By STEVE KRAH
The Evansville (Ind.) Otters are in the thick of the 2023 pennant push in the Frontier League and Avon (Ind.) High School, Vincennes (Ind.) University and University of Southern Indiana graduate Austin Gossmann has a key role.
As a starting pitcher, the right-hander has helped Evansville to a 40-31 mark heading into play Aug. 7.
The Otters are four games behind West Division leader Gateway and two behind second-place Schaumburg. The top three teams in each division make the postseason. The regular season ends Sept. 3.
Evansville last won the Frontier League championship in 2016.
So far in 2023, Gossmann has pitched in 12 games (11 starts) and is 4-2 with a 5.46 ERA, 47 strikeouts and 24 walks in 56 innings. His last appearance was Wednesday, Aug. 2.
Since turning pro in 2021, Gossmann has been in 46 games (26 starts) and is 14-15 with a 4.33 earned run average, 249 strikeouts and 92 walks in 251 1/3 innings.
Gossmann was a Frontier League all-star in 2022. In 18 starts, he went 8-6 with one complete game a 4.85 ERA, 101 strikeouts and 40 walks in 105 2/3 innings.
In his rookie campaign of 2021, he made 16 appearances (15 starts) and was 2-7 with one complete game a 4.92 ERA, 101 strikeouts and 28 walks in 89 2/3 innings.
“The thing I like about starting is the constant competitiveness,” says Gossmann, who turned 27 in April. “It’s your responsibility to bridge to the bullpen and give your team a chance to win.
“It’s a bigger role.”
Pitching every five days also allows Gossmann to develop a standard routine with bullpen, weightlifting and running sessions between starts.
All the time, Andy McCauley has been Evansville’s manager and Max Peterson the pitching coach. The Otters play in historic Bosse Field (opened in 1915).
In three seasons at Southern Indiana (2019-21), Gossmann hurled in 30 games (24 starts) and was 9-8 with one save, a 5.12 ERA, 134 strikeouts and 50 walks in 142 1/3 innings. He made Great Lakes Valley Conference all-academic teams in 2019 and 2020.
Tracy Archuleta is the Screaming Eagles head coach. Jeremy Kuester is the pitching coach.
“I learned what it means to be a ballplayer and a good person from those two,” says Gossmann. “While I was at USI I grew up a lot and he was instrumental. I came in with a lot of cockiness and arrogance.
“I didn’t fully appreciate the lessons and what (Archuleta) was trying to communicate to me until after my senior year.”
With Kuester, it was back to the basics.
“I was hard-headed and I thought I knew what I was talking about,” says Gossmann. “Kuester let me do my own thing for that first year. When I came back for my next year he was a little bit more on my back about doing things the USI way.”
Gossmann, who earned a History degree with a Secondary Education minor, was a Screaming Eagles volunteer assistant pitching coach in the fall and spring of 2021-22. At the same time, he served as a pitching instructor at Next Level Academy Evansville.
Gossmann delivers his pitches from variations on a three-quarter arm slot.
His mix has included a four-seam fastball, sinker, cutter and change-up as sometimes a two-seamer and slider.
When he has had access to measurements, his four-seamer has been clocked at 89-91 mph while touching 92. With multiple 14-hour road trips that has come down to 87-89 and 91.
The sinker has run and more depth than the fastball and goes 88-90 mph.
The cutter looks like a four-seamer then breaks to the glove side.
“Sometimes it will sweep a decent amount,” says Gossmann. “My slider has evaded me this year.”
While his bullpens are not always the same, they often call for 15 pitches at 75 percent effort.
“I’m throwing all my different pitches where I want to and have a feel,” says Gossmann. (This year) every week tends to be a little bit different in terms of focus. Sometimes I’m just working on fastballs. Other times after I throw a couple fastballs I really want do dial in on the cutter.
“What has been trending negatively the last couple of weeks?”
Gossmann picked up a slider as a high school freshman and that was pretty much his best pitch for years before he added complimentary pitches to the repertoire.
“When I was a (pro) rookie I was pretty much a two-pitch pitcher,” says Gossmann. “I went to the drawing board in the off-season.”
Pitchers that 5-foot-10 and 190-pound Gossmann admires include right-handers Sonny Gray, Tim Linceum and Trevor Bauer.
The 5-10 and 195 Gray (now with the Minnesota Twins) and 5-11, 170 Lincecum (now retired) are similar in build to Gossmann, who has been a social media follower of Bauer (now in Japan) on the Research and Development side of pitching.
