BARBOURVILLE, Ky. - Brian Mosher could have given up. No one would have blamed him for focusing on soccer and basketball, while enjoying a season off. But his heart would not let him no matter how much of a heartache baseball was throwing his way.

Mosher was a member of Berea Community High School’s version of the Bad News Bears. The Pirates suffered through three straight winless seasons, a total of 68 straight losses from 2002 to 2006. Mosher played his first two seasons of high school baseball without experiencing a win.

But, nothing was going to stop him from playing.

“It was really hard to stick with it,” Mosher said. “But, I love baseball. You have to love it to stick around that long.”

He recently reaped the reward of his dedication and hard work, becoming the first Berea baseball player to sign a college scholarship since 2001.

Now the outfielder will join a team that has experienced very little losing during the last three seasons — Union College.

“We’ve had a pretty good run,” Bulldog coach Bart Osborne said. “We’ve won at least 40 games each of the past three seasons.”

Union also captured its first NAIA Region XII tournament title this year, beating Tennessee Wesleyan 11-6 in the championship game.
The Bulldogs then hosted their first Super Regional, but lost to Cumberland (Tenn.) University.
So where did Mosher’s love of the game come from to weather such seasons?
“Throwing baseball with my grandpa before he died,” the outfielder said. “That probably inspired me to play baseball forever. We would sit out there and I’d pitch to him until dark. We were just throwing baseballs.”
And the senior is glad the game he loves has been rejuvenated at BCHS. He credits much of the change to coach Bill Smallwood, who took over the program for the third time in 2006.
Smallwood stepped down as head coach for the second time in 2003 and during his two stints the Pirates were seven or eight games over .500.
Then began the slow decline to the winless seasons.
“He turned this program around,” Mosher said about Smallwood. “It’s awesome. We’ve got better attitudes on the team. We’ve got the winning attitude back. And we’ve got some good young guys coming up so hopefully they’ll do even better next year.”
In the past two seasons, the Pirates went 18-34 and were just two games below .500 (13-15) last year.
Mosher’s senior year was highlighted by wins over Whitley County, 9-8, and Garrard County, 4-1. Berea also took eventual 44th District Tournament champion Madison Central to seven innings in the opening round of the tournament.
The Pirates had not played a complete game in the postseason since a 7-1 loss in 2003 to Madison Southern.
Smallwood knows it has been players like Mosher that have helped him turn the program around.
“He’s been willing to do whatever it takes,” the veteran coach said. “When I think of Brian, that’s one thing I think of — he was willing to do whatever it took to make us a better team.”
The senior showed great versatility and readiness to step in wherever Smallwood needed him.
Mosher was a fielder Smallwood knew he could trust in several roles and he finished his senior season with a .912 fielding average — playing mostly center field with a few games at shortstop.
He also demonstrated power at the plate in his last season. Smallwood moved him from leadoff to fifth in the order. Mosher delivered a .244 batting average with 24 runs, 20 RBIs, 10 stolen bases and one home run.
Knowing his center fielder wanted to continue to play in college, Smallwood did what he could to make the connection between Mosher and Union.
He said he made a call to Osborne, who was looking for good outfielders.
“We were in dire need of outfielders,” Osborne said. “Brian came out and worked out for us. He’s a good, young player.”
Osborne hopes to get the center fielder into a weight-training program and then find him some immediate playing time.
“We want to get him stronger and he has the opportunity to play early for our junior varsity and varsity teams,” Osborne said.
Mosher says his past two seasons have taught him to try hard and to listen to everything the coaches say because they know what they are talking about.
That type of attitude and his love for the game should help him do well at the next level. And the magnitude of his signing is not lost on him.
“It feels weird because there have been a lot of good baseball players that have come through here,” the outfielder said. “It feels good, though, to be up there with them and sign with a good college like Union, which is a good baseball school.”
The Bulldogs  finished 46-17 in 2007, their third consecutive 40-win season.