MSUB SPORTS – An ace is a baseball team's backbone.
 
He has the most guts, he's the most gritty, and in many ways has the ability to impact a game and an entire series more so than any other individual player.
 
The ace is the tone-setter, the most trusted and reliable arm that the team has got. It's a role that has befitted Steen Fredrickson over the last two seasons. "The guys are comfortable when he gets the ball, because they know he is going to give us a chance to win every single time," said Montana State University Billings head coach Aaron Sutton. "Having him at the front end of our rotation is crucial. What a lot of people don't realize is that a lot of the time, he is throwing against the other team's number one. He has won those battles more often than not."
 
Fredrickson was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week on Monday for the fourth time in his career, and the first time this season. The righty is coming off an eight-strikeout performance last Friday against Concordia, winning a game that clinched the Yellowjackets' fourth regular-season title in the last five seasons.
 
Now, the Ashland, Oregon, native will lead his team to his home state where MSUB will begin the 2019 GNAC Championships against Saint Martin's University on Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. Pacific/7 p.m. Mountain. Porter Park on the campus of Concordia University is a site he is all too familiar with. "I first pitched there when I was 15 or 16, and we lost the American Legion state championship game my freshman year of high school," Fredrickson commented on the all-turf field, mound included. "It's definitely a little ironic that we are going back there to play this tournament. It will be fun to be around family and friends."
 
Fredrickson, who leads the GNAC with 74 1/3 innings pitched, and ranks second in earned run average (3.87), strikeouts (79), and wins (six), will take his next turn on the mound at some point this week in Portland.
 
When the ball is in his hands, the 'Jackets know they'll have a chance to win. But it hasn't always been that cut and dry.
 
LEARNING SUCCESS THROUGH FAILURE
 
Fredrickson started pitching at age nine, when Ashland-based pitching coach Chuck Thacker took him under his wing and started developing his mechanics. The two remain in contact regularly to this day, with Fredrickson continually reaching out to talk through his craft.
 
A two-sport athlete at Ashland High School, Fredrickson competed in basketball and made the varsity baseball team his freshman year. During his prep years he got by purely on overpowering the opposition, and he soon began to garner interest from collegiate programs. Fredrickson visited MSUB during the fall of 2014, and it didn't take him long to voice his commitment after meeting with then-head coach Rob Bishop. "I sat down with Bishop, and was sold right away," Fredrickson said. "I talked with my parents after we got home, and I made the decision one or two days later."
 
The opportunity presented itself for Fredrickson to gain valuable experience as a true freshman, as he made six appearances and logged 19 full innings of work coming out of the bullpen in 2016. "I told coach before the season that my goal was to throw 20 innings that year," said Fredrickson. "I didn't have a great year, but I got my feet wet. I looked up a lot to guys like Kyle Durbin and Luke Reinschmidt, and saw the way they carried themselves. Those were guys who wanted the best for me as a young player, and they were really able to show me how leaders were supposed to do it."
 
The first of Fredrickson's three championships he has enjoyed came that spring, when the 'Jackets ended the year in a tie for first place with Northwest Nazarene University atop the GNAC standings. Upon the conclusion of the season, Bishop departed for Division I South Dakota State University, leaving a coaching vacancy and a major unknown in the mind of Fredrickson and many of the Yellowjacket players. "I was confused at first, because I didn't know where the program would go," Fredrickson responded when asked about the coach who recruited him leaving the program amid his career. "It was never really an option in my mind to leave, because I had committed to the program. Then, MSUB made one of the best moves in the history of the program bringing in Coach Sutton."
 
Inheriting a mighty task in the fall of 2016, the first thing Sutton had to do was assess the talent level of the players in the program and rework his roster. He recognized right away that Fredrickson was a staple for years to come. "Right away when we came in, he was a guy who stuck out as far as what he brought every day to practice, the weight room, and the classroom," Sutton said on Fredrickson. "We knew that he was a top notch kid."
 
Though Sutton saw the potential for the up-and-coming sophomore to bud into a top talent, the 2017 campaign was a trying one. Fredrickson lost his sophomore year. A lot.
 
A REFORMATION, OF SORTS
"Coach Sutton kept giving me an opportunity, and helped me grow in learning how to fail. On the other side, you need some success to realize why failure sucks so bad." – Steen Fredrickson on a revolutionary summer following a tumultuous 2017 season.
 
In 17 appearances and four starts, Fredrickson went 4-10 while carrying an 8.60 ERA in 37 2/3 innings pitched. That summer he pitched for the Wenatchee Applesox in the West Coast League, and he knew that something had to change.

It was in the highly-competitive WCL that Fredrickson unearthed his true passion for the art of pitching. It was something that he had possessed his whole life, but the potential of which was not realized until very recently. Working with the likes of former St. Louis Cardinals draftee Riley Drongesen, former UC San Diego pitcher and Atlanta Braves signee Cameron Kurz, and Connor Leedholm formerly of the University of Northern Colorado helped change everything about Fredrickson's approach. "Pitching around those guys made me realize how simple they thought about the game," Fredrickson said. "Riley, who was the pitching coach, never changed anything about how I threw, but instead just changed how I thought about pitching. That's who I credit with helping me become more of a pitcher, and that helped me create the love and passion I have for pitching now."
 
Physically and mentally, Fredrickson came into his junior season in the fall of 2017 an almost unrecognizable ballplayer. The results showed in his 2018 season with the Yellowjackets.
 
