Greg Loeding attacks. Period. End of story.
The Highland baseball team’s senior catcher is a little bit of a throwback. He is chivalrous around adults. He increases the family laundry bill by blocking balls in the dirt. He has a hard-nosed personality teammates love.
RON SCHWANE/GAZETTE
Senior catcher Greg Loeding has been a two-way threat for the Highland baseball team.
Just don’t give him the take sign on a 3-0 pitch.
“I don’t like to walk,” he said matter-of-factly. “I don’t like free bases. I swing on 3-0 pitches because, frankly, I’d rather earn my base than let the umpire point me down there.
“There was even a situation when the umpire told me to go down there because I got hit. I said, ‘I didn’t get hit’ — coaches always get mad when you do that — but I came up and whacked a double after that, so that was pretty cool.”
When informed of the philosophy, fourth-year coach Jay Grissom sighed, grinned and mumbled.
“Yeahhhhhhhhh,” Grissom said after collecting his thoughts, “that is not a philosophy we’re selling.”
What Loeding and the Hornets (18-9) are selling is a team-first philosophy — well, except the whole 3-0 count thing — that has gotten them to the Division I regional semifinals. They will play St. Ignatius (20-10) at Cuyahoga Community College West’s Ron Mottl Field at 3 p.m. Thursday.
Loeding has been in the middle of everything. The two-year starter calls pitches for a staff with a 2.81 ERA, he has thrown out 10 runners while being behind the dish for all but seven innings and he is batting north of .400 out of the critical No. 3 hole.
As importantly, he blends in on a team full of easygoing teenagers who aren’t wrapped up in the magnitude of their biggest accomplishment to date — the third district title in school history (2007, ’08) and first as a D-I school.
“I just wanted to enjoy it and go out and have fun,” Loeding said. “Things have worked out.”
That’s an understatement.
Growing up, Loeding didn’t need to leave the household to learn how to perfect the art of catching. His older brother, Grant, manned the position as a sophomore when Highland won the Suburban League title in 2012, started the following two seasons and had a reputation for stout defense.
Greg inherited Grant’s position last season and has taken the family legacy to the next level.
“I would have to give him a lot of credit for the talent I have on the baseball field,” Greg Loeding said. “He taught me a lot of skills that I have as a catcher.
“I think it’s going to be funny next year when the Loedings are officially gone from five years of being behind the plate.”
Highland will have to worry about that later. There is more work to do because, like his teammates, Loeding is peaking at the right time.
The right-handed hitter leads the team with a .402 batting average, 18 RBIs, 27 runs, eight doubles, three triples and five stolen bases. Again rehashing the go-up-and-hack attitude, Loeding is second-to-last with 3.05 pitches per plate appearance.
Athletes are often measured by how well they perform in high-pressure situations, so check this out: Loeding batted .447 in Suburban League American Division play and is 24-for-49 (.490) over the last 14 games, including 6-for-10 in the postseason.
Grissom is more impressed by something else.
“I think his best attribute is he’s every bit as good defensively as he is offensively,” Grissom said.
Loeding’s main role off the field is to DJ beatbox rap battles on bus rides — “It’s really stupid, but it’s another way for our team to get energized and pumped up before a game,” he quipped — because enjoying the ride and not worrying about the destination is what memories are made of.
“This is something none of us have ever felt before, so it’s pretty cool,” he said, “This is the best possible way for us to finish our senior year.”