Not being able to play a position that you have always played and loved is something that would discourage a lot of people.

Junior Scott Metz isn’t one of those people.

Metz, who originally came to Eastern as a shortstop, has turned a negative into a positive by becoming the Panthers ace this season and this week’s Top Cat.

Metz has put in a lot of work in both the cages and on the mound, but for all of the hard word that Metz has done in his career who does Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz think would win? Scott Metz the hitter or Scott Metz the pitcher?

“I think Scott Metz the pitcher would win,” Schmitz said with a laugh. “Without a doubt.”

Metz thinks if he would have been able to get things done at the plate he might have been a good position player, but he is still happy with the way things have turned on the hill.

“When I first got here I was a shortstop and I really wanted to be our number three hitter,” Metz said. “But I realized that maybe that wasn’t the way I was going to contribute and I like trying to be the number one pitcher.”

It’s not a surprise to Metz’s manger that Scott was able to make the transition from the infield to the mound so easily.

“I saw him play in high school and I loved him,” Schmitz said. “But then it was just one of those things that happens, like why can’t Chuck Knoblauch throw the ball to first. (Metz) just couldn’t get things done at the plate, but we’ll take him on the mound any day.”

With the way Metz has been pitching this season and more specifically the last 10 days or so Schmitz may want him to pitch every day.

The right-hander, in two conference games this season, has only allowed three runs on 10 hits, and has compiled a 2-0 record in the OVC.

“One of the things that has made it easy for me to get some things done has been the play of our defense,” Metz said. “I feel like I can throw anything and it will be caught, because these guys are so good with the glove.”

But what has impressed Schmitz the most about his new ace has been the composure that Metz has had so far.

“The nice thing about Scott is that whether he wins or loses he has that Aw shucks attitude,” Schmitz said. “And by that I mean that he is one of the guys that doesn’t let things get into his head.”

Another quality that the Eastern skipper likes about his pitcher is the fact that Metz can go out and give the team quality innings every time he toes the rubber.

“You know for the past couple of years John Larson carried on his back,” Schmitz said. “The year we won it all we did it with four arms.

“But with Scott and even Pete Martin it gives us so much more depth because we can use more of our good arms on Sunday because of the innings those two gave us on Saturday.”

But does the pressure of being compared to a recent Eastern great in Larson, or the pressure of being the Panthers ace worry Metz?

“You know when I think of starting the first game of a conference weekend, I don’t think of the pressure. I think of the challenge,” Metz said. “When I first became a pitcher Larson was our number one, and one of my goals was to be that guy that everyone believed in on the mound.”

But being that guy almost didn’t happen this year for the junior because of elbow tendinitis that kept him sidelined for all of the fall season.

“You know Scott came on last year and pitched well in the final game of the season, and then pitched very well in the summer,” Schmitz said. “But he had some soreness and we didn’t see him at all this fall.”

So when spring rolled around it was time for Schmitz to try and make a weekend rotation and pick a true number one. Luckily for Metz he was able to impress his coach enough to get the nod.

“Every team needs a number one starter on their staff. And coming into the year we didn’t know who that would be,” Schmitz said. “It was really between Nick Albu, Pete Martin, and Scotty. And not to put those other guys down, but Spotty really stepped up and jumped into that number one role.”

So how does Metz feel about the dark horse role that he not only took at the beginning of this year for his coach, and the dark horse role he has taken for the rest of the teams in Ohio Valley Conference?

“I kind of like the role because not too many people know who I am in the conference and that means I may be able to catch them by surprise,” Metz said.

“But I think that our whole team has that dark-horse mentality about us. We won the league two years in a row and then we had one bad season and we were picked to finish sixth in the conference. We are just out to prove what we can do.”