Oswayo Valley baseball coach Brad Buchholz can characterize Garren Black, his senior ace pitcher and slugging first baseman, with two words: “consistent and durable.”
So with that consistency and durability, it’s no wonder Black put up another outstanding season on the mound, at the plate and fielding first base and repeated as the Big 30 Baseball Player of the Year, winning his second Bill Husband Memorial Award this spring.
“Since he was a freshman, two thoughts come to mind and that’s consistent and durable,” Buchholz said. “You know that he’s going to step on the mound and anything short of a complete game is a surprise, and it’s been that way since he was a freshman. He’s never had an injury in four years. I think about this year and it’s more of the same.”
Black held opponents to a 0.988 ERA (earned run average) in 12 pitching appearances including 56 2/3 innings and nine starts for a 9-1 record with one save, one complete game shutout, 87 strikeouts and 11 walks.
He also hit .517 as a senior, marking five doubles, seven home runs, 28 RBI, 22 runs scored and only struck out twice.
His numbers show Black was far more than a dependable arm for Buchholz.
“His pitching is what everybody takes notice of but he’s a really, really good first baseman, he’s got great hands,” Buchholz said. “And offensively, he hit seven home runs this year and that’s a lot nowadays with the bats and everything. (He) hits for high average, hits gap-to-gap, and I thought this year was probably his most consistent offensively. He had a really, really nice approach at the plate.
“He had a little hole early on in his career, that inside pitch gave him trouble, and this year, that didn’t exist. I think he grew probably more offensively than any other facet of his game this year.”
Black, the Pennsylvania College of Technology-bound Northern Allegheny League Player of the Year, said he worked to bring a more patient approach at the plate and trusted the teammates around him in the batting order. It resulted in a seven-homer season after hitting just two over his first three varsity seasons.
“I think I was more patient at the plate,” Black said. “I picked more pitches that I could drive, which I knew I could be patient because I had a pretty good lineup that I was working with as a team.”
On the mound, Buchholz thought Black continued to improve by trusting his changeup, a pitch he leaned on to edge Berlin Brothersvalley 2-0 in the first round of the PIAA Class A playoffs.
“Every year he’s kind of developed another pitch and that was by design,” Buchholz said. “We slowly work on those things and this year was his changeup. In years past, he kind of wasn’t comfortable with it. This year, he was comfortable with it and it really helped us in the first round of states. That was his go-to pitch against a real good team.”
A forestry major-to-be, Black said he chose Penn College for his major after talking with another Penn State affiliate, Penn State-DuBois. He’s working on his conditioning and building strength before college while also playing Legion ball this summer.
Since the award’s inception in 2006, Black is just the second two-time Player of the Year after Coudersport’s Tim McCusker won it in 2011 and 2012. Tommy Walker was the first Player of the Year from OV, sharing the award with Wellsville’s Nick Anderson in 2013.
Bolivar-Richburg’s Parker Cole and Olean’s Dylan Vincent, both seniors, also earned consideration from the Big 30 selection committee as nominees for the award.
Black said he didn’t expect to win the 2017 award, but once he did, made it a goal to repeat.
“I was kind of shocked to win it two years in a row because I didn’t expect to win it the first year, let alone the second year,” he said. “I was just shocked that I won it as a junior, and when I won it as a junior, I kind of wanted to try to, obviously, win it as a senior, too, which I did.”
For the outgoing OV coach, Buchholz leaves with a group of seniors he followed for years before high school. The Green Wave finished at 18-3 this year including trips to the District 9 Class A finals and PIAA second round.
“This group of seniors, this was the last group that I had in Little League all the way up through,” Buchholz said. “I’ve watched them grow, had a front-row seat to watch (Garren) and his teammates play over these years. It’s been a pleasure.”
