After three fourths of the GLIAC baseball season, few pitchers have been better than Grand Valley State University’s senior pitcher Kyle Teague.

Teague (5-0) currently ranks third in the GLIAC in wins, and second in ERA (1.22).

“He’s turned into our number one pitcher,” said head coach Jamie Detillion. “He’s been dominating in his last several performances, so I hope he continues and finishes his senior season strong.”

After stints at Division I Oakland University and Valdosta State University, Teague transferred to GVSU to become closer to his hometown of Oxford, MI – giving his parents a chance to watch him pitch.

“My parents wanted to watch me pitch, so it helped that Grand Valley was here,” Teague said. “Plus, they have a great reputation and track record, so you know you’re going somewhere where you can win right away. That’s what I needed knowing that I only have one year left.”

Due to NCAA transfer rules, Teague spent the 2012 season on the sidelines while he was redshirted. The time off gave Teague a chance to redefine who he was as a pitcher.

“The main thing I really worked on, was location with all my pitches,” Teague said. “Because before I kind of got to be just a thrower, but now I feel like I’m a better pitcher because I can locate my fastball on both sides of the plate.”

Besides having a strong repertoire of pitches, Teague exhibits a confident, calm demeanor on the mound. His attitude is infectious and can spread to the rest of the team.

“He just steps on the mound and expects to win, which radiates to his teammates behind him because they know he’s out there to win a big game,” Detillion said.

Besides his head coach, Teague has also drawn the praise and recognition of his teammates. Including all-time NCAA saves leader, senior Brad Zambron.

“I’ve known Kyle since I was 13 or 14 years old,” Zambron said. He’s always been a good pitcher – he just has really good stuff. I’ve watched him throw throughout the year and at times, he almost looks unhittable. He just has a way to dominate hitters. Either a strikeout or a groundout, those are two ways to see how you’re doing against hitters, and he does those really well.”

In six starts, Teague has pitched 37 innings and has allowed only 24 hits on the year. Opposing batters have only managed to hit .186 against him and he has tallied 30 strikeouts, while only giving up five earned runs all season.

“It’s just been a little bit of a learning process since I took that year off last year,” Teague said. “It took me a little bit to get to my rhythm. Once I got a couple starts in, I definitely felt a lot more confident and felt like I had command of my fastball and breaking ball, and I just feel like I can throw them in any counts when I want to, which has contributed to getting quick outs and going deeper into games.”

As GVSU continues their chase for the GLIAC title, Teague and the rest of the GVSU pitchers plan to play an integral part. The pitching staff sports a 2.76 ERA, and Teague believes he and the rest of the pitchers can maintain their level of play.

“I’m very confident that I can keep it going,” Teague said. “All of our pitchers are right now have been having a great year. We just got to keep working hard and staying in the routine. Just going out there and knowing that you’re better than the other team and just bear down and help the team out.”

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