Serra grad Mitchell Scott continuing sturdy 2021 season in Alaska

A 2018 graduate of Serra, Scott helped propel the Bucs into the Top of the World Series — the ASL’s three-game championship series starting Monday — with a clutch effort to earn the victory Saturday in Game 2 of best-of-three semifinal playoff round against the top-seed Mat-Su Miners despite his surrendering seven walks through six innings of work.

“It was one of the crazier things I’ve ever been a part of,” Scott said. “It was just one of those things where I didn’t have that many pitches working for me, but I wasn’t really getting hit either.”

The wild outing translated into a unique pitching line: six innings while allowing one run on one hit and striking out none, while walking seven, hitting a batter and throwing two wild pitches.

Scott’s performance this summer has solidified his prospects as a sturdy Pac-12 arm after enjoying his best season as a redshirt sophomore at Cal during the spring. After the 2020 season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic, Scott was left with just 11 pitching appearances through his first two years with the Golden Bears. In 2021, he tripled that total, working in 22 games, all in relief, while holding opposing batters to a .190 batting average.

The topsy-turvy 2021 season ended in disappointment for Cal. The Golden Bears had a chance to advance to the NCAA regional playoffs but dropped two of three in their final series at University of Oregon. The two losses dropped Cal to seventh place in the Pac-12 standings, one game back of Arizona State and Oregon State, with the top six teams advancing to the postseason.

“It was a little bit of a rocky start but then we started to figure it out and play well,” Scott said. “Unfortunately, we came up just a little bit short in our last series … but it was definitely a big step for me this year as a pitcher.”

The summer has been more of the same in Scott’s big step this year. He has posted a 3-2 record with a 3.12 ERA and earned three saves before being moved to the starting rotation July 25. It was a July 14 relief appearance that earned Scott a chance to start. He entered that game against the Miners looking to eat up innings, expecting to max out at three. He ended up tossing five no-hit innings while striking out eight, including setting down the last 12 batters he faced.

“They were just kind of rolling with the hot hand at that point,” Scott said.

Not that Scott has anything against relieving. Far from it. It gives him the chance to get “adrenalated.”

“I like relieving more because you get put in in those adrenalated situations later in games,” Scott said.

Serra fans remember Scott exclusively as a senior starter on a talented Padres staff in 2018. He was part of a standout one-two punch with senior left-hander Nick Lopez, and the duo was joined by sophomore left-hander Drew Dowd. Lopez and Dowd both now pitch at Stanford.

“At its core it’s still the same thing,” Scott said, “but it’s definitely a different mindset because you have to go in knowing that you’re going to have to last more than one or two innings, and that’s part of your job. So, it’s not about always making that big perfect pitch as a starter … because you have to make hitters get themselves out.”

With Scott having thrown 100 pitches Saturday, he will be unavailable to start the rest of the way for the Bucs, with the Top of the World Series finishing no later than Wednesday. Scott said he will make himself available to work in relief in the event of an if-necessary Game 3, but the Bucs would optimally like to wrap up the season Tuesday by winning the series in two games.

What’s certain, though, is Scott is enjoying the Anchorage baseball scene. The Bucs are taking on the Anchorage Glacier Pilots in the Top of the World Series. The two teams share a field at Mulcahy Stadium, and even play a rivalry series during the regular season, which the Glacier Pilots won earlier this year to claim the rivalry Mayor’s Cup.

Scott said the attendance for the Mayor’s Cup series games were anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 fans per game. This was quite an improvement from the 2021 season at Cal, where attendance was limited to players’ immediate family members due to pandemic protocols. Even in Cal’s May 17 game at rival Stanford, attendance was limited to a mere 422 fans.

“Our last series (in Anchorage) over the past weekend It was a pretty full stadium,” Scott said. “It’s a lot more natural in terms of getting back to playing baseball the way it used to be.”