In Baseball America’s preseason preview of the SWAC, they call Joe Camacho (New Market 2013) “fearless.” I’m not sure why this adjective is used for Joe. Maybe it’s his pitching style, or the fact that he’s listed at 5-foot-9.
At any rate, he was also the SWAC pitcher of the year in 2014 after going 10-1, 2.34.
So whatever makes him fearless seems to still be in play in 2015, because Joe threw a gem against 19th ranked Cal State Fullerton last night to help Alabama State upset the Titans in Clearwater, Florida, by a score of 3-2. Joe threw 7 complete innings, and allowed only 6 hits, 2 earned runs, walked one, and struck out 9 to earn the win in his first start of the year.
Aaron Fitt covered the game for d1baseball.com, and included this paragraph in his writeup:
Another senior, wily low-slot righthander Joseph Camacho, started the game and brought plenty of energy and fearlessness of his own. The Titans put runners at the corners with no outs in the second, and Camacho escaped the jam unscathed by striking out the next three batters in a row. Fullerton got to him for two runs in the fourth to take a 2-0 lead, but he responded with three more shutout innings after that and exited with nine strikeouts over his seven frames, holding the Titans to six hits. He thrives by spotting his 84-87 sinker well to induce plenty of ground balls and mixing in an 80-81 slider that Melendez said has gotten better over the last two years, giving him an out-pitch.
There’s that adjective again! (Although Fitt uses it as a noun, actually.) So, whatever Joe has that makes him fearless or embody fearlessness, hopefully he can continue pitching well for the Hornets and get drafted this June!
All Things Valley League 