Umatilla’s Lucroy gives verbal ... signs NLI
<blockquote><p align=justify><i> Pitcher will attend Louisiana</i>
The baseball pipeline from Lake County to the University of Louisiana gained another member last Friday when Umatilla senior Jeremy Lucroy verbally committed to the school.
Lucroy will join his first cousin, Jonathan, a former standout at Umatilla High School, and former East Ridge High School standout Buddy Glass, who are freshmen on the Ragin’ Cajuns baseball team.
“I’m happy, and it’s a relief and I am glad that I got the offer I did,” Lucroy said. “I definitely am looking forward to it.”
Lucroy, a 6-foot, 185-pound right-handed pitcher, said he chose Louisiana over Stetson, Western Carolina and the University of South Florida because ULL offered him a “good-sized scholarship.”
He also said ULL offered the field of study, electrical engineering, he wanted to pursue.
“It is a little away from home, so it will be a different experience to go out there,” said Lucroy, who will sign a letter of intent in November. “It’s a nice school, and they have a good baseball program that is building up.”
Lucroy said it will be an added bonus that his cousin, Jonathan, and Glass will be at ULL with him. He said he has spoken to both players about the school and the baseball program, and both have told him head coach Tony Robichaux, who also serves as the team’s pitching coach, “knows what he is doing.”
As a sophomore, Lucroy was 5-4 with a 1.78 earned run average and 61 strikeouts in 55 innings.
Umatilla coach Terry Nuzum said Lucroy may not have as much success statistically as a junior this past season, but he said Lucroy has continued to develop as a pitcher.
“He has good stuff and can get up into the high 80s,” Nuzum said. “He has a good curveball and a good change-up. It is a matter of him getting ahead of the hitters.”
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ADAM MINICHINO
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Lucroy has been Umatilla’s No. 1 pitcher the last two seasons. He said he is on a training regimen that includes weight lifting and running to help him prepare for his senior season.
Nuzum said Lucroy’s conditioning program will help him in the spring.
“He always had a live arm, and I think he surprised himself, and everybody else, by how well did (as a sophomore),” Nuzum said. “He kept it up his whole sophomore year. He has got a good, live arm and good stuff. It is just a matter of him focusing and the mental.”
Sal Lombardo, who coaches the Orlando Scorpions scout team, also said he has seen Lucroy mature as a pitcher in the past year.
The scout team is made up of the top players in Central Florida area. The Scorpions play in the summer and in the fall and have two teams, 18-and-under and 16-and-under. The squads compete against other state teams, and also play some junior college teams.
On Sunday, Lombardo said Lucroy showed his composure, patience and confidence in a solid three-inning effort against Central Florida Community College.
He said he expects Lucroy to continue to develop at the Division I level.
“He has a a free-flowing arm and it’s loose,” said Lombardo, who has been an associate scout for the Atlanta Braves for three years. “You can see the ease of his throwing motion. Scouts will ask if (a throwing motion) is labored and is there growth there? There is an upside because his arm is flowing and it is nice and easy, and it is not overtaxed or overstressed. That leads us to believe there is more to that arm than is already there.”
Lombardo said Lucroy’s skills right now suggest that if he continues to develop he could have a chance to be selected in the Major League Baseball draft next June.
“Right-handers are a little behind left-handers, so he is probably going to have to increase his velocity in the normal process,” Lombardo said. “Whether he can do that by June, we’ll know in a couple of months.”
Lucroy will get another chance to showcase his skills next month when he plays for the East Florida team at the Florida Diamond Club event at USF. Professional scouts will attend the event to evaluate some of the state’s top players.
Until then, Lucroy will continue to work out and to pitch with the Scorpions to prepare himself for his senior season at Umatilla and his first year at ULL.
“The coaches (at ULL) said I could come in as a freshman and make an impact and start right away,” Lucroy said. “It sounded like a great opportunity, and I wasn’t going to turn it down.”
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