Bahr earns a second chance
Pitcher wins over new UCF coaches
For three months, baseball seemed to be in Jason Bahr’s rearview mirror.
He was no longer on the UCF baseball team. Bahr was a walk-on and thenhead coach Terry Rooney decided it was best for both parties to go their separate ways, cutting Bahr before the 2016 season.
“It just felt like kind of unnecessary,” Bahr said. “I knew I wasn't really going to impact the team much, but I didn’t think that was totally necessary, I guess."
So Bahr was left to pick up the pieces of his now defunct baseball career. He got a job as a lifeguard at Aquatica. For three months he worked, went to class and didn’t pick up a baseball.
“I really didn't think I was going to come back,” the soft-spoken Bahr said. “That wasn't really on my mind as much.”
Eventually, Bahr rediscovered his passion for the game.
“I definitely missed it,” he said. “It was also kind of a nice break. It put things in perspective a little.”
He toed the pitching rubber again, and he’s thriving under a new coaching staff led by Greg Lovelady.
“You got to have toughness to go through what he's gone through and not give up,” Lovelady said. “Not just kind of lay over and die and say my career is over because somebody told me it's over.”
The Florida Collegiate Summer League is a smalltime baseball league. It’s a six team wood-bat league in Central Florida and it allows college athletes to potentially carve out a professional career.
It’s where Bahr played last summer. He was a member of the Altamonte Springs Boom, now known as the Altamonte Springs Scorpions.
“It was fun,” Bahr said. “I didn’t know what was going to come of it, so I was just trying to enjoy it. It might be my last time playing baseball.”
Luckily for him, UCF hired Lovelady and pitching coach Justin Parker.
Lovelady was looking for an infusion of talent. Assistant coach Ryan Klosterman, retained from the previous staff, tipped off Lovelady and Parker about a certain 6-foot-5 right-handed pitcher who throws in the low-to-mid 90s.
“Parker was bouncing around getting his bearings underneath him and trying to see what was out there,” Lovelady said. “[Klosterman] said, ‘Hey, if you're done with that game early, there's this kid throwing over in Sanford that’s pitching in the Florida Collegiate League.”
Bahr started and said he threw four or five innings against the Winter Garden Squeeze. Parker was sold. “[Parker] called me pretty quick and said, ‘This guy is really, really good,’” Lovelady recalled. “‘This is a type of person I can work with.’”
Parker talked to Bahr after the game and said he was going to meet with Lovelady to discuss what he saw from him in depth.
The meeting didn’t last very long. Parker called Bahr.
“I don't remember most of it, but the important thing was that I was coming back,” Bahr said.
He was coming back with no strings attached. No more walk-on tryouts. He was finally a member of the team.
“‘The first team meeting is on Aug. 26,’” Lovelady said to Bahr. “‘Don’t worry about walk-on tryouts,’ which I'm sure is what he planned on doing, and he’s been great ever since.”
Bahr has been everything Parker and Lovelady could’ve imagined.
He made his first career start against Siena on Feb. 19 and tossed four innings, allowing five hits and striking out five batters.
Bahr continues to be a weapon, even with a transition to the bullpen.
During 14 appearances this season, Bahr leads the UCF (27-11, 5-4 AAC) pitching staff with 55 strikeouts in 36.1 innings pitched entering a home series against UConn (21-14, 7-3) that opens at 6:30 tonight. The Saturday and Sunday matchups are set for 1 p.m. at the UCF Baseball Complex.
Bahr has put up impressive numbers for a player who was cut and didn’t pick up a baseball for three months.
Bahr said his ordeal was worth it.
“I didn’t think I would be playing back on the team,” Bahr said. “Definitely not. It was a very small chance. … I'm definitely glad I didn’t quit or give up.”