When Mount Carmel graduate Tommy Egan got the ball with a chance to make history for Troy University, it was the culmination of quite a journey.
In his fifth season of college baseball and at his fourth school, Egan was named the starting pitcher for Game 2 of Troy’s super regional against Little Rock. The Trojans were playing at home with a chance to clinch the first College World Series appearance in program history.
It was beyond a dream scenario for Egan.
“Pitching in the super was super special,” Egan said. “There was so much adrenaline. I had more adrenaline at the super than in Omaha.
“It was packed. Fans were standing at the top of the football stands looking down on us — they were all over the field. It was really cool.”
Egan delivered one of the best performances of his career under that huge spotlight. The senior right-hander struck out eight over 7 1/3 innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits in a 7-2 win that sent coach Skylar Meade and the Trojans to the College World Series in Omaha for the first time.
“It means everything to help Troy get there,” Egan said. “It was more wanting to do it for Skylar. He’s such a good guy. He actually cares about the players. We’d lose and we’d be like, ‘Oh, he’s not sleeping tonight.’ He’s so obsessed with it and you just want to win for him.”
That historic win came June 6, the same day Mount Carmel beat Brother Rice 11-1 to win a Class 4A sectional title on its way to a third-place finish in the state.
Egan’s dad, Mark, is an assistant for the Caravan who was in Troy to watch Tommy that day, while Mount Carmel coach Brian Hurry confirmed that he rushed from the game at Brother Rice to go watch Tommy pitch on TV.
Hurry later made it to Omaha to cheer on Tommy at the College World Series.
“I’ve known Tommy forever and it’s so exciting to see him have this kind of success, and I’m so happy for him and Mark,” Hurry said. “I’m really proud of Tommy.”
The Trojans went 1-2 in Omaha, beating Ole Miss 12-8 in between a pair of losses to West Virginia, which beat Troy 7-5 and 12-0. Egan contributed in the lone victory, pitching two innings and allowing four earned runs.
“It was amazing being in Omaha,” Egan said. “The first game, they do a flyover and we got to play in the first game. That was crazy. That was super cool.
“The last game, we were all down in the bullpen and we were getting whooped and we were just like, ‘We’re really in Omaha right now. How did we get here?’ It’s hard to be mad when you’re playing there.”
Egan finished the season 6-5 with a 5.46 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 89 innings.
He appreciated his success even more considering for the second half of the season he was battling a calf injury, which threw off his mechanics and hindered his velocity.
“I was throwing 84 or 86 (mph),” he said. “I haven’t thrown that slow since sophomore year of high school. For any other team, I would have shut it down, but for this team, I just had to accept that I wasn’t going to have my best stuff. I was still going to put up good numbers.”
Egan started his college career at Iowa Western before stops at Houston and Illinois-Chicago. Now, he’s waiting to see if any professional opportunities come his way.
Either way, this year was unforgettable.
“I had to just be content with saying, ‘I’m just going to play baseball. I don’t know if it’s going to be my last year, but I’m going to enjoy it,’” Egan said. “Making it to Omaha, it makes it all worth it.”
