Lukas stood with his gloves on his left hand and a new ball in his right hand on the mound, everyone in the audience was actually discussing him.
" Who is this?"
" Where is Jack?"
" He looks very young, does he know what he is doing?"
Lukas, although, was not bothered about it, but some of them in the audience were cursing at him, so he had to look at the audience. As this was his first time doing something like this, he was, of course, nervous and also doubting himself a little.
" Come on, champ." A person wearing the same jersey as him came to him and gave him a cap so that he could see fewer audience members and smiled at him.
Lukas guessed he was the captain of this team, and he was encouraging him to play. Lukas nodded his head at him, and then the captain returned to his fielding position once again.
" Play ball!" the umpire said loudly as the game began.
Lukas looked at the umpire, then focused on his hand. The ball felt very natural in his hand, and he felt a sudden rush to hold it with his two fingers and throw it. As his instincts were telling him to do that, he grabbed the ball with his index and middle fingers, and then his leg went up. He automatically remembered what the coach had taught him on the first day.
With a full swing of his hand, he threw the ball in a full motion, the ball unexpectedly didn't go towards the batter at all, instead, it went past the batter from his left, but at the last moment it took a dramatic turn, and even the catcher couldn't guess it and missed the catch.
87 MPH
The batter saw the ball sliding across the field, ran towards first base, and successfully reached it.
" Man, is he dumb?"
" What a waste !!"
People didn't notice the curve, but the umpire did, and he was looking at Lukas as if he was seeing a monster, such a curve with such speed was very scary.
The coach in the dugout stood up in shock seeing such a delivery, but then he smiled while his hand went up on his head from the sheer shock he felt.
Even the team captain was looking at Coach to see if he would replace Lukas as a pitcher and give him a chance, seeing there was no such intention, he sighed and then waited for Lukas's second pitch.
Lukas got the ball once again from the inside fielder, then prepared to pitch once again, surprisingly, he was getting very excited to play the game.
Lukas then looked at the batter, and the batter smiled cockily at him, then took his stance and nodded his head at Lukas.
Lukas also nodded and decided to play it safe and not experiment on the ball, his leg went up, and this time he was using his whole body to throw the ball.
With a full motion, the ball went to the batter at blinding speed, before the batter could even see it, the catcher caught it, and his gloves were smoking instantly.
104 MPH
"Strike"
*Zwoopp*
106 MPH
"Strike"
*Zwoopp*
103 MPH
"Strike and out"
The batter was just looking at Lukas with shock, he couldn't even see the ball coming, and he was out. He was not believing his eyes at all.
The whole audience was as quiet as they could be, they couldn't believe a pitcher like this existed in their college.
"Bro!! What the hell?" The team captain yelled at Lukas, he was smiling and couldn't believe what just happened.
Lukas then nodded his head towards the catcher and then prepared himself for the next pitch.
"Did you see what just happened?"
"I saw, but was the ball really that fast?
"I think this boy will be a superstar."
The whole audience was discussing Lukas and his pitch. Lukas, after seeing the audience reaction, understood one thing: he was meant to play this game, and yes, this audience was too low for him to dance.
Guess Coach Henry was right after all.
Lukas smiled slightly at a batter who just arrived, the batter who just came in was the ace of Rutgers, and when he saw Lukas smiling, he thought Lukas was being cocky.
"Hmmph."
The batter then nodded his head at Lukas as to say he was ready, Lukas, same as usual, prepared himself for the pitch. The catcher behind the batter gulped with fear because catching such a speedball was very dangerous. One misstep and he would give away a strike.
Lukas's feet went upwards as the coach had taught him, it felt natural to him, and he wanted to throw without holding back this time.
*Zwoopp*
109 MPH
"Strike"
The catcher felt serious shock, and his hand was almost melting with the temperature. He saw the gloves on his hand were smoking too much, there was also damage to his gloves.
The whole stadium was as quiet as it could be, the batter, who was angry at Lukas initially, gulped down the saliva he was holding in his mouth.
" What the fuck was that?"
" This boy throws like a rocket."
" Wow, are we watching a future legend of baseball?"
The crowd seeing Lukas in play was instantly happy, and some of them even began to admire him. Lukas then looked at the chaotic crowd and gestured to them with his index finger on his lips.
"Shush!!"
The whole crowd enjoyed Lukas's gesture, they thought Lukas was celebrating with them, but Lukas got even more frustrated because the crowd was too much.
Lukas then looked at the batter, who was just standing there and was not ready at all. The umpire gave him a signal, but the batter was too scared to face Lukas's ball.
"Loser"
"Loser"
"Loser"
The crowd began to chant as the batter was too scared, the coach of Rutgers came to counsel the batter, and after five minutes, the game restarted.
*Zwoop*
105 MPH
"Strike"
*Zwoop*
104 MPH
"Strike"
"Out"
The whole field was bustling with cheers as soon as Lukas struck out the second batter, and he instantly became the fan favorite.
" SHUSH!!"
The whole crowd was shushing happily as they thought this was Lukas's celebratory gesture, and it was an instant hit among college youngsters.