A whole new inning

EAST PEORIA — Elvin Ramos Jr., or to his teammates, EJ, is a hard-throwing freshman pitcher looking to contribute to the 2015 Cougars baseball team at Illinois Central College.

NYC TO ICC

Ramos comes from Christ the King High School in Queens, New York.

“I get a better nights sleep here because I don’t have to listen to the loud J train that I live under back home in New York,” Ramos said.

While many ICC students are able to go home after their last class each day, Ramos is a long way from his home in Queens, New York. Ramos is quickly learning to do things for himself and adjusting to the challenges that come with being outside of the city life he grew up in.

“I have to go so far just to get milk here,” Ramos said. Without a car, the Washington Wal-Mart is not exactly “around the corner.” Missing his friends and family back home, Ramos uses Facetime to stay connected, and Ramos said roommate and teammate Zach Cleinmark has been very helpful with adapting to his stay at ICC.

While life at ICC is much slower compared to New York, Ramos said people are “much more polite,” noting people opening doors for others. Ramos also noted that Midwest people “can be hard to understand with their country accents,” and that some people have found his New York accent hard to understand, too. However, Ramos finds himself “taking a liking to country music” and likes listening to the songs of Jason Aldean and Florida Georgia Line.

THE GAME

In high school, Ramos played basketball during his freshman and sophomore years. He also played center field and as a four-year starter on the varsity baseball team, which earned second team all city honors his senior year. During the winter months Ramos continued to practice in the cages everyday.

After growing up idolizing and imitating New York Yankee pitcher and future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera, it is no surprise that Ramos enjoys pitching when the pressure of the last few innings is on. The “pressure” that comes with coming into a game late is what Ramos says he enjoys most about pitching.

Ramos has played on numerous teams during the summer months, including his time as the sole US member of a Venezuelan team that traveled to Florida, playing in a USSSA tourney against Major League scout teams.

Ramos is currently pitching in the middle innings for the Cougars during the fall season. After wrapping up the fall season, Ramos is looking forward to the offseason strength and conditioning program. He hopes use the training to put¬¬ on a few pounds and add some velocity to his fastball. Ramos feels opponents tend to take him lightly due to being a shorter player, but he plans to change that by getting their attention with a faster fastball.