ALLEGANY, N.Y. — With a fastball that can top 90 mph, Brandon Schlimm could throw the ball by most hitters that stepped into the box in high school for Elk County Catholic.

As a freshman for St. Bonaventure University, he learned quickly at the Division I level that things wouldn’t come quite as easily.

Consider him a good student, however, as his numbers have gotten better seemingly every time he takes the mound.

“Pitching wise, the whole lineup can hit,” Schlimm said of the adjustment to college ball. “It’s not like high school.”

The lanky 6-3 right-hander, who allowed just one hit in a heartbreaking loss in the Pennsylvania Class A state championship game to Devon Prep last season, is starting to have the same success he did in high school.

After some early season growing pains, Schlimm has looked like an ace in his most recent outings, including against St. Joseph’s on May 9, when he went six innings and allowed just one unearned run.

“Schlimmy started off a little slow,” said Bona head coach Larry Sudbrook. “We’re at the end of the year now and he’s my best pitcher.”

His plus fastball is mixed in with a change-up and a curve, both pitches he has had to learn to command for strikes.

“At the beginning of the year, I wasn’t really comfortable throwing all of my pitches for strikes,” Schlimm said. “Now I’m getting better at locating all of my pitches.”

In his outing against St. Joe’s, he struck out three, a relatively modest number, but looking beyond the box score, his start was much more impressive.

Three of the six hits were infield singles and he was generating a lot of weak contact from the Hawks hitters.

“St. Joe’s can swing the bat,” Sudbrook said. “They have two guys that will be drafted and he went out there and, other than the blooper that our left fielder booted away, they wouldn’t even have scored.”

His first handful of outings, however, were a bit of a learning experience for the young pitcher.

Sudbrook, who has seen plenty of pitchers go through the same struggles early in their collegiate careers, could easily see why.

“You have to understand, that when you’re in high school and get behind in the count a little bit and you can throw 90-91 like he can, you’re going to throw that by either eight of nine or nine out of nine high school hitters,” the coach said.

So what adjustments do pitcher have to make at the next level?

“In college, you have to be able to get your breaking ball and your change-up over because if you don’t, they just sit on your fastball,” Sudbrook said. “Every single Division I hitter in a lineup wasn’t just the best hitter on their high school team or even their league, but probably in their county or their part of that state. They’re all good. You can’t just throw it by them.”

Not just throwing the ball by people is probably the easiest lesson to teach a young college pitcher but the toughest to execute. Most of them have thrown the ball by hitters their entire lives, but it’s an adjustment they all must go through in order to grow.

Schlimm has certainly grown as his ERA, once over 5.00, now sits at a very respectable 3.90.

“When you’re ahead 0-2 on a college hitter, you just can’t throw a curveball and expect to get a swing and miss,” he said. “It’s hard to get guys to swing and miss at this level.”

Sounds like a player who has absorbed everything his coach has told him, taken it to heart and made the necessary changes.

“It was just a matter of him learning how to locate his curve and change-up,” Sudbrook said.

He has also teamed with fellow freshman and former Johnsonburg High star Cole Peterson, the team’s starting shortstop, to form a very productive tandem from Elk County.

Sudbrook said not only have the duo had terrific debut seasons, but they are equally, if not more, impressive off the field.

“They’re both great kids, great students,” he said. “They both have over a 3.5 GPA. Everything you want to ask out of an athlete, they’ve done.”