Right at the beginning of Jack Gleason’s senior season, the talented Tennessee athlete got an opportunity he couldn’t refuse when Mississippi State delivered a baseball scholarship.
Gleason followed that up with icing on the cake as he finished out his football career and had a baseball season to remember. Briarcrest Christian not only won the school’s first state championship on the diamond, it did it against its biggest rival.
“It was a pretty magical season for us I’d say. My season started slow because I had bicep inflammation but it ended strong as we won state for the first time in school history. It was a crazy day due to delays with weather and we lost to our rival Christian Brothers first and then we came back and won the next game in extra innings,” Gleason said.
“It was a pretty awesome feeling. We had a freshman catcher that hadn’t played all year and he had to come in and play for us due to an injury. Just a fun year.”
Gleason had a strong individual season as well. The RHP finished the year 5-1 in 10 starts and allowed just 14 hits with a 1.27 ERA. He had 22 walks against him and struck out 73 batters.
All of that came even after dealing with that bicep injury early in the year. His fastball sat at 92 mph during the year and his changeup earned a lot of swing and miss against lefties.
Gleason has maroon and his blood
By the end of the season, it was apparent just why the First-Team All-Metro pitcher was wanted by pitching coach Justin Parker and head coach Chris Lemonis. But he always wanted to be a Bulldog. The son of a former State football player in Gary Gleason, Jack knew he always wanted to don the maroon and white.
“I’m a lifelong Mississippi State fan because my dad played football there. When that came on the table, that was a no-brainer. It has always been my dream to play at Dudy Noble and I love everything about the school,” Gleason said.
“Getting to work with coach Parker is going to be amazing after the season he had. He truly cares about his players. I went to a camp last August and pitched in front of him and we created a great relationship.”
Gleason watched closely this season as State began to turn things around. After consecutive years of losing baseball in the league and a pitching staff that seemed to be the largest culprit, Parker took an ERA over 7.00 and clipped it by nearly three runs.
It was even more reason for Gleason to be excited about things to come next year with the Diamond Dawgs.
“It’s all because of coach Parker,” Gleason said of the pitching staff’s turnaround. “He has a relationship with guys where they want to buy into his philosophy and once they bought in, they had that turnaround. That graphic that Mississippi State put out with the numbers from this year was impressive. I’m excited to be a part of that.”
Gleason is now just a day away from moving in with his teammates and starting a new journey.
The lifelong State fan will start his summer classes soon and workouts will be a new adventure in itself. He’s already begun putting in his own preparations for what’s ahead.
“It’s really just lifting as much as possible and I’m on a meal plan to gain some weight. I would like to be about 185 and I’m right at 175 or 180,” Gleason said. “I’m tossing three days a week. The goal is to come in there, put my head down and work as hard as possible to earn a spot. I don’t know what my role will be, but I’m not really worried about that. I’m just grateful for the opportunity.”
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