Seeing is believing for St. Bede’s Alan Spencer

The biggest opponent Alan Spencer faced wasn’t the batter standing at the plate or the pitcher on the mound.

It was the face looking back at him in the mirror.

Spencer didn’t always believe he could get the job done.

This year, he believed he was going to have a good senior season for the St. Bede Bruins baseball team. And he did.

“It started with my relationship with God this season. I really put my trust into Him. I just went on the mound or on deck and just told myself, ‘I’m the best out here and this is going to be a fun year,’” Spencer said from the dugout bench of the Bruins diamond.

“I just walked into the season with the most confidence I felt. Every year I’ve made more steps being the ballplayer I am today. I fully believe in myself this year all year. The team did, too.”

Spencer gave his team plenty of reason to believe in him. The senior right-hander had a spectacular senior season on the mound, spinning a sizzling 0.86 ERA with a 9-0 record and 105 strikeouts, all area bests, in 65 1/3 innings.

“I always knew I had it in me and had some potential in me. but I didn’t know I’d have that good of year this year. I’m glad I finally believed in myself and unlocked my true potential this year,” he said.

He played a big role in leading the Bruins to a 27-5 record.

For all of his accomplishments on the diamond this spring, Spencer is the 2025 BCR Player of the Year.

St. Bede coach Bill Booker never doubted his ace.

“He learned to trust his stuff, took coaching very well and stuck to his game plan. He did develop more confidence as the season went along and like any great pitcher, never wanted the ball out of his hands,” Booker said. “The coaches and his teammates had great faith in him and appreciated his team-first attitude throughout the season.

“His ‘let’s have some fun’ lightened the moment often. We will miss him in the 2026 season for what he brought to this team.”

Spencer said his go-to pitch is his slider or spotting the fastball on the outside corner.

“I would locate. If the umpire wasn’t calling (the outside corner) that day. I’d just go to the slider,” he said.

Spencer and his fellow Bruins hurlers were rewarded with the “hard hat” award after a good day’s work on the mound, which he appreciated.

“We go into work every day. And that just represented the pitchers because I feel like you have to have strong pitching if you want to win ballgames,” Spencer said.

The Bruins ace said he was clocked at 87.2 mph last winter, but never checked the radar this spring.

“I’ll put in a bunch of work and see where I get,” he said.

Spencer also had a strong season at the plate, batting .333 with 24 RBIs, five doubles and one home run. Hitting was his first love, until he found pitching.

“I’ve always enjoyed hitting since I started baseball. It was the first thing I enjoyed then I found pitching and went with that,” he said. “I’ve always had a good stick, not having to think about it helped me be a good hitter this year.”

The season didn’t end the way the Bruins wanted, falling to Midland 4-2 in the regional final. That was a stunning defeat, especially coming off a sectional final appearance in 2024.

“With the record we had and amount of fun we had all year, I definitely thought we were going to make a deeper run,” Spencer said. “This team was a very special team. We kind of played loose all year. I think that’s the reason we succeeded this year.”

Spencer wanted to make name for himself coming to St. Bede from Grand Ridge, a 35-minute daily trip. Now that it’s all over, he said it’s sad.

“I’ve made a lot of memories and good friendships here. Looking at the field right now, it was definitely a good place to play,” he said.

He still has plenty of baseball ahead of him, however. Spencer will pitch for Danville Community College after Putnam County graduate Luke Olson, who started his college career there, helped Spencer make connections.

“Luke saw me pitch a bullpen and called Coach (Clayton) Hicks and put in a word for me and then the next thing I knew I’m taking a visit to Danville. I didn’t know much about it at the time, but I knew that’s the place where I wanted to go to,” Spencer said.

“I’m excited to go pitch at the college level and see how I can progress as a pitcher and see how far I can take this. (Playing Division I) has definitely been the goal for I don’t know for long. I’ve always loved baseball ever since I picked up a baseball and I hope to play it for as long as I can.”