Q & A with BIC Senior Nick Patterson . By : Duck Fletcher
1 . You came onto the scene early in your high school career as one of the top pitchers in your conference and now one of the top pitchers in NEA . What has it been like playing high school baseball at BIC and here in Northeast Arkansas at such a high level ? Playing baseball here has been great , winning is expected here with any of the programs and to come in as a freshman with Coach Broadway ’ s first year and compete and win district kind of set the bar of how we want to compete and build off our team . And with Northeast Arkansas having as much talent as anywhere , it ’ s truly a blessing to be able to compete at a high level .
2 . You got to experience a great deal of success during your freshman and sophomore season as a team . Talk about playing on those good teams that won conference titles and made deep runs . It was amazing , winning back to back district tournaments . Then , winning regionals in my sophomore year was great . We had multiple guys that could just go , and we didn ’ t have an easy out anywhere in the lineup . Brayden ( Carmichael ) and I had us on the mound and we were able to pitch to contact because we knew our defense would make plays and that Ayden ( Qualls ) would give us strikes behind the plate .
3 . Last year you were one of the only guys left that had big game experience . You had to throw the team on your back . What was that experience like for you and how did that make you into a better player and person ? It was definitely new because we had two to three remaining starters , but it taught me a lot about how some people need to be led a different way than another person . I thought I ’ ve been a leader every year but last year I think made me a mature leader .
4 . This year you guys will have some guys returning from last season with experience . Who do you expect to have a big year and breakout . I believe everybody that didn ’ t play basketball will have a breakout year as they been working extremely hard this fall and winter . But I think Seth Ibanez will be one as coming in as a freshman catcher with no catching experience to play well , to a whole year getting developed .
5 . What must you do to continue to get better ? Aside from pitching talk about your approach at the plate being the team ’ s top bat . I got to continue just to work extremely hard and try to be as much as a vocal leader and a show by example leader to our young teammates . As for approach , it ’ s no more pressure than the next guy , if runners are on then I need to be able to drive them over or score them , but I just have to worry about getting on any way possible to get the bat to the next guy .
6 . You have proven to be a top-notch basketball player in the 2A-3 . What has that experience been like playing basketball for the Mustangs ? It ’ s been really fun . I ’ ve had the opportunity to win districts as a sophomore , junior and senior . We have had successful seasons . It ’ s just hard with our conference to get that one win . But the fans are great and always will cheer for you at your low or your high , and our student sections are always good .
7 . What has been your favorite sports memory and why ? Definitely throwing a perfect game in regionals last year to get to state . I struggled some of the season with competing for strikes and to come out and almost every pitch be a strike was extremely motivating .
8 . You will be playing at the next level . Discuss the recruiting process and how you chose to go where you ended up . Coach Adcock offered me after a Stick ’ s Day where I threw really well in front of several scouts , but then later in summer I pitched against his summer team and threw well . After the game we set a visit date and it all just came along as the campus is beautiful and I believe he ’ s got a lot of things coming to Mountain Home .
9 . You have gotten bigger since last season . I think you have grown but you have developed physically as well . Will that translate to better results on the mound and what have you done to get bigger ? It should definitely translate to the mound . I ’ ve been working on getting a quicker arm and getting stronger legs and with that should come more velocity . I ’ ve just stayed consistent in the gym almost every morning before school and it ’ s been showing .