Broshuis pitches well despite losing record

~ Advance's Broshuis boasts a 3.48 ERA, but is 2-9 this season.

Garrett Broshuis laughed during a telephone interview when it was suggested that he has to be at the top of the professional baseball list of pitchers having the most tough-luck season.

Broshuis, an Advance High School graduate who plays for the Connecticut Defenders, an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, ranks 11th in the Class AA Eastern League with a 3.48 ERA.

In addition, Broshuis has allowed 91 hits in 93 innings. Yet the right-handed starter's record is 2-9.

"Our radio announcer told me a stat about how, in my first eight losses, the team scored two runs when I was in the game," Broshuis said. "It's been a weird season, pretty incredible. It's just been bad luck for me. But I'm just trying to stay positive with it."

Broshuis figures the tide might be starting to turn anyway. He finally picked up his second win in his most recent start this week and will try to make it two straight Saturday.

"Maybe things will start to turn around for me," Broshuis said, chuckling.

And even if the wins don't start coming on a regular basis, Broshuis knows he is realizing his goal of becoming more consistent. He went 7-10 with a 4.97 ERA last season for the Defenders, who are located in Norwich.

"Coming into the year I wanted to be real consistent. So far I think I've been able to do that and have been pitching pretty well," Broshuis said. "My goal, every time I go out, is to get the team a win.

"But at the same time, you have to be objective about how you evaluate yourself. And I know the [Giants] organization looks at other things besides the record."

After a stellar athletic career at Advance High School -- where he was all-state in baseball and basketball -- Broshuis was a standout pitcher at the University of Missouri.

Broshuis left Missouri following his junior season after he was selected in the fifth round of the 2004 amateur draft.

Now in his fourth minor league season, Broshuis said he enjoys life as a pro athlete, although it can be difficult at times and is certainly not glamorous at the Class AA level.

"It can be hectic at times, being on the road so much, being away from your family," Broshuis said. "I just got married this past offseason. It's tough being away from her and from my parents and my sisters.

"But I'm still doing what I love. I'm still chasing the boyhood dream I've had since I've been 3 or 4 years old."

Broshuis said his wife, who he met while he attended Missouri, is a physical therapist in St. Louis, where the couple currently resides. She joins him during the season when she can and his parents visit from Advance about once a season.

"And the good thing, with the Internet now, it's pretty easy for them to follow what I'm doing," Broshuis said.

Despite leaving Missouri after his junior year, Broshuis was already close to graduating, so the honors student went back during his first offseason and finished a degree in psychology with a 3.92 grade-point average.

"That was important to me, to go back and get my degree," said Broshuis, who graduated from Advance High School as class valedictorian with a 4.0 GPA. "I'm glad I did it as soon as possible."

Broshuis hopes to not have to use the diploma for quite a while -- no matter what his current record is.

"It's a long road and it hasn't been easy, but I think I'm still in the position I need to be," Broshuis said of his prospects for reaching the major leagues. "I still think I have a pretty good shot to make it."