Major league closers like Eric Gagne and Trevor Hoffman like to enter the game with a heavy metal song playing over the speaker system of their home ballparks. Those songs seem to pump Gagne and Hoffman up and make them seem more intimidating.

Eastern’s closer Chris Vaculik may be intimidating, but he’s not as high strung as Gagne and Hoffman.

“I’m laid back,” Vaculik said. “You have to be easy going as a closer.”

Eastern head coach Jimmy Schmitz has a different opinion of Vaculik, but that could be because he doesn’t know him all that well.

“He’s a little goofy,” Schmitz said. “But I want our closer to be a little goofy out there.”

Vaculik has a habit of not playing catch until he is called to warm up in the bullpen.

In his past six innings pitched, Vaculik hasn’t given up a run and has struck out five of the 22 batters he’s faced. He’s only given up two hits to go with four walks issued.

“In the beginning of the season I was having trouble locating my pitches,” Vaculik said. “Now I feel I can throw a strike in any situation.”

“He has a tremendous amount of confidence for a freshman,” Schmitz said. “That’s basically because he’s had a lot of success.”

Vaculik’s statistics show how wild he’s been throughout the season as he leads the team with 11 wild pitches. He has also hit three batters.

Vaculik started playing baseball at age 7. He started pitching at that same age but didn’t start throwing breaking balls until age 11.

In high school, the combination of Vaculik’s hard fastball and his ability to throw the breaking ball for a strike, earned him a no-hitter and a perfect game both in the summer of his sophomore year.

“The perfect game was intense,” Vaculik said. “How often does that happen?”

Vaculik was a little banged up going into his junior baseball season so his coach thought it would be best for him to come out of the bullpen as the team’s closer.

When he healed, he was plugged back into the starting rotation and wasn’t used in the bullpen again until this year at Eastern.

“It’s not like I haven’t been used to being a closer,” Vaculik said. “I just have to stay relaxed and keep my laid-back attitude.”

Eastern started scouting Vaculik during his junior year at Providence Catholic High School but didn’t sign until close to the deadline. He signed in the fall of his junior year of high school.

Vaculik is now 4-1 with a 5.40 earned run average in 20 appearances. Vaculik also has four saves to add to those statistics.

Off the field and in the locker room, Vaculik maintains his easy going attitude even if his teammates playfully heckle him.

Vaculik said if he can’t keep a level head in the locker room, he couldn’t expect himself to stay calm on the field during games.