The high school algebra teacher has a fastball that touches 90 and pitches out of the bullpen for Southern New Hampshire. That’s when he isn’t either grading papers or completing his next assignment in pursuit of his doctorate.
Welcome to the unconventional journey of Zach Gitschier.
You might find him teaching a senior class in statistics at Greater Lowell Tech just outside Boston. Think coming in to pitch with the bases loaded is daunting? Try facing a room full of variously motivated and unmotivated teenagers. “I’ve had plenty of jam situations like that,” Gitschier was saying over the phone between classes the other day. “So at this point you let it roll off your back and you get out there and go. But it’s nerve-wracking coming into a classroom when you know nobody.”
Or you might find him racing out of the school parking lot to make the 40-minute drive to campus for practice. Or in the car driving himself to an away game since he wasn’t out of class in time for the team bus. There was the weekend he had to make a 10-hour drive through the snow and sleet to get to a series in Ohio.
Or you might find him late at night, after practice and class prep are over, turning to his own project for his doctorate. “Some days you go in and you’re just exhausted from the day before,” he said. “It’s tough because I’m full-time teaching, I’m also in a doctorate program and I’m playing baseball. There are some days I come home from work and I’m like, ‘I need to catch up on sleep for about two hours,’ and the next thing you know I’m out four hours. So there’s a lot of catch-up mixed in.”
Or you might actually find him in those moments he loves — on the mound. Between Clark and Southern New Hampshire he has now been at it six years, his college career extended by the pandemic like so many others. He worked a perfect ninth inning just last Sunday against Saint Michael’s, striking out two in a 16-2 victory. That pushed Southern New Hampshire’s record to 28-15. No trifling baseball program, these Penmen. Just last spring they were 44-13 and in the Division II championships.
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In truth, the season has been something of a struggle for Gitschier. He has struck out 27 batters in 25.2 innings but the earned run average is 9.47. He knows enough about stats to understand that’s not good. But then, it’s a pretty full plate he’s trying to manage. Been that way since he decided to…
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