Along with Louisville Slugger and Rawlings, Easton may be one of the better known brands associated with baseball? But with only 214 residents, Easton, Minn., had little chance of being recognized for baseball—until Adam Schrader.

The Southwest Minnesota State University redshirt freshman missed most of last season with an injury after graduating from United South Central in 2005. Even in high school, Schrader easily stood out amongs 250 other classmates as a first-team all-state pitcher and two-time all-conference selection. His high school career ended with a 15-5 record and 2.40 ERA on the mound, as well as an all-conference nod in basketball.

Easton and Schrader aren’t hard to find, 20 miles north of the Iowa border and roughly 100 miles south of Soutwest Minnesota State, in Marshall.

But, in the months between graduation and what would have been his freshman year at a nearby community college, Schrader hadn’t drawn enough recruiting interest to even consider playing baseball at the next level.

Then came SMSU coach Paul Blanchard…to see current Mustangs freshman Matt Paulsen in his Pipestone, Minn., his hometown. Schrader also happened to be in Pipestone that weekend with his American Legion team in the Division II district tournament.

After seeing Schrader pitch, Blanchard couldn’t understand why the right-handed hurler hadn’t been recruited or why he wasn’t even thinking about playing in college.

“The tournament setting, recruiting-wise is where you want to go because you see a lot of teams in one spot. He didn’t even have any plans of playing college baseball when I talked to him in July,” Blanchard said. “We knew he had the physical tools and the ability, it was just a matter of teaching him a few pitches. He’s 6-3 and a good athlete with a live arm, so we said we’d see what happens and see if we could make him a pitcher.”

What happened, after the injury-plagued true freshman season, has been nothing short of remarkable.

Last month, Schrader was named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Pitcher of the Week – twice.

“We’re very pleased with the effort he’s made so far this year. You really can’t do much better than what he’s done for us (pitching 25 innings without an earned run to start the season),” Blanchard said. “Every time out he’s been the same. Teams aren’t able to string anything together against him because his pitches have been outstanding.

“He’s got a good live fastball (86-87 miles per hour), good enough that he can miss and get away with it. His slider is a tremendous pitch for him. It’s as good as I’ve seen and it’s a pitch that teams have a hard time with. He’s also throwing his change-up on a more consistent basis so now hitters have three things to worry about.”

Hitters have had more than their fair share of problems adjusting to Schrader, but his adjustment to college life on the 3,200-student Marshall campus has painted him as the poster-boy for small college recruiting.

“He welcomed a smaller-school environment, and it’s not a huge town so I don’t know that it was much of a switch for him,” Blanchard said. “He’s more on the quiet side, but he’s fit in well, adjusted and made the transition pretty smoothly.”

“I like the small-town feel and the feeling that everyone’s friendly and everyone knows each other,” Schrader said. “It was definitely important to see the difference in the level of competition. Hopefully it’ll get other kids a chance to go play college ball. I try telling them if they get a chance to play, it’s a really good experience and a big change from what we play in high school.”

So far, for the Mustangs (22-12 through April 25), Schrader has posted a 2.92 ERA, while going 5-2 with three complete games. In 37 innings, Schrader has allowed just 12 earned runs while leading the team in strikeouts (26).

“This is his first true year on the mound and he’s the kind of guy that when he gets on the mound the team knows we’re going to have a chance to win the game,” said Blanchard. “Just from what he’s done so far, they know the score is going to be low and they’re going to have a chance to win so it’s a big confidence boost to the team.

“It would be pretty high expectations for anybody to come in and be expected to do what he’s done so far,” Blanchard added. “We knew he was a good athlete but we got him really late in the recruiting process because no one had really seen him. He was in such a small school, but we just happened to be in the right place at the right time. He’s been a true diamond in the rough for us.”

Though Minnesota ballplayers might continue to get overlooked by colleges and scouts outside of the Land of 10,000 Lakes, stories like Schrader’s could change that reality.

“I’d say baseball does get looked past a lot, but amateur ball is a pretty big deal in Minnesota,” Schrader said. “I don’t know if people really get picked up from that, but it’s still fun. Almost all the little towns in Minnesota have amateur teams where the older guys who are done playing in college play over the summer.

“You can only do so much in the gym. That was one of the biggest things for me,” Schrader added. “We wouldn’t start until mid-March, but now we throw all year round.”