Roman’s Empire: Move from bullpen to starting rotation has been seamless for QU’s Harrison

QUINCY — Roman Harrison had not started a game in three years, but when the opportunity to do so presented itself on March 17, he took it and has run with it since.

Harrison, a junior left-handed pitcher for Quincy University, sat in the bullpen awaiting the second game of the Hawks’ doubleheader against 18th-ranked Davenport. An injury to regular Sunday starting pitcher Ben Draeger the week prior left the Hawks a starter short, so pitching coach Shane Herschelman approached Harrison with a baseball and a proposition.

“He walked up to me, handed me a ball and said, ‘Do you want it?’” Harrison said.

Harrison did not hesitate with his answer.

“I’m always game to do anything to win, so I of course said, ‘Yes,’” Harrison said.

Harrison took the ball for his first start since his senior year at Mount Vernon Township High School. The Hawks lost the game 9-7, but Harrison pitched five innings — a career high at the time — surrendered four hits, gave up two earned runs, struck out four and walked two.

Harrison had made 44 appearances in two-plus seasons with Quincy until that point, all of them out of the bullpen. He made another relief appearance four days later, going 4⅔ innings against Rockhurst, but he has since started six games and not come out of the bullpen once.

Since moving into a full-time starting role during conference play, Harrison has posted a 3.15 earned run average over 37⅔ innings.

Harrison, a junior from Mount Vernon, led all qualified Hawk pitchers in earned run average (4.17), walks and hits per innings pitched (1.30) and strikeouts (67) this season. He pitched 58 1/3 innings in 15 appearances, holding opponents to a .225 batting average. He ranked sixth in the GLVC in ERA and opponent batting average, and fifth in earned runs allowed.

Harrison does not have much of a preference on whether he starts or relieves.

“I like both of them for different reasons,” Harrison said. “It’s really anything to help us win is really the main thing.”

He has found a home in the starting rotation, though. Harrison tossed seven innings of one-run ball in his second start on March 28 and has followed that up with a string of four out of five appearances in which he has gone at least six innings and given up no more than three runs. His ERA has dropped from 8.18 before his first start to 4.17 entering the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament, for which Quincy is the No. 6 seed. It will face third-seeded Maryville in the quarterfinals at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“He’s been really good in that role, so we figured we’d stay with it, and he’s had a lot of success,” Hawks coach Matt Schissel said.

Schissel has had a front row seat to Harrison’s bulldog attitude in both the rotation and the bullpen. The coach said his pitcher’s coolness under pressure has allowed him to thrive in his new role.

“The stuff — the fastball, the breaking ball, the offspeed — has always been good,” Schissel said. “He just competes. No moment gets too big. No moment overwhelms him. He’s thrown a lot for us since he’s been a freshman. That experience and the ability to compete pitch to pitch is what helps him out.”

Harrison admits he’s a history buff, so he indulges in a bit of literature before his starts to relax his mind.

“I like to read on the bus on the way,” Harrison said. “I like to read in the mornings. It helps relax me and gives me other things to think about so I don’t get so hyper-focused on baseball that it eats away at me.”

His latest delve into the history books has particualarly piqued his interest.

“The last few weeks, I’ve read a few different books on the Watergate scandal,” Harrison said. “I’m particularly interested in Richard Nixon.”

Harrison will do his best to help the Hawks write history of their own by making a run through the GLVC Tournament. Senior right-hander Kobe Essien will start against Maryville, and Harrison will take the ball in game two against either Illinois-Springfield or Missouri S&T on Thursday, either for a chance to reach the tournament championship game or in an elimination game, depending on the Hawks’ result against Maryville.

“Very seldom have we just been beaten,” Schissel said of his squad, which enters the postseason with a record of 25-25 and an 18-14 mark in the GLVC. “I think it comes down to us. If our guys are focused and prepared and play the way that we can, I think we’ll be OK.”