Stephen Schoch Joins ‘From Phenom To The Farm’: Episode 103

Image credit: (Photo by Matt Riley, UVA)

If you follow college baseball, you’ve likely seen the bearded face of Stephen Schoch in one way or another. Perhaps it was during his viral postgame interview during the 2021 Columbia Regional and the ensuing College World Series as the University of Virginia’s colorful closer, or in the years since, covering college baseball at schools all over the country, big and small. 

It’s hard to find someone who loves college baseball and is more engrained in the sport than Schoch currently is, but as he entered Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Maryland, he kept his collegiate baseball aspirations pretty simple. 

“I was like, you know what, I’m just going to try to be the best baseball player I can be, and see how far it’ll take me,” said Schoch.

Schoch took the idea of taking baseball as far as he could to heart, consistently working on the best way to continue his career. In high school, it meant dropping down to a sidearm arm slot, figuring that every Division 1 school needed at least one sidearm guy. It also meant staying true to his personality, a mix of incredibly goofy, but also self-aware and to the point. During the fall of his senior year, with zero Division 1 scholarship offers under his belt, he threw an impressive three innings in a showcase held at Appalachian State, then gave the App coaches giving him a campus tour afterwards a pretty simple choice.

“At the end of the day, I’m going to get outs for somebody, and if you want it to be against you or with you, just let me know,” said Schoch. 

That became the theme of Schoch’s career: getting outs, and figuring out who those outs are going to be for. After App State’s staff was fired following his freshman campaign in 2016, Schoch transferred to the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, where, after sitting out a season due to the old transfer rules, he slid into UMBC’s closer role. He fired off 10 saves, a 1.57 ERA, earned a trip to the Cape Cod League (where he was an all-star) and after graduating with one year of eligibility remaining, chose to enter the brand-new transfer portal and try his hand at getting outs for his dream school UVA. 

Bumping up to the Power Five at a national powerhouse, you’d think Schoch might’ve felt some apprehension at nabbing the coveted closer job, but the guy just isn’t wired that way. 

On winning the UVA closer job, he put it pretty simply: “It’s time to be chunky and funky and sexy at the end of games.”

Schoch’s first campaign at UVA was knocked out by the 2020 pandemic, and his 2021 college baseball swan song was looking bleak midway through the season. 

“In April, I put in my 60-day notice on my lease, because we were 4-12 at that point,” said Schoch. “We didn’t feel like an Omaha team.”

UVA head coach Brian O’Connor knows the postseason as well as anyone, and kept it pretty simple for his struggling squad. 

“He sat us all down and was like, ‘Look guys, the season is going to be over after this weekend if we suck this weekend, plain and simple,’” said Schoch.

UVA responded by simply not sucking, earning a three seed in the Old Dominion Regional, played at South Carolina. The 2021 postseason launched Schoch into the college baseball stratosphere, where closing games with unique flair and giving viral interviews on national TV turned the senior righthander into a national treasure. UVA made it all the way to Omaha, and Schoch completed the path of going from one Sun Belt Conference offer out of high school to pitching on the game’s biggest stage as a senior. 

“Going into college baseball, my goal was to get an education my brain couldn’t afford me and have a great time doing it, and we accomplished both of those things,” said Schoch. 

Schoch now has turned college baseball into his actual job, bringing his love and passion for the sport to fields spanning from the College World Series all the way down to club baseball. Even post-playing, Schoch is spending his days figuring out how far baseball can take him. 

On the latest episode of From Phenom to the Farm, former UVA righthander and college baseball reporter Stephen Schoch walks through his career and why he loves college baseball.