Crescent-News.com - Lynn Groll: Reineke climbs baseball ladder

Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that someone I spent time playing little league baseball, high school baseball and wiffle ball in my backyard would some day turn out to be the winning hurler on baseball's grandest stage.

It almost seems unimaginable to think that the small burg like Ayersville could produce a "Big Leaguer", but by knowing 2000 graduate Chad Reineke and the hard work and dedication he's shown to the game, it wasn't surprising to see him succeed in a Friars' uniform Saturday evening in his Major League Baseball debut at San Diego's PETCO Park.

Since being drafted in the 13th round of the 2004 MLB Draft out of Miami University (Ohio) by the Houston Astros, Reineke has battled every step of the way through each level of minor league baseball.

"The thing that pleases me the most is he was not recruited out of high school and went to Miami as a walk-on," explained then Ayersville baseball skipper Jim Leininger after Reineke was drafted back in 2004. "He went down there, started getting up at 5 a.m. lifting weights and working hard."

After he began pitching in the minors, Reineke knew it would take a lot of hard work to one day achieve his dream.

"This is a career I would like," admitted Reineke back in 2004 while with Single-A organization Tri-City. "It's something I'd like to do, but I have to work at it. It's a sport where you need to fine-tune your craft, it's a good opportunity and, hopefully, things will work out."

Reineke's overcome many obstacles during his rise up the minor league baseball ladder and he conquered another battle in the opening minutes of his starting nod against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday evening.

After retiring Philadelphia leadoff hitter Jimmy Rollins with a harmless popup, Reineke ran into trouble. A six-pitch free pass to Jayson Werth was the dawn of a long first frame for Reineke before All-Star second baseman Chase Utley singled into right field to put runners on first and third.

Cleanup hitter Ryan Howard then plated Werth with a ground out to Adrian Gonzalez with Utley advancing to second.

Reineke issued his second walk of the inning a batter later to Pat Burrell which brought Padres' pitching coach Darren Balsley out of the dugout for a discussion on the mound.

Things got even more dicey when Shane Victorino singled into right field to score the second Philly run following the chat with Balsley.

But with Reineke's pitch count at a menacing 30 pitches and already two runs home, the 6-6 righty buckled down like he'd done time and time again through his rise to the majors.

The Pilot product finished off the 'Fighting Phils' by striking out Greg Dobbs swinging with an 81 mph curveball on the inside part of the dish to close out his first inning as a big league hurler.

Reineke's mentor at Ayersville probably said it best about the 36-pitch first inning Reineke fought through.

"The first inning, I'm sitting there and I'm doing a little complaining, and I've pitched all my life, so I know what it's like not to get a call by an umpire or have a call go against you," explained Leininger. "Even though he could've gotten out of that inning with no runs, he hung in there. To throw 30 pitches in one inning is tough.

"For him to hang in there and keep composed like he did, and end with a strikeout at a key time, I thought that told a whole lot about what Chad's like. It was just like hanging in there all these years and keeping at it."

After surviving the first-inning scare, Reineke stymied the Philadelphia offense over the next four innings, allowing just one more run on three hits to earn the 'W'.

Obviously there will be plenty more battles for Reineke to tackle in his baseball career, but hopefully he will rise to the challenge like he's done over the years.

Just before hanging up the phone with him on Sunday afternoon after a call to give congratulations on his first victory, he said to me, 'It sure is a long way (pitching in the Majors) from when we used to play wiffle ball in your backyard."

No doubt.