Hiser returns from injury to help lift Panthers’ offense

You can’t confine a wild beast for long, especially when his name is P.J. Hiser.

Hiser,… You can’t confine a wild beast for long, especially when his name is P.J. Hiser.

Hiser, one of the starting pitchers on the Panthers’ baseball team, was a caged beast last year. He had fallen victim to a hand injury that he suffered in an off-the-field incident, which left two of his knuckles on his right hand broken and placed him on the injured list for most of the 2003 season.

But now, he’s back, and no one could be happier than Hiser.

“It’s tough to sit here and watch the guys play when you know you want to be out there,” Hiser said.

His coach described it as “almost like caging a wild animal,” head coach Joe Jordano said.

Hiser did not let his time on the bench go to waste. He is too emotional a player to just sit around and watch what is going on around him. Rather, he did what many pros do when they are not able to take the field — learned how to better his play.

“He saw the game from a different perspective,” Jordano said.

And what did Hiser learn?

“Well, I learned to not goof around as much, for one,” he said, cracking a smile. “I learned a thing or two about hitting.”

Don’t believe him — he learned a little more than a thing or two. He now leads the Panthers, and the Big East, in two offensive categories, with 11 home runs and a .862 slugging percentage. He is also batting .379 and has knocked in 32 runs this season — both statistics ranked third in the Big East.

And his pitching statistics are just as good. He owns an earned-run average of 3.63 and he is off to a 3-0 start this season. Add that to his 31 strikeouts in 39 and one-third innings pitched and you can see why he is easily the Panthers’ most valuable player.

“He’s doing it all for us,” Jordano said. “He’s a hell of a competitor.”

Jordano does everything he can to get Hiser in the lineup every day. If he is not starting on the mound, he’ll play in the outfield or even hit as the designated hitter.

“I like the outfield,” Hiser admits, adding, “[but] I’ll do whatever it takes for us to win.”

This is not the first time Hiser has put up awe-inspiring numbers. In 2002, the year before he went down with his hand injury, he was an All-Big East selection, with his 10.5 strikeouts per game, totaling 87 at season’s end. His strikeout average was ranked 23rd in the nation. On the offensive side, he hit .280 with five home runs and 19 runs scored.

The 22-year old right-hander plans on moving on to the majors. He’s already been drafted once — a year prior to his arrival at Pitt.

The San Francisco Giants drafted him in the 42nd round of the 2001 Major League draft after his two years at Hagerstown Community College in Maryland, but once he signed with Pitt, his contract with the Giants became null and void.

This next time around, he hopes that his hometown favorite, the Baltimore Orioles, hand him a jersey and announce his name on selection day.

And if that were to happen, he’d not only be playing for the team he grew up cheering for, he’d be playing in the stadium his idol owned for 10 seasons.

“Cal Ripken Jr.,” Hiser said. “He always came to play.”

And Hiser was there when Ripken said goodbye to the baseball world. Among the 48,807 fans in attendance at Camden Yards on Oct. 6, 2001, behind all the flash bulbs and the signs that read, “We consider ourselves the luckiest fans on earth,” was Hiser and his father, Pete, who have owned season tickets to the Orioles for over 12 years.

“It was an exciting game,” his father said, despite the fact the Red Sox handed the Orioles their 98th loss of the season.

Following the game, a podium was set up between third base and shortstop — the two positions Ripken played. There, Ripken gave his farewell speech.

Soon after that, Hiser would likewise say farewell — to his hometown of Hagerstown, and head off to Pitt.

“I really liked the campus, liked the coaches and liked the program,” Hiser said about Pitt. “[Plus] my dad is only three hours away. I wanted him to be able to watch me play.”

Like Ripken, who played in 2,632 consecutive games, Hiser’s father doesn’t miss too many games. He made the trip to West Virginia when the Panthers won two games in a doubleheader on Saturday. He witnessed his son strike out seven Mountaineers in Pitt’s 7-2 victory in Morgantown.

Hiser hopes that his father will get to see some extra games this season, as well. He is excited about this year’s team and its 7-3 record in the Big East.

“We’ve got a good chance to go to the Big East [Championship],” Hiser said. “It’s exciting, like being a little kid again.”

A little kid who was just let out of his playpen and is ready to run wild.