Baker Geist
Sports Reporter

At first glance, Mesa State pitcher Jack Amidei looks like any other student. He wears his hat low with a straight brim sporting sunglasses and an iPod. The senior wouldn’t strike you as anyone out of the ordinary.
Behind those sunglasses, however, is not just a talented baseball player but someone who has faced adversity in the game: from his pitching mechanics to his personal decisions. That adversity and the lessons learned from the game of baseball make his story unique. It is one that sports fans can appreciate.
Amidei said he’s loved the game since he was a little boy. Though he may be unaware of it, his work ethic and passion for the game was evident at an early age.
“I met him when he was 10 years old . . . I could tell by just the way the kid wore his hat that he was going to be a player one day,” said John Quarton, Amidei’s baseball coach at Heritage High School in Littleton. “He was just a little field rat running around the field. I could just tell that he was going to be something special.”
In high school, Amidei faced adversity early on. While he could pitch, he was also utilized at shortstop and second base due to his arm strength.
While he spent his first year on junior varsity, the coaches felt he needed to be ready to play varsity by his sophomore year. That meant meeting the expectations of upperclassmen on a team that was nationally ranked.
“He got thrown into the fire with some older kids so he had to develop in a hurry,” Quarton said. “He had to put up or shut up or he knew he wasn’t going to play.”
Amidei not only kept up with his older teammates— some of who are playing professionally or in college—but he also was successful. By the end of his high school career, Amidei was a three-year letter winner, and played football. He developed his skills in baseball and garnered attention from Mesa State and Dixie State College in Utah.
“Jack was a kid that was labeled a prospect out of high school because of his arm strength; he had a 90 mile-per-hour arm,” Mesa State head coach Chris Hanks said.
Amidei first chose Dixie State, which at the time was a junior college. He chose Dixie State for financial reasons, Amidei said the tradition established at Mesa State lured him to Grand Junction after his freshman year.
“Mesa’s just always had a tradition of being a good baseball school,” Amidei said. “I wanted to get out of Dixie and I felt Mesa would be the best option for me.”
Amidei also said his former teammate at Heritage, Justin Little had just finished his freshman year and convinced him to become a Maverick.
As a sophomore, Amidei started in 11 games and earned a 5-3 record. He finished the year fourth on the team in strikeouts with 43. He also struckout 22 batters looking. While he credits his days in junior college for helping him, he said his skills have greatly improved thanks to coaches at Mesa State.
“Everything that we do day in day out is what contributes to our success,” Amidei said. “Coming here as a baseball player is a real good experience. Once you get here normally guys don’t leave because you learn so much you just improve your game.”
After a 5-1 record as a junior, Amidei faced adversity again, this time as a redshirt. Last season, at a home game against CSU-Pueblo, a brawl ensued between both teams after a hard play at the plate involving a CSU-Pueblo base runner and Mesa State’s catcher. Amidei was suspended for the year for his involvement.
“You see your teammate getting into it, you don’t think about much, you kind of just go,” Amidei said about the incident. “We’re all kind of a family. We just stick together and at that point I didn’t think a whole lot as to what the repercussions would be.”
Hanks believes Amidei’s actions were inappropriate but said the incident showed how much passion he has for his team. He also applauded Amidei’s work ethic.
“The one thing about Jack is he’s an incredibly hard worker. He hasn’t always made the best decisions off the field but has never done anything so catastrophic that we had to release him from the team,” Hanks said. “He was suspended for the fight, but then again there’s a kid who jumped in and fought because he was helping his teammates although it was inappropriate.”
During suspension, Amidei said he had time to think about his actions. It cost him time away from a game he loved.
“It really shows you how much the game means to you when it’s taken away,” Amidei said. “Even the little things like practice and hanging out with your friends everyday means a lot to you and having it taken away definitely shows you how important it is to you . . . At any moment it can be taken away.”
During his suspension, Amidei said his teammates were supportive and helped him get through the year.
“We’re always going to stick together and be there each day for each other regardless of what happens good or bad,” Amidei said. “The team means the world and you’d do anything for each other.”
Amidei, now a senior, began the season with some struggles on the mound. He gave up a few game-winning runs. During rough pitching outings, he thinks back to lessons learned.
“Going through suspensions has taught me negative things are going to happen everyday, nothing is ever going to go perfect the way you think it is,” he said.
Amidei has gotten through his control issues and is having success. Saturday, he came into a tough situation on the road. With traffic on the base paths, he fanned two batters to give Mesa State a 7-4 win over CSU-Pueblo.
As his final season winds down, Amidei is unsure of future plans but said he’d love an opportunity to play professionally.
Mesa State has had its share of talented pitchers: Sergio Romo, Brett Armour, and Brendan Donelly to name a few.
“The thing about Jack is whether he’s pitched poorly or well and whether he’s been in the lineup regularly or not, Jack’s always been 100 percent supportive of his teammates,” Hanks said. “Even early in the year he wasn’t pitching well so he wasn’t getting a lot of opportunity, Jack’s the guy who’s keeping the dugout in the ballgame. He’s the first guy out of the dugout to congratulate another pitcher for doing something good or when someone hits a home run.”