By Deecon Hill
Write on Sports interviewed Zach Martin on July 11, 2018. He is a Notre Dame baseball player. He is a pitcher for the University of Notre Dame coming off of a great season, pitching 43 innings with 34 strikeouts. This doesn’t happen overnight though, it took lots of practicing and determination just to even get to play baseball for Notre Dame.
In high school, Zack Martin played for Plainfield North High School. Out of high school he was the 24th prospect in Illinois but was the seventh best right-handed pitcher in Illinois. Zack Martin practiced baseball all the time to get there though. In high school, he practiced everyday with the mentality, “there are no days off.” This got him to the elite level coming into his freshman year of college at Notre Dame.
In Zack Martin’s freshman year playing for Notre Dame, he only appeared on the mound nine times but only played six innings with only three hits off of him with only allowing one run. He also struck out seven batters and didn’t allow any extra-base hits that season. And he finished his season strong by not allowing a hit in his last seven appearances. He had a good enough season for the coach to be comfortable playing him a lot more the next season. He practiced six days a week on his pitching to get better at it because he doesn’t bat.
His Junior season was a great year for him. He played 43 innings with 34 strikeouts with only 19 appearances. He made a set his career high in strikeouts in his first career start against Saint Joseph with six strikeouts. He also had first career save against Pittsburgh on May 4, 2018. This was a great season for Zack Martin but it didn’t happen overnight for him. He practiced about two hours for six days a week. This is what makes him different then everyone else, not about his stats or how many strikeouts he has but his work ethic for his goal which is to make the MLB.