By STEVE KRAH
Owen Willard’s summer on the lake has been a pretty good one.
While pitching for the Muskegon (Mich.) Clippers, the right-hander from Purdue Fort Wayne is among the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League earned run average leaders.
Though four games and 15 innings, Willard has posted 2.40 ERA while going 3-1 with 17 strikeouts and six walks.
“We’ve won a lot of games (9-6 through June 26) and it’s been an enjoyable experience,” says Willard, 20. “The guys are fun to hang around with and the coaches (head coach Logan Fleener, pitching coach Adam Lesko, assistant Brian Wright plus general manager Walt Gawkowski) have been awesome.
“My host family (Brandyn and Lisa Thorsen) is also really nice. They’ve really welcomed me into their house.
“They have two little boys that look at me like an older brother and I look at them like little brothers. They’re awesome.”
Delivering from a high three-quarter arm slot, the 6-foot, 190-pound Willard throws a four-seam fastball, curveball, slider and change-up.
On a good day, the four-seamer goes 90 to 91 mph. It’s usually clocked in the upper 80’s.
The 12-to-6 curve travels 72 to 74 mph and both the horizontally-moving slider and “circe” change at 77 to 78.
As a PFW Mastodon, Willard plays for head coach Doug Schreiber and pitching coach Brent McNeil.
“(Schreiber) is a ‘players’ coach,” says Willard. “He really wants the best for his players and he’s a really good guy.
(McNeil) brings a lot of the routine part of the pitching process. He’s a great coach knows a lot about pitching.”
In two seasons at Horizon League member Purdue Fort Wayne, Willard has made 38 mound appearances (27 in relief). In 2024, he got the save against then-No. 20-ranked Indiana after not allowing a run in 1 1/3 innings. He also had an outing of three scoreless innings with four strikeouts against Youngstown State and 2 1/3 scoreless frames against Murray State. In 2023, he threw a scoreless inning against Indiana and did not yield run in games against Toledo and Milwaukee.
Willard was born in Fort Wayne and grew up in Butler. His first organized baseball came with a travel team that went from the Leo Storm to Indiana Storm and Indiana Elite. Then there were was the Indiana Sting. From 15U to 17U, he was with 5Star Midwest National. Before heading to PFW, there was a summer with the 18U PRP Mambas.
Playing for his father and brother — head coach Aaron Willard and assistant Cade Willard — Owen excelled at Eastside Junior/Senior High School in Butler, Ind. He was was named first team all-state and all-Northeast Corner Conference and KPC all-area while helping the Blazers go 26-7 and finish as IHSAA Class 2A state runners-up in 2021. That junior season, he was 9-1 with an 0.54 ERA and 136 strikeouts in 78 innings.
In 2022, Willard threw a perfect game and hit for the cycle against Prairie Heights at Parkview Field in Fort Wayne. He was named MVP of the 2022 Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South All-Star Series at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion.
Aaron Willard, who retired as head coach after that season and serves as assistant principal and athletic director at Eastside, was on the North coaching staff.
“Dad was always just there for me,” says Owen. “He will still play catch with me if I don’t have a throwing partner. He comes to all my (college) games.”
Owen is the second member of his family to pitch for the Mastodons. Older brother Cade Willard (Eastside Class of 2017) redshirted in 2018 then took the bump for PFW 2019-21 before injury curtailed his playing career. He is now a teacher and head baseball coach at Eastside.
“My brother, I’ve just looked up to him,” says Owen. “Growing up I always wanted to be just like him. That’s what contributed to most of my success. He was my role model.”
Mother Kerri Willard is a physical education teacher at two elementary schools that feed Eastside — Butler and Riverdale.
Older sister Madison Shetler (Eastside Class of 2013) played volleyball and softball and is now an accountant married to Michigan State University broadcaster Dalton Shetler.
Named 2024 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District and to the Horizon League Academic Honor Roll in the fall of 2023, Willard is a Business Management major.
With grandparents in Pittsburgh, Owen became a Pittsburgh Pirates fan and his favorite player then and now is Andrew McCutchen.
A shortstop when not pitching through high school, Willard always admired Hall of Famer Derek Jeter.
Owen Willard. (Purdue Fort Wayne Photo)
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