Closer Bewley Leads Eagles From Late In The Game

Perry Bewley has accomplished quite a bit as an Ashland University closer in recent years:
 
- He is the Eagle baseball program's all-time saves leader with 23.
- He is the only Ashland baseball pitcher with back-to-back double-digit save seasons in program history.
- He is the only NCAA Division II pitcher to have double-digit saves in both 2021 and 2022.
- He was an All-American in his first full season as a closer last spring, and, as announced on Wednesday (May 18) morning, is a Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) second-team All-Midwest Region player this spring.
 
But what he really wants to do, however, is help Ashland (35-19) to its first NCAA Division II national championship. The road to potentially doing just that begins on Thursday (May 19) at 11 a.m. against Illinois Springfield (43-8), at Harwell Baseball Field on the campus of Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich., to begin the split Midwest Regional tournament.
 
"The whole team is stoked," Bewley said. "After that tough loss against Walsh (in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament championship game), we kind of needed some things to go our way. When they said our name, we erupted. We're just excited to get another opportunity to compete again.
 
"It's an honor (to have the saves record). I've worked really hard to get to where I am today. We're not done. The ultimate goal for me is a national championship. It doesn't really matter until we get a banner up."
 
In 2022, Bewley is 1-1 with 10 saves and a 1.77 earned run average in 23 appearances out of the AU bullpen. Opponents are hitting .169 against him, and he has struck out 44 in 35 2/3 innings.
 
This comes on the heels of a 2021 campaign in which Bewley closed full-time for the first time, and was 2-1 with 11 saves and a 1.34 ERA in 18 relief outings. Last spring, he struck out 44 batters in 33 2/3 frames.
 
"It's been a ride. It's been a dream, for sure," said Bewley of closing the last two seasons.
 
The seeds of Bewley becoming a closer were planted during Ashland's last regional run in 2019, when he was going between the starting rotation and the bullpen.
 
"I got a pretty good look at what it looks like to be a closer, with (Chris) Slavik," Bewley said. "We were super-close, still talk to this day. No better role model to be a relief pitcher."
 
An injury in 2019 led to a discussion between Bewley and Ashland head coach John Schaly in the fall, which led to Bewley beginning down the closing path. The Eagles' 2020 season ended prematurely with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but in Bewley's five games out of the bullpen prior to that, he was 2-1 with a save and a 1.00 ERA and 14 strikeouts in nine innings.
 
Bewley followed Slavik as the Eagles' closer – and he also followed Slavik in having a memorable walk-in-from-the-bullpen song at Tomassi Stadium and Donges Field at the Archer Ballpark Complex. Slavik's song was "God's Gonna Cut You Down" by Johnny Cash, and Bewley's is "Pump It Up" by Endor.
 
"You'll hear people say it, though, as soon as I'm running out," said Bewley of his song, which, of course, isn't played during the postseason. "I'll hear a couple people say, 'pump it up.' It's fun, for sure."
 
Starting Thursday, Bewley and the Eagles play a very familiar regional foe in Springfield, who AU topped in the best-of-three D-II Midwest Super Regional at home three years ago. In the other Thursday regional opener, Wayne State (35-17) takes on Walsh (30-21) – two more teams the Eagles are very familiar with.
 
"We have all the confidence in the world," Bewley said. "We're excited."