In 13 starts, he posted a 7-1 record with a 4.67 ERA, and led the GNAC with 70 strikeouts while walking just 33. The opposition hit just .252 off Fredrickson, and he led the Yellowjacket staff with 69 1/3 innings pitched. After piloting the team to another regular-season title, Fredrickson was honored as the 2018 co-GNAC Pitcher of the Year and was an honorable mention all-region selection on the mound.
 
In the eyes of Sutton, their ace had arrived. "He has been so consistent the last two years, and that has been huge for our pitching staff," Sutton said. "He had a lot of ups and downs his sophomore year, but he took that adversity and he grew with it. He took every opportunity as a learning opportunity, and when he showed up his junior year you could tell he was a changed man."
 
Fredrickson's numbers this spring are even better than his breakout 2018 campaign, as he once again headlines a talented pitching staff. The senior recognized the significance of leading the staff as an ace, but was quick to emphasize what is most important to him. "I could care less if I am pitching in the 1-through-4 spots," Fredrickson said. "I am proud that I am trusted enough by the coaching staff and my teammates to go out and have the expectation that I will put us in a position to win every game."
 
In the process of positioning his team for a win every time he toes the rubber, Fredrickson has simultaneously become one of the best pitchers to ever throw in the history of the GNAC. Entering this week's conference championships, Fredrickson is tied for No. 7 in GNAC history with 18 career wins, and he is also No. 7 with 196 career strikeouts. His 8.81 strikeouts per nine innings also places him in the top-10 at No. 9 in conference history. "He has left his stamp on this program, and has taken it to new heights," Sutton said. "He has also left his stamp on this conference, and he will go down as one of the best to play in it."
   

Rank	Name	Strikeouts	School	Seasons
1	Nick Waechter	269	WOU	2004-06
2	Roger Evenson	246	NNU	2003-05
3	Cody Cooper	237	MSUB	2014-17
4	Brady Muller	232	MSUB	2012-15
5	Steven Schutte	231	NNU	2002-04
6	Mike Ward	223	WOU	2007-08, 2010-11
7	Steen Fredrickson	196	MSUB	2016-19
8	Mickey Walker	192	SMU	2016-19
9	Brady Miller	187	WOU	2015-17
10	Mike Eisenhauer	185	WOU	2007-09

 
For all of Fredrickson's signature moments and the three championships he has helped bring to MSUB over the last four years, he affirmed that this year the goal is to capture the elusive tournament title and a first-ever NCAA D2 west region championships berth. "We are playing the type of baseball that I know MSUB holds its hat on, and that's what we love about playing for Coach Sutton," Fredrickson commented on the playoff-bound Yellowjackets. "The camaraderie between the younger and older players is different than I have ever seen before. Everybody, even the young guys, understand what this is about, and we all want to get it done for everybody who has come before us."
 
THE CONTINUATION OF AN ERA
"It is a romantic game, and things like this happen. For Steen, it is earned and deserved, and I couldn't ask for it to happen to a better kid." – Aaron Sutton on Fredrickson ending his tenure at Dehler Park with a strikeout on Senior Day.
 
In the moment, Fredrickson felt weightless. A 30-second reprieve from his warmup pitches seemed eternal as his fellow senior Landon Peterson strapped up his catching gear in the dugout. Fredrickson made the most of it, turning slowly in a full circle behind the mound at Dehler Park to take in the setting for a final time. "We were in a position in that game where I had an assumption that was probably going to be my last inning," Fredrickson commented on a game MSUB led 12-1 when he came back out for his seventh inning of work.
 
He made quick work of the Cavaliers' leadoff man with a popup to left field, and after falling behind the next batter 1-0 he came back with consecutive strikes. Summoning the pitch that has become his biggest weapon over the last two years, Fredrickson ripped off an untouchable slider for his 91st delivery of the game.
 
His smile as he looked towards the dugout at pitching coach Grant Hamilton after notching his eighth strikeout of the game, grew into an emotional grin as he saw Sutton step out and make his way to the mound. With two outs and the game and championship all but won, Fredrickson had thrown his final pitch at Dehler Park. "You deserve this," Sutton said as he reached the rubber and an emotional Fredrickson.
 
In a fitting moment resembling the passing of a torch, Fredrickson awaited the arrival of fifth-year senior Brandon Maassen from the bullpen down the left-field line, smacking the ball into his teammate's glove before a heartfelt embrace. "I told him that I loved him, and that he had worked so hard to get to that point. I congratulated him," Fredrickson revealed his words to Maassen on the mound.
 
And then, as their ace departed his home ballpark for a final time, the crowd rose to its feet in a standing ovation. Teammates poured out of the third-base dugout, each giving a hefty hug and slap on the back to their reliable and beloved starter. "You really have to compartmentalize your feelings about it," Fredrickson commented on leaving his home mound for the final time, while knowing that the season and his career will extend this week into the playoffs. "I let myself have the full experience of it being my final time at home, but it wasn't the emotions of being done with baseball. We have a lot more to go, and that dream will continue to live on."
 
Fredrickson's parents Genna and David didn't say much while in attendance Friday, but they didn't have to. Their calm, kind faces depicted a swath of emotions that eloquently illustrated the story of one of the best to ever suit up in a Yellowjacket uniform. Gratitude for one; a genuine thankfulness for the opportunity their son received to spend the last four years in an environment that he could thrive within. Honor was another, and perhaps the most naturally exhibited when reflecting back and hearing Steen's accolades and achievements being read over the public address system.
 
But more than anything else, they evoked a true sense of pride. Watching their son throw his final pitches at home meant more to them than to anybody else. By definition, having that kind of impact is what being an ace is all about.