Hallock brings pro experience to BGSU baseball staff

BOWLING GREEN — How's this for an eye opener?Imagine you're a newly hired pitching coach getting handed the stat sheet for your new pitching staff and seeing the best returning earned-run average is 4.58, then noticing after that there's nothing lower than 6.55.While others may be quick to reach for the whiteout on that signed contract, 2007 Perkins graduate Kyle Hallock sees an opportunity when he looks at his Bowling Green hurlers.The Falcons struggled to an 11-39 record in 2018. However, with nine freshmen on the fall roster, the former Kent State All-American will have plenty of fresh yearlings to work with."All these new guys don't know any different. What they're learning is what we're trying to teach them together," said Hallock, who came to the BG after four years in the same role at Malone College. "There's plenty of talent here to compete, and to compete towards the top of this league (Mid-American Conference)."Right now, we're just in the process of stringing together good practices. Once we get this to be a week-long thing and beyond, that's when you become a really good baseball team."Good baseball was Hallock's specialty. As a senior at Perkins, he helped his team to Sandusky Bay Conference, district and regional championships, en route to earning first-team All-Ohio recognition.As a college pitcher at Kent State, his team won four consecutive MAC titles (2008-11) and averaged 40 wins per season. During his final season, Hallock won 10 games and posted a 1.95 ERA, earning him MAC Pitcher of the Year honors and All-America status. He still ranks in the top 10 in all of the Golden Flashes' major pitching categories.Hallock was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 10th round of the 2010 MLB Draft. In 2013, Hallock was promoted three times, spending time with the Quad Cities River Bandits (Single-A), Lancaster Jethawks (Advanced-A) and Corpus Christi Hooks (Double-A) before finishing the year with the Oklahoma City RedHawks (Triple-A). In total, Hallock appeared in 59 games as a pro, logging 186.2 innings."We went after his high school teammate Brennan Smith extremely hard, and same thing with Kyle. What a great high school team they had, but also what a great Legion team that they had in Sandusky (Post 83)," longtime Falcons coach Danny Schmitz said. "I think both Bowling Green and Kent State won out on that one. Brennan was the MAC Pitcher of the Year for us his sophomore year, then two years after that, Kyle won it."We're glad he's here now. His résumé is outstanding, not only as a player, but as a coach as well."Schmitz called the hiring of Hallock a "no brainer.""When we said goodbye to Rick (Blanc) it was tough, being that he was here for 11 years," he said. "I knew the new guy had to be special. I truly believe Kyle is one of the better up-and-coming coaches out there."During his time at Malone, on top of playing a pivotal role in the program's overall resurgence Hallock turned the Pioneers' pitching staff into one the best in the Midwest Region. Across Hallock's four years on staff, his pitchers ranked first or second in team ERA within the GLIAC/GMAC conferences in three of the last four years. Those staffs included right-handed pitcher Alex Widmer, who was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in 2017."Those years over there showed me, as far as my belief/philosophy system what's going to work all the time, what's going to work some of the time, and what might not work at all," Hallock said. "The efforts those Malone kids gave in practice each day were unbelievable."It's similar to the effort we're trying to get done here."Hallock chose Kent State over BG and Georgia Tech as a player. "It was extremely close," he said of his decision to go to KSU. "I'd accomplished so much with BG guys like TJ Blanton (St. Mary Central Catholic), Logan Meisler (Port Clinton) and Clay Duncan (Norwalk). And me and Brennan had done so much together at Perkins, we thought we could do the same in the MAC."While the Falcons lack the facilities of other programs in the region, Hallock said brand recognition played a key role in his decision to join the staff."This is a very appealing place, just based off of tradition," said Hallock, asked why he made the move to BG. "This program's history and tradition is up there with any in this region, when you think about 18 Major League Baseball players, 96 kids who've signed professional contracts, and Coach Schmitz is as good as this league gets when it comes to what he's built here."Over the the last few seasons, Hallock has recruited north-central Ohio better than most. Among his recruits at Malone were Nathan Delk (Sandusky), Dawson Nason (Perkins), Mitchell Perry (Norwalk), Clay Cooper (Edison), Josh Buerger (Willard), Kyle Kovach (Huron), Braun Miller (Perkins) and Adam Studer (Willard)."What I've realized over the years is that Erie, Sandusky and Ottawa county area, there's kids that can play there," Hallock said. "They can play really well, and they want to get to the next level, and they're willing to do more than other people in some cases. "There's kids over that way in classrooms now just like that, and if they want it bad enough I'll be around because I want to share a dugout with them."New Bowling Green pitching coach Kyle Hallock, a 2007 Perkins graduate, gives instructions to his players during one of the team's recent fall practices.Bowling Green welcomes Kyle Hallock, a 2007 Perkins graduate, as its new pitching coach this spring.New Bowling Green pitching coach Kyle Hallock, a 2007 Perkins graduate, pitched for Kent State during his college career.