MIND AND MOTION : THE MARRETT SYSTEM : Former Calabasas Infielder Has Become a Master in the Fine Art of Pitching at Pepperdine

First he was a walk-on third baseman who couldn’t hit.

Then he became a pitcher who, in baseball jargon, threw better than he pitched.

Today, when Scott Marrett stands on the mound, he is regarded as a master among college players in the art of pitching. The way of Marrett--a mix of mechanics and mental toughness--has made the one-time extra in Pepperdine University’s baseball program one of the top pitchers in NCAA Division I.

He is 12-0 with a 1.43 earned-run average this season--second nationally in both categories. And he is the only pitcher listed among the leaders in both wins and ERA.

The 6-4, 195-pound junior attributes his rise through the college pitching ranks to two things: growing older, and a sudden understanding of pitching mechanics.

But it may have been a stint throwing batting practice during his redshirt freshman season three years ago that really sparked his career.

“When he came here we really didn’t have a position for him,” said Rich Taylor, pitching coach at Pepperdine. “But we saw him throwing batting practice one day, and with his size and strength, he showed some promise.”

At the time, Marrett was a former Calabasas High infielder who admittedly didn’t care much for hitting.

“I don’t know if it was a lack of desire or what,” he said. “But I didn’t have the discipline and I didn’t enjoy working on my hitting that much.”

So from a few throws of BP, a pitching career was born. And as injuries plagued the Pepperdine staff during Marrett’s freshman season, his opportunity to star was not long in coming.

His first outings, however, were not spectacular.

“I got shelled,” Marrett recalled.

But in his coach’s eyes, Marrett’s rise had begun.

“We made Scott a pitcher that first year out of necessity,” Pepperdine Coach Dave Gorrie said. “And he came through with several clutch performances for us. But he lacked the consistency.”

During his sophomore season, the Pepperdine coaching staff smoothed out the peaks and valleys. The result was respectable--3-1 with a 3.40 ERA--but more progress was to come.

“Last year, he was a thrower, not a pitcher,” Taylor said.

Marrett has put it all together this season by using his brain as much as his arm.

“This year, we worked on making him a complete pitcher,” Gorrie said. “It’s simply the matter of a young man stairstepping the entire way up.”

And now, Marrett is on top of the mountain. He is Pepperdine’s ace--and a major reason the Waves are 39-8-1 and ranked fourth in the nation by Collegiate Baseball magazine, an NCAA publication.

More importantly, Marrett’s pitching has allowed the Waves (16-3) to distance themselves from West Coast Athletic Conference rivals. Their magic number for an NCAA regional tournament berth is three.

The magic moment for Marrett was the one in which he discovered the secret of control. He claims the secret was found inside himself.

“(Coaches) had always been telling me to keep the ball down and hit my spots,” Marrett said. “But this fall in winter ball it just sort of dawned on me that this was all I had to do.”

He is strong as well as sharp. The big right-hander has become the staff workhorse, throwing 98 innings, or about a fourth of the team’s total.

Marrett has thrown 8 complete games in 15 starts, allowing only 75 hits and 17 earned runs. His newly gained control is illustrated in his 3 1/2 to 1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Marrett has struck out 67 and walked 20.

He thinks that better concentration has led to the improved consistency and control.

“More than pitching is physical, it’s mental,” Marrett said. “It’s mind over body.

“You don’t have to do anything that you’re not capable of doing. If you don’t have it physically, you can still do it mentally.”

After a relatively easy win against the University of San Diego earlier this season, for example, he was relaxed. Following a tight finish, however, he gazes into the distance as friends and teammates chatter around him.

“Sometimes I get so mentally exhausted after a game,” he said. “People around me will be talking to me, but I don’t even want to think. Sometimes I have a headache from so much mental wear and tear.”

He has a talent, however, when it comes to tension.

“If it’s a tight situation, I want to get in there,” he said. “That’s where the challenge is.”

Pepperdine’s batters have added a lot to the magnitude of those challenges.

Only once, in a 15-1 rout of the University of San Diego on April 12, have Marrett’s teammates made it easy for their ace. His other 12 decisions have been decided by a total of 24 runs.

His coaches think he thrives on tight situations.

“Because we haven’t scored a lot of runs for him, he’s had to concentrate a lot harder,” Taylor said. “He knows one mistake could cost him a ballgame, and that’s made him a better pitcher.”

Most of Marrett’s season has been free of mistakes. Three times, he has not allowed a hit in an outing, including a no-hitter against LaVerne in his second start of the season.

He thought his best performance, however, was a recent four-inning no-hit stint against defending NCAA champion Cal State Fullerton.

In that game, which Pepperdine won, 6-3, Marrett needed only 37 pitches to handle Fullerton before resting for a scheduled weekend conference start. In fact, Marrett’s work that day was supposed to be limited to three innings, but his efficiency enabled Gorrie to alter his plans.

“After three innings, he had thrown only 28 pitches, and that wasn’t even hardly a workout,” Gorrie said.

“That was the most in control I’d ever felt out there,” Marrett said. “If I wanted to pitch a fastball outside, it was there. I was hitting every spot I wanted better than I could have imagined.”

As usual, Marrett impressed the opposition in the winning effort. And Fullerton, which has faced some of the finest pitching prospects in the nation this season, is no ordinary judge of talent.

“He threw about as well against us as anybody has this year,” said Larry Corrigan, a Fullerton assistant coach.

“We’d never seen him pitch, but he was right on his game. He threw four easy innings against us. He had good command of his fastball and he was low in the strike zone.

“We need some walk-ons like that here at Fullerton.”

Other coaches have been equally impressed. Loyola Coach Dave Snow, who is in his first season after serving as pitching coach at Fullerton, liked Marrett even after the Lions had scored four runs off him--the most runs he has allowed this year.

“He’s established himself this season as one of the premiere pitchers on the West Coast,” Snow said. “The most impressive thing is his ability to put the ball in various locations and do it consistently.”

After Marrett limited Cal State Northridge to five hits in a 4-1 victory on Feb. 28, CSUN Coach Terry Craven called the him the best pitcher his team had faced.

“He throws hard and he throws strikes,” Craven said. “He doesn’t get behind on the count, so he doesn’t have to come in with something he doesn’t want to throw.”

Professional scouts have begun to talk about him, too. According to Gorrie, Marrett could be a first-round selection in the June draft.

But Marrett said he is content to think in terms of team accomplishments until the end of the season.

“All of that will take care of itself,” he said. “I’m just worried about what the team does at this point.”

One thing’s certain: You won’t find him throwing batting practice anymore.