face college hitters. He is 1-1 with a 5.91 earned run average and 13 strikeouts.
“I think the biggest thing is hitting my spots with my pitches, because when you miss here, they’ll do damage,” Loker said about the adjustments he has had to make facing college hitters. “In high school you can miss spots and you’ll be fine. And then another thing is just the pitch calling here has to be better than it is in high school, because in high school you can get away with mistakes. One through nine, every team we face here, they’re all dudes, and you’ve got to make pitches to every single batter if you want to get outs.”
Former Bees player Jaden Hackbarth, who played in the same travel-ball organization, Five Star Wisconsin, as Loker, recommended coming to Burlington for a summer experience.
“He reached out to me a while ago, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’d love to do that, just get the experience,’” Loker said.
Loker said the South Dakota State coaching staff approved of the move as well.
“I reached out to the South Dakota State pitching coach (Michael Newstrom), and he’s like, ‘Yeah, I think that would be great for you,’” Loker said. “They loved it, especially since it’s a big jump. I went to a small high school, so it’s a lot more challenging here than high school was. They loved that idea, and so did I.
“I wanted a challenge, and I wanted to play with guys that pushed me to be better around in the dugout, all that stuff, but yeah, they love the idea of it to get more innings, more good innings against quality teams.”
Loker pitched 1 ⅔ innings in his first start June 7 at Quincy. He pitched five innings in a 9-6 win at Illinois Valley on June 16, then threw four innings in Thursday’s home loss to Illinois Valley.
A big part of Loker’s time with the Bees is being around players who have already logged a season or more at the college level.
“It was almost a culture shock, because I’ve never been around a group of college baseball guys before,” he said. “It’s been awesome. I mean, all the guys have welcomed me— I’m one of them, and they treat me like that. And I think it’s been really helpful for me to see what it’s like and experience this before I go to college, so I know what it’s like. Being in the clubhouse is awesome. Spending a lot of time with the guys here is great.”
Loker knows what he wants to do with his final start.
“I’m just going to go in, same mentality that I always do — I just want to compete with guys.” he said. “I love competing, and I always want the ball in my hands. If I can do anything about it, I’m going to have that ball, throwing strikes and getting ahead of guys early, not making mistakes. I made a couple mistakes my last start with pitches, and they did damage. This next outing, I’m just looking to not make mistakes and have a good start.”
Photo: Bryce Loker delivers a pitch in his start for the Burlington Bees on Thursday against Illinois Valley. (Photo by Steve Cirinna)