In one season at South Alabama (2018) with Mark Calvi as head coach and Bob Keller as pitching coach, Gossmann relieved in eight contests and went 0-0 with an 8.18 ERA, nine strikeouts and four walks in 11 innings.
When Keller was let go, Gossmann was cut from the squad.
“Looking back it probably was for the best,” says Gossmann. “At the time it was crushing.
“I was faced with the decision. I could hang them up or continue playing.”
USA teammates included future pros Travis Swaggerty (drafted 10th overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2018), Brendan Donovan (now with the St. Louis Cardinals) and Dylan Hardy (who played in the Boston Red Sox system and was in the Frontier League in 2021), Zach Greene (now in the New York Yankees organization) and Michael Sandle (now in the Houston Astros system).
“Being at that level really set me up for where I’m at now,” says Gossmann. “It showed me where I needed to be if I wanted to continue playing past college.”
Gossmann was at National Junior College Athletic Association member Vincennes parts of three seasons (2015-17) with the first and last seeing him receiving a medical redshirt.
Playing for Trailblazers head coach Chris Barney, he competed in six games (five in relief) and went 0-0 with a 5.06 ERA, 14 strikeouts and 12 walks in 16 innings as a freshman in 2015.
Gossmann achieved a 4-2 record with one complete game, one save, 46 strikeouts and 18 walks in 42 1/3 innings pitched as a redshirt freshman in 2016.
He posted a 2.19 ERA with 16 strikeouts and five walks in 12 1/3 innings as a sophomore in 2017. It turns out he had a shoulder impingement and a labrum tear. He left VU with two associate degrees — History and Secondary Educuation/Teaching.
Gossmann played two summers during his college years — 2016 for the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League’s Richmond (Ind.) Jazz and 2018 for the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League’s Alexandria (Va.) Aces.
He worked in 11 games (nine in relief) for Richmond and went 1-1 with a 10.80 ERA, 29 strikeouts and 15 walks in 28 1/3 innings. All 14 of his games with Alexandria were out of the bullpen as he went 1-2 with a 2.61 ERA, 31 strikeouts and eight walks in 20 2/3 innings.
Gossmann was rehabbing from injuries in the summers of 2015 and 2017. In 2019, he was concentrating on paperwork to get more eligibility and 2020 was the COVID-19 pandemic summer.
At Avon High School, Gossmann was a two-year letterwinner. He was on the freshman team throughout his freshman season of 2011. He was on the junior varsity and dressed for a few varsity games as a sophomore in 2012. He split time between varsity and JV as a junior in 2013. He was a full-time varsity player as a senior in 2014. That spring, the Orioles won the Hendricks County title.
Born in Indianapolis, Gossmann grew up in Avon.
He played for rec and all-star games in the Avon Junior Athletic Association then the Avon Attack travel team.
He was with the Indiana Outlaws at 13U and 14U, the Avon High summer team at 15U, Indiana Irish at 16U and 17U and Demand Command at 18U.
Austin is the oldest of Jeff and Karen Gossmann’s three children.
Nathan Gossmann graduated from Indiana University as a triple major and is now a consultant in Washington D.C.
Kayla Gossmann is heading into her senior year as a Biology major and Indiana University Purdue University-Indianapolis.
Jeff Gossmann is a Department of Defense accountant. Karen Gossmann is a French teacher at Plainfield (Ind.) High School.
www.IndianaRBI.com 
Dear Coaches: Dear Indiana RBI staff:
We have 35-40 College Baseball Players at Muskegon Community College now, for our JUCO College Baseball Team, but No Head Coach, and finished in second place last Spring 2023. However, we are still looking for a new COLLEGE baseball Coach, at Muskegon Community College, since our Coach, from Fort Wayne, Indiana, took a better job as a Pitching Coach , in Kentucky at a 4-year University.
QUESTION:Do you know any former MLB or Minor league players, or former College head Coaches, or College Pitching Coaches, living in Michigan or Indiana, that would want to move to Muskegon, Michigan,( which takes me 5-6 hours to drive from Indianapolis, North to Muskegon, Michigan.), and become Head Coach ? Muskegon, Michigan is on the shores of Lake Michigan, and is a smaller town, but does have an Airport, and a beautiful church camp and resort -Marantha Bible Camp, on Lake Michigan too.
Our Fall College Baseball season and Practices will start either Wednesday, August 30th or September 5th, 2023.
Thank you. Patrick ShooltzRockford-Power Travel Baseball CoachRLL Baseball and Softball Coach,MLB- Youth Baseball events DirectorRockford, and Muskegon, MichiganPh. 1-312-898-9111
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