Baseball continues to be Stice of life for Palmyra graduate now pitching in Frontier League

SAUGET, Ill. — A small part of Bennett Stice had not completely given up on the dream of playing professional baseball, but after his senior season at Lindenwood University ended on May 23, Stice had come to terms with the fact that his baseball career may be over.

“I assumed I was done pitching,” said Stice, a 2021 Palmyra graduate who carved out a role as Lindenwood’s closer and racked up five saves while posting a 2.21 ERA in 40 ⅔ innings as a senior. “There was a small-ish chance that I would get picked up by an affiliated team or drafted, but I put absolutely zero stock in that.”

Stice had also gotten comfortable at his new job, the specifics of which he did not wish to share.

“I can’t really talk about it,” Stice said. “It’s not classified, but it’s not really something I can share with a lot of people.”

After two weeks of working that job and getting acclimated to post-college and post-baseball life with his wife, Drew, Stice received a phone call from Lindenwood pitching coach Denton McNamee.

“He said, ‘You’re about to get a contract offer from a Frontier League team,’” Stice said.

Stice, satisfied with his current life situation, responded accordingly.

“I was like, ‘I’m probably not going to take it because I have a pretty nice job already and I don’t want to mess with that,’” Stice said.

Then, a phone call from Gateway Grizzlies manager Steve Brook changed everything.

“(Brook) called me and asked if I wanted to do it,” Stice said. “I said, ‘No,’ but he talked me through it. He said they would work around my schedule, that I don’t have to go on road trips, that I could put my work first.” 

Stice’s initial response came from a place of responsibility to his family, but it was that same family that swayed him to sign the contract.

“When I originally got the call and (the Grizzlies) wanted me to sign, it was me saying, ‘No,’ just because I thought it would be crazy,” Stice said. “I thought it would take too much time and that I’d be away from my wife too much, but it was actually my family and my wife who encouraged me to follow the dream, to go after it. They could tell I wanted to. The baseball player in me wanted to see if I could compete at a pro level, but the logic in me told me to stop. They encouraged me to go after it.”

Stice signed with the Grizzlies, and his dream became a reality during a June 19 game against the Schaumburg Boomers at Arsenal BG Park. Stice relieved starting pitcher Gage Vailes to begin the top of the sixth inning with the Grizzlies trailing 5-2.

“My heart was beating a lot,” Stice said. “I was definitely nervous, but one thing I’ve learned from being a reliever in college is you have to slow the game down and trust the process a little bit, trust that my stuff is going to be good enough.”

Stice used that trust to retire the Boomers in order on 14 pitches in the sixth, an inning that included his first professional strikeout.

“After I got that first out, everything kind of slowed down,” Stice said. “The heart slowed down, and I just realized it’s still baseball. Even though I’m playing better competition, it’s not like I can’t play. I’m there for a reason.”

That confidence allowed Stice to go back out for the seventh and toss another 1-2-3 inning with another strikeout.

“I came out the next inning with the same mentality,” Stice said. “It worked, I guess.”

Only after the game did Stice have a chance to reflect on what he had just accomplished.

“After the outing, that was my debrief and flush and, ‘Holy crap, that just happened,’” Stice said.

Stice knew he did not have much time to rest on his laurels, though. 

“I knew I had probably a day, maybe two to recover, and that was the focus at that moment,” Stice said.

Stice made two more relief appearances on June 22 and 25, pitching a combined 5 ⅓ innings while allowing four hits and two earned runs. He made his first start on July 2 against the Washington Wild Things and earned his first professional victory by going six innings, giving up four hits, surrendering two earned runs and striking out four.

A week later, Stice one-upped himself. On July 9 against the Joliet Slammers, Stice tossed a complete game, gave up five hits and three earned runs, struck out seven and did not walk a batter. The Grizzlies won 14-3.

“With the complete game, the focus is on how I did, but when I step back and think about that game, so much had to go right other than me to have that be possible,” Stice said. “My catcher, Jose Alvarez, called and caught a great game. My defense behind me made some amazing plays throughout the game that severely kept my pitch count low. The faith that my coach had in me to continue and still give us good innings, and of course the offense that game, if they don’t do what they do, I can’t do what I do, like I’m probably taken out early there.”

After Stice completed the seventh inning by striking out Antonio Valdez on his 92nd pitch of the game, a brief conversation between Stice and Brook made up Brook’s mind to let Stice finish what he started.

“(Brook) came up to me and said, ‘How do you feel?’ I said, ‘Good,’ and he shook his head and was like, ‘OK,’ and we just kept on going,” Stice said. “He could tell I was fired up a little bit. He could tell I wanted to go as long as possible.”

Stice made quick work of the Slammers in the eighth. A Liam McArthur single leading off the ninth followed by a stolen base and an Ian Battipaglia single gave the Boomers their third run, but Stice had had enough. He induced a fly out off the bat of Drew Stengren, struck out Bryan Belo, then got Jose Contreras to fly out to center field on the first pitch to put the finishing touches on his first complete game since high school.

“My thought process at the beginning of the game was, ‘Let’s try to get as far as possible to save our arms. That way it doesn’t affect us later on,’” Stice said. “Once I got to the sixth or the seventh and I knew I’d done that, it was like, ‘Let’s see if we can go one more inning. Let’s see if we can go one more inning and kind of stretch it.’ Then once I got to the eighth, it was like, ‘Let’s just go ahead and finish this. I’ve never done this. That’d be pretty cool, so let’s try for it.’”

Through five appearances, Stice has compiled a 2.82 ERA while striking out 14, walking four and holding opponents to a .163 batting average in 22 ⅓ innings. As evidenced by those numbers, Stice still has the talent and desire to succeed at the professional level. 

However, Stice said a back injury in college helped change his perspective on how fortunate he is to be afforded the opportunity to keep pitching.

“It’s reared up occasionally, so I knew that at any moment, I could be done because of it,” Stice said. “Ever since then, along with being new to the bullpen, instead of putting pressure on myself to perform, I kind of fell back on, ‘Let’s do what I know I can do well, and let’s do what I know helps me prepare to do well. Let’s not put any huge amount of pressure in the moment.’

“I don’t need to make the moment bigger than it is, and I think that’s helped me in stressful situations. Where you think a pitcher would be stressed, I’ve found myself to be pretty calm. That helps me assess the situation, assess what I need out of the situation.”

Stice also said his wife’s lack of baseball knowledge has been a blessing in disguise for the mental part of his game.

“She doesn’t know a lick about baseball, so if I do well or I do bad, she doesn’t really know the difference,” Bennett Stice said. “That’s been good for my head space, especially through bad outings in college or good outings. She’s been very neutral, so that’s helped me stay neutral.”

Just like the Grizzlies organization believed in Stice, his wife does, too.

“I cannot stress enough how much I could not have done this without her,” Stice said.

In addition to his support system off the field, Stice has found one on the field, as well.

“I kind of feel like (a jerk) being a bad teammate and all because I show up late every day and I don’t go to road games, but the guys haven’t seemed to mind yet,” Stice said.

They definitely will not mind it if Stice keeps pitching like he has through his first five outings.

“It’s been very fun,” Stice said. “I’ve gotten to bond with the guys, and they’ve taken me under their wing and shown me what pro ball is all about.”

This baseball thing might work out for him after all.