TOWSON, Md. - Since its inception nearly 170 years ago, baseball has been a game of numbers, from home runs to strikeouts. And what is the world of high finance if not a juggling of numbers in the context of discussing markets and goods and services and supply and demand?
It would hardly be a surprise if Zach Fisher, fully immersed in both worlds as third baseman for the Tiger baseball team and a graduate student in economics, had some difficulty making all those numbers work.
To the contrary, Fisher is a hit on the field of play. He sports a .307 batting average with 14 steals – second best on the club – and has 63 hits, third-most on the Towson roster.
This season has been a bit of a slog for Fisher, who said he started slowly after a strong finish in 2012. Things got better, Fisher said, toward the middle of the season, but he went through a bit of a slump near the end.
“My swing feels comfortable,” said Fisher. “I'm glad I've come around. I'm hitting better and I think I can continue forward, hitting well instead of struggling like I did in the beginning of the season.”
Fisher also had some defensive issues early on, as he battled through an injured finger on his left, or glove, hand. He said he jammed the finger sliding into a base in mid-March, but as the weather has warmed, the injured finger has improved. Now, Fisher believes he's playing better.
It's interesting to consider that Fisher is a relative newcomer to third base, a position he didn't play at all during his Little League days or at Perry Hall High, where he played second and shortstop.
It wasn't until Fisher went to Maryland, where he transferred after a season, when he began to play third base. It is a position that he still has a love/hate relationship with.
“I still find myself at times not liking third,” said Fisher. “When you're at shortstop, you have time to read the hops and your footwork has to be good. At third, it's all reaction and you either catch it or you don't. There's no in-between there.”
As the Tigers (25-28 overall, 14-13 in conference play) approach this week's Colonial Athletic Association tournament, they'll need Fisher's bat and glove to make a move. Towson is seeded fourth and will meet Northeastern (28-24), the fifth seed, in Wednesday's noon opener.
Fisher, the Tigers' everyday leadoff hitter, has 10 doubles and 30 RBI's this season, and is batting .340 against CAA pitching.
In other words, his ability to get on and set the table for run-producers like right fielder Dominic Fratantuono and designated hitter Kurt Wertz may go a long way to determining how far Towson can go this week.
“We're going to win,” said Fisher. “No question about it. The difference between second place and fifth place doesn't get you anywhere. If you don't go in expecting to win it, I don't see how you can possibly win it.”
Fisher brings precisely that level of confidence to the classroom where he really excels, carrying a 4.0 grade point average for his graduate school work.
Fisher, who received an undergraduate degree in just three years while earning a 3.94 GPA, was named to the Capital One District 2 All-Academic team earlier this month, and could be named to the national All-Academic team next month.
For Fisher, high achievement in his studies is just par for the course.
“You have to work hard (in the classroom), but it just comes naturally to me because I've always worked hard,” said Fisher.
“My parents have always made me work hard. It's nothing new to me. I'm not shocked when I get good grades because I expect it. My parents expect me to get good grades. It's just been that way forever. Economics is a subject I learned to enjoy. When you enjoy something, it's really not that hard.”
When he's done with baseball, Fisher said he hopes to find a career where he can immerse himself in numbers, but not so much that he becomes overwhelmed by them.
“I want to get a nice balance between numbers and people,” said Fisher. “I definitely don't want to be sitting in a cubicle crunching numbers all day. That would drive me crazy.”
