Oregon’s baseball season hasn’t gone as planned. Despite a preseason ranking as high as No. 12 by Perfect Game, the Ducks have put together their worst overall record (29-23) since 2009, and will likely miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011.
Closer Stephen Nogosek, however, has modeled consistency for the Ducks in a year otherwise filled with ups and downs. In 28 appearances, he has put together a 1.13 ERA in 39.2 innings, while striking out 45 batters and allowing just 0.96 walks plus hits per inning pitched.
His teammates and coaches call him “No-Go,” a fitting nickname considering he’s a candidate for National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year, given to the nation’s top relief pitcher. He’s also a candidate for National Pitcher of the Year and the Golden Spikes Award, which goes to the nation’s best amateur player.
The role of the closer in baseball is one of the most pressure-packed jobs in any sport. A manager typically calls on his closer to pitch the final innings of close games and protect a tight lead. Closers earn “saves” by securing victories for their teams when the score is close in the ninth inning.
“Any time the game is on the line, I like to think that it’s ‘give it to me and let me go,’” Nogosek said.
Manager George Horton has no reservations doing just that. Nogosek has established himself as the team’s most reliable bullpen arm and Horton’s go-to guy in ninth innings. He carries a heavy workload, as evidenced by his school-record 39 appearances (out of Oregon’s 63 games) in 2015.
“There’s no situation where No-Go says ‘Oh, that’s too tough for me,’” Horton said. “In fact, it’s very rare if ever I asked him, ‘Are you good enough to pitch an inning today?’ and I don’t know if he’s ever said, ‘No, Coach, I’m a little tight.’ He can always give me something.”
Nogosek’s teammates are equally confident with him on the mound. In the eighth inning of a must-win game against Arizona on May 20, starting pitcher Cole Irvin got into trouble, allowing two runners on base. Oregon held a 3-0 lead. Instead of calling on sophomore Brac Warren, who had been warming up longer, to protect the lead, Horton summoned Nogosek from the bullpen. Nogosek proceeded to induce an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play with the bases loaded, then throw a scoreless ninth inning to record a five-out save, his 14th of the season.
“He’s the guy you want to come in relief when you go 7.1 (innings),” Irvin said after the game. “Nothing better than giving No-Go the ball and having him close it out.”
Horton described Nogosek as a quiet worker, who “leads with a soft fist.” He is not a “rah-rah” guy who’s chirping all the time, but is not afraid to speak up. He picks his spots to encourage and correct his teammates, which makes the feedback he gives and the times he does speak up resonate more.
“He’s got everybody’s attention and respect because of the way he goes about his business,” Horton said.
Nogosek is calm and easygoing off the field, a stark contrast from his on-field personality. He’s an intense competitor in games, and on occasion that intensity has gotten the best of him. When he was 14 and the star of his Little League all-star team, he struck out during a game in the northern California championships and threw his bat toward the dugout. The umpire promptly ejected him from the game, causing him to miss the next game, as well.
Nogosek said he had a bad temper back then and “no idea how to control it.” It was the first and only time he has been thrown out of a game, and it affected him deeply.
“It hurt me a lot. I don’t want to be known as that type of guy,” Nogosek said. “I don’t want to have my kids see me doing that and then they do it.”
Stephen Nogosek signs autographs for young fans after a 3-0 win over Arizona at PK Park on May 20. (Kenny Jacoby/Emerald)
Nogosek has since learned how to better manage his emotions. Earlier this season, Oregon was losing big to UCLA and a Bruin player was showboating — flipping his bat and, as Nogosek put it, “disrespecting the game.” The player made a gesture toward Nogosek’s family members, who were sitting in the stands, and he and his family took offense.
“I take that personal because I’m a big family guy, and that’s one thing you don’t mess with,” Nogosek said. “When you disrespect the game, I don’t take too kindly to that.”
Later in the game, Nogosek had the opportunity to pitch to that player.
“All he wanted to do was throw as hard as he could to jam the guy,” Horton said. “He got a little out of control.”
But Nogosek managed to calm himself down and handled it “how [he] should,” he said.
“There’s a lot of times you get fired up and you can’t go out there and show the emotion,” Nogosek said. “I’m learning those situations and learning how to handle it for the future. You’ve just got to be a man about it sometimes and take it. Other times you have the opportunity to, I guess, fix it, but you’ve got to pick your battles.”
Nogosek was raised to be “mentally tough.” It started with his grandma, whom he described as “old school.” He remembers his grandma washing out his mouth with soap for saying a bad word, spanking him and making him sit in a corner and stare at a wall for hours if he did something bad. She was “the toughest by far” in his family and raised his father and brother the same way.
“She was awesome,” Nogosek said. “She wasn’t going to take anything; that wore off on me.”
Coaches, teammates and scouts alike held lofty expectations for Nogosek entering this season. Following standout freshman and sophomore seasons and a stint with the USA collegiate national team over summer — the USA coaches told Horton that Nogosek was their “best guy” — he was tasked with taking over the closer role vacated by Garrett Cleavinger, whom the Baltimore Orioles drafted in the third round of the 2015 MLB Draft. Nogosek will be eligible for the 2016 draft at this season’s conclusion.
So far, Nogosek has lived up to the expectations. His gaudy numbers alone will likely make him the highest-drafted member of Oregon’s 2016 draft class; his 95-mph fastball doesn’t hurt his chances either.
Nogosek said he doesn’t think about the looming draft and impressing the scouts, though. He just goes about his business and does what he can to help his team.
Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @KennyJacoby