Van Leur Enjoys Pitching For Hometown team

by KDLT Sports
June 25, 2012 6:48 PM


This baseball season, The Pheasants have racked up a roster full of fresh faces..but face that's not new to area sports fans is short relief pitcher, Jack VanLeur.
     
This is VanLeur's first season with the Pheasants but he is no stranger to this team and it's history. In fact, the Brandon native who excelled basketball, football and baseball with the Lynx before a college baseball career at Creighton, grew up watching them when they sported the color yellow as the Canaries...

 "I remember when I was a little kid I always wanted to play out here...watching these guys, watching the canaries, I thought it would be a lot of fun playing with them," said Van Leur.
    VanLeur says this whole experience is "surreal" playing baseball near his old stomping grounds...

 "It is really exciting to be in the city I played in highschoool and being around friends and family all of the time. It makes for a pretty good experience and I hope to have a little fun with it too," said Van Leur.
    
 Being a left-handed specialist pitcher and throwing (submarine)side-arm, he is especially valuable against lefties in key situations, but his delivery is also tough on righties... his manager and pitching coach, say he is a valuable commodity.

 I've been pleased with his ability to get a right hander out although probably almost everytime he comes into a game, it is probably to come in and face left hander," said Steve Shirley.

And that's just fine with the Brandon southpaw who's been waiting for this opportunity since he was a kid....

In Sioux Falls, Betsy Jibben KDLT News