In the midst of a 0-0 10th inning tie against a nationally-ranked opponent with two outs, a full count and the winning run looming just 90 feet away, the only thing on the mind of University of Rhode Island fifth-year pitcher Trystan Levesque was executing his next, and final, pitch.
“I can only focus on one pitch at a time, so if I execute this pitch, it’ll set me up for the next and so on,” Levesque said. “A big thing was breathing, breathing before each pitch; obviously, the 10th inning is pretty well into the game, so I need to be as physically capable as I possibly can.”
On his 119th pitch of the afternoon on Feb. 22, Levesque got a curveball past Oregon University second-year outfielder Jack Brooks, letting out an exuberant yell and fist pump as he completed 10 scoreless innings with nine strikeouts and just five baserunners allowed.
Despite the fact that the Rams lost 1-0 on a walk-off error in the 11th, Levesque brought home Atlantic 10 Conference Co-Pitcher of the Week, Just Baseball National Pitcher of the Week and Perfect Game National Pitcher of the Week.
“There were probably 10 scouts in the stands to see one of [Oregon’s] pitchers, and guess who they were going home writing about?” URI Pitching Coach David Fischer said. “It’s Trystan Levesque; I don’t know that I’ll ever get a performance like that again. It was really cool, and nonetheless, against a top-15 opponent, it goes to show you how talented he really is.”
Levesque, a native of East Lyme, Connecticut, has been at URI for the duration of his collegiate career, and has been a member of the weekend rotation since 2022. With 39 career starts, he currently sits fifth in strikeouts across program history and 12th all-time in strikeouts per nine innings.
Levesque has always avoided handing out free passes, never having a season with more than 2.5 walks per nine innings, but his third year in 2023 was when he started to see a jump in strikeout numbers. He struck out 101 batters in 83 innings, which marked the fourth-most strikeouts in a single season for a URI pitcher, along with the sixth-highest strikeout rate.
The southpaw heavily relies on a three-pitch mix of a four-seam fastball, changeup and a curveball. Levesque continued to develop trust in this arsenal, along with great control of the strike zone, on his way to seven outings with eight or more strikeouts in 2023.
“A lot of it came down to him understanding himself,” Fischer said. “He just really bought into himself, and I think that’s the biggest thing for any college kid in any sort of conference.”
Coming off this breakout year, the anticipation was high for Levesque heading into 2024, but it all came to an abrupt halt in just the second series of the year against Virginia Tech University. Levesque tore a muscle in his hamstring in the first inning on Feb. 24, 2024, which knocked him out for the remainder of the season.
“The initial injury, really, it sucked; can’t really sugarcoat it,” Levesque said. “It felt really long, not being able to play baseball, and seeing all your teammates playing and traveling and all this stuff, so that was upsetting for me.”
After months of rehab and time in the weight room working his way back, Levesque put together the standout performance against No. 11 Oregon almost exactly a year after the initial injury.
“After having that outing against Oregon, it was definitely a lot more emotional,” Levesque said. “Like, wow, I’m actually truly back. I did all that rehab; I’m back, I’m healthy, I’m actually doing it again.”
As for the future, Levesque is in his final year of eligibility and has sights set on getting his name called in the MLB Draft, but also has chiropractic school lined up. For now, he’s just taking it outing by outing and will help his team work toward an A-10 title.
“I’m going to go make a name for myself this year; I’m going to go put myself on people’s radar and let them know who I am and the type of pitcher I am,” Levesque said. “The expectation is for us to win the A-10 Tournament, and I think with all of the endless hard work that we’ve done this year, we definitely have the ability to do that.”
Levesque and the Rams will be in action this weekend for their final non-conference series of the year against Eastern Kentucky University. The opening game will be at 6 p.m. on Friday, with a stream on ESPN+.
