With Vin Scully on the call and a crowd of 42,380 in attendance at a sun-splashed Dodger Stadium, Sunday afternoon was ripe for history, at least for the Franklin Pierce University baseball program. Left-handed pitcher Steve Hathaway became the first former Raven to make his Major League Baseball debut, when he tossed one-third of an inning for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Sporting the Diamondbacks’ Sedona Red alternate top with the number 56 in black affixed to the back, Hathaway was summoned to the mound at Chavez Ravine to start the bottom of the seventh inning on Sunday. It would be a rough go on the first trip to an MLB mound for the southpaw, who dealt a first-pitch strike, but was ultimately greeted by a line-drive single to right-center by Andrew Toles, before six-time All-Star Chase Utley dumped a double the other way into left-center field.
After a visit from pitching coach Mike Butcher, Hathaway was able to record his first Major League strikeout, by getting 2011 All-Star Howie Kendrick to swing through a 2-2 fastball. However, National League Rookie of the Year candidate Corey Seager was next and drove a hanging, full-count breaking ball deep into the Pavilion in right field for his 18th home run of the season, spelling the end of Hathaway’s day.
Hathaway was called up to Arizona on Saturday, after starting the year with the Diamondbacks’ Double-A affiliate, the Mobile BayBears. After pitching to a 1.17 ERA over 15.1 innings with Mobile, he was called up to the Triple-A Reno Aces in mid-May. Hathaway made 24 relief appearances totaling 24.2 innings for Arizona’s Pacific Coast League affiliate, posting a 3.28 ERA, a 1.297 WHIP and striking out 9.1 batters per nine innings before getting the call to the big leagues.
A 14th-round draft pick in 2013, Hathaway was a member of the Ravens’ 2013 NCAA East Regional champion squad. In his first season at Franklin Pierce, he earned Northeast-10 Conference All-Rookie Team honors in 2011.