By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

 When Chris Bratica crosses over the white lines to step onto the baseball diamond Ashland Coach Matt Messer sees him as his ace pitcher, but the junior would much rather take the field playing another position. 

“I am told that I am a better pitcher, but I prefer and enjoy playing the field a lot more,” Bratica said. “As a pitcher you are relied on right away, while you can ease into the game at the other positions. I find myself more comfortable in the field and my confidence has built as I’ve developed.”

As a youngster playing the game of baseball, he found himself on the mound, but by the time he was concluding the eight grade and getting ready to enter high school he started to develop his game at other positions, particularly first base and outfield. As a lefty, Bratica came to the conclusion that there were only a few field positions that he could actually play; those being first base and the outfield so that’s where he started to improve his skill sets. 

Bratica grew up playing baseball, his number one sport, and hockey but eventually gave up the ice sport to focus on his career on the diamond. Around the age of 10 he decided to join the Northeast Longhorn club baseball program in order to improve upon his game. The Longhorns were a program that allowed the Ashland native to take the game he loved more seriously. 

“It was at this point that I realized that if I wanted baseball to be a big part of my life then I needed to play better competition,” he said. “Playing with the Longhorns I was able to improve my skill and knowledge of the game as well as on my mechanics. It was good to be playing with kids who were all in the same mindset; looking to play the game on the next level.”

Making the Clockers varsity squad as a freshman Bratica found that he was not just playing the game on the high school level but he would be playing against kids who were four-years older than he was. Luckily, he also found that there was a good leadership group at Ashland and they helped with his mentality aspect of the games. 

As a freshman he not only found time on the field but also in the outfield. That season he went 2-2 as a pitcher and hit in the low 300’s finding his way into the lead-off position by the end of the year. 

“I definitely had a good amount of pressure on my shoulders that year,” Bratica said. “But just to be able to play the sport I loved so much on a competitive level was great.”

Not only was Bratica able to see time on the field as a freshman, but he also found himself right I the middle of the Clockers tournament experience. Ashland advanced into the Division 3 State Tournament and Bratica was to be the Clockers opening round pitcher. Ashland would defeat Worcester Tech 6-1 to move into the second round. The Clockers continued to roll as the took out Fairhaven 3-1 to move into the Elite 8 where Bratica would once again be the team’s pitcher, this time against the number one seed Taconic. 

The first-year varsity pitcher would do all that he could, but Ashland would eventually loss 2-1 on a walk-of hit.

“It was a big switch going up against so many Division 1 players in the tournament and I struggled mentally at first, but I knew that I had good defenders behind me in the field,” he said. “I held my own, but I was very nervous; this was something that I hadn’t faced in my career. I wanted to keep it out of my mind and kept telling myself that it was just another game.”

Coming into this season the junior knew that he was going to have a big role on the team with the seniors graduating. Being named a captain for a second year he was ready for the teaching of the younger players, but he didn’t want the Clockers to have a season like last year. He is looking for all his hard work to pay off in a positive manner this spring and get the squad back into the post-season.

In order to do that he has continued to work on his pitching and has come to learn new pitches. 

“I’m understanding how my arm works regarding pitching,” he said. “My curve ball has become my go-to pitch and I can throw it for strikes keeping the opposing batters off balance, which has become a big part of my game.”

At the time of this writing the junior hurler was 3-2 with 37 strikeouts over 29 innings of work and at the plate he is batting in the low 300’s anywhere from the leadoff spot to the three-hole. Coach Messer likes what he has gotten from the third-year player.

“He has been locating all three of his pitches (fastball, curve ball and change-up,” the Clocker skipper said. “He’s doing just what I expected of him. We don’t have an overall great team this year, but he’ll get the ball every chance he can to keep us in the hunt.”

Although Bratica still has not only the rest of this season, but his entire senior campaign with Ashland, playing on the next level is his ultimate baseball dream. When the Clocker season comes to an end, he has one final season with the Longhorns to work on his game skills in all three positions. Not only will he be honing his skills for the future he will also be getting ready to take the field one last year with Ashland.