Connor Sitz, right handed pitcher from Westerville Central committed to Ohio University.  Connor discuss about his recruiting process and why chose to be Bobcat.  Read more...

By Travis Cox

PBR:  Which schools were you considering prior to committing to Ohio?
Sitz:  Ohio University, University of Cincinnati, Kent State University, Tiffin University

PBR:  What were you looking for in a college/university?
Sitz;  The school needed to have the majors that I was interested in.  The “feel” of the campus had to be right  - friendly people and nice surroundings.   I had to feel comfortable.  I also wanted to make sure that if for some reason baseball didn’t work out for me, that I would still want to be at that school.

PBR:  What did Coach Carbone and the OU staff present to you that made you feel comfortable, was there a deciding factor?
Sitz:  Coach See and Coach Malinowski took me on a personal tour of the campus.  I met with the Strength and Conditioning coaches.  I was able to sit in the dugout with the pitchers during the team’s last fall practice and talk to them.  They answered a lot of questions that I had.  I felt like I fit in.  The deciding factor was that the coaches wanted me and told me that.  I felt like OU had everything that I was looking for academically and athletically and didn’t see any reason why I should wait.

PBR:  Was there any apprehension in committing knowing 2012 will be Coach Carbone's final season in Athens?
Sitz:  No.  Coach Carbone sat down and talked to me and my parents.  He was the first to bring up that this coming season would be his last year.  I felt comfortable with Coach See and Coach Malinowski and the rest of the team.  It’s important to like the coaches and feel comfortable with them, but I don’t think you can select a school based on who the coach is, because the coaching staff can change at any time.

PBR:  Was it your decision all along to wait until the final days before the early signing period to commit?
Sitz:  I didn’t deliberately wait until the last few days to make my decision.  I didn’t know in the beginning of the fall if I was going to commit early or wait until spring.  One of the factors in my decision was that I hadn’t able to pitch during the summer because I was diagnosed with inflammation in my pitching shoulder and had to rest my arm for 8 weeks.  Coaches weren’t able to see me pitch with my summer travel team.  Attending fall prospect camps was the first time that I had been able to pitch since spring high school ball.  Different schools started to show some interest in me and 2 schools were especially interested, one of those being OU.  Another factor that influenced me signing early was that my school district (Westerville) was going to have a levy on the ballot in November.  If the levy didn’t pass, sports would be eliminated.  It wasn’t clear if sports would be eliminated beginning the 2012-2013 school year or if  sports would be eliminated as early as January 2012.  I decided that I couldn’t take the chance of there not being high school baseball, especially since I hadn’t been able to pitch in the summer.  With 2 schools giving me offers, I decided to make my decision early.

PBR:  What were your spring 2011 stats?
Sitz:  IP: 63.33    W/L: 7-2   Strikeouts: 76   ERA: 1.88   K/BB:  3.45   WHIP: 1.2

PBR: Who did you play for this summer and, if played, this fall, as well as will be playing for next summer?
Sitz:  I played for the Columbus Cobras U-17 team.  I didn’t play fall ball.  Instead, I focused on getting my pitching arm back and attending fall prospect camps.  I will be playing for the Columbus Cobras U-18 team in the summer.

PBR:  What awards and honors have you received so far?
Sitz:  Last spring as a junior on my Westerville Central High School team I was named 2^nd Team All Conference and 2^nd Team All District – both for pitching.  I also was named as a Special Mention on the All Metro Team.  610 WTVN named me as the Central Ohio Baseball Player of the Week during my high school season.  I also set a record at Central for the most wins on the mound  - 7 and most complete game victories – one 9 inning game and four 7 inning games.

PBR:  Do you have any academic honors you would like to mention?
Sitz:  I’ve been a Scholar Athlete in 2009, 2010 and 2011.  In 2009 and 2010 I also played basketball.

PBR:  On the mound which pitches do you throw?
Sitz:  Fastball, change-up, curveball and I am working on a slider.

PBR:  What do you feel are your strengths?
Sitz:  My confidence, patience and composure.  I don’t get rattled very easily and can forget about errors, bad throws and other distractions easily.  I am very focused when I’m on the mound.

PBR:  What areas are your concentrating on focusing on?
Sitz:  Perfecting more pitches and my pitch selection to batters.

PBR:  What has been the most memorable moment on the diamond for you so far?
Sitz:  I was the starting pitcher for the District Semi-Final game when we (Westerville Central) played Pickerington Central.  I pitched all 9 innings of that game and it was intense.  We won on a 2-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9^th.  It was such a great team win, but I felt good knowing that I had done everything that I could do on the mound that day to help us advance.