By JOE McFARLAND

When he was speaking with prospective college programs, Hudson Kozicki said he had one goal: play baseball as long as he can.

The Sherwood Park native and Vauxhall Academy of Baseball alum had been on the radar of post-secondary coaches for years, having pitched in some big moments throughout his young career.

Fresh off suiting up for the Team Alberta Bighorns at the Baseball Canada Cup in Fort McMurray, he got a call from the University of Mary.

Headed up by former Jet Tanner Spencer, Kozicki says the Marauders had the perfect answers for him, especially when it comes to developing his own game and the kinds of programs he wants to take in school.

Hoping to follow in his dad’s footsteps of business and law, the 17-year-old is spending the off-season working on his strength as well as a new pitch.

Kozicki joined us for a recent episode of Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast, where a few of his answers make up the latest installment of 1 Thru 9.

1. How excited are you to sign on the dotted line with the University of Mary and look ahead to college baseball?

I’m super excited. I went down to visit a few weeks ago here and had a great time. The coaching staff has a lot of good stuff going on and obviously we have a few alumni from Vauxhall who are there already and have heard nothing but good things to say. So I’m super-excited to work and train to get there next fall.

2. What are you hoping to work on over the next few months to get yourself ready for the trek down south?

Physically, I want to get bigger. I want to get stronger. I want to put myself in the best position to play once I get down there for day one. I do have a list of goals here on the weight room side of things and I’m hoping to hit those. Hopefully throughout the spring, I can develop more on the pitchability side. I’m working on a third pitch, a splitter, currently. Hopefully that can get developed this spring and I’ll be good to go with three solid pitches, hopefully.

3. What made you decide you wanted to add to your arsenal of pitches?

I’ve always been really good at spinning it pretty well with the curveball, but I’ve had no ability to throw a changeup ever. Part of my whole problem is I’d get really down on myself and I’d start switching grips in the middle of the spring and I’d never find anything to stick. I was lucky enough when I was down with Team Alberta, one of my coaches – Phil Curtis, actually – showed me his old splitter grip. It felt really good out of the hand and it felt like I didn’t have to worry too much about getting around it or anything, which I had to do with changeups before. I thought this was something I could pursue, but I like to take it slow.

I didn’t start throwing it in-game until about the last week or week-and-a-half of our fall here at Vauxhall and even then, I’m still trying to fine-tune it. That’s priority number-one here going into throwing again this winter. I’m just going to try to take it slow and get that pitch designed and feel where I should be throwing it, and where I need to be throwing it against hitters and get that down pat before I start worrying about the in-game aspect.

I’m extremely grateful, blessed and excited to announce that I will be continuing my athletic and academic career at the University Of Mary. I would like to thank my parents, Teammates, Coaches and Friends for their love and support throughout this journey.
HooksUp ! pic.twitter.com/42AHRv4Z0B
— Hudson Kozicki (@Hudson_Kozicki2) October 29, 2024

4. What did it mean to you getting to throw for Team Alberta at the Baseball Canada Cup?

It was amazing – it was an honour. When I was growing up, I remember watching all the Team Alberta teams coming up. It was always a huge goal of mine. Especially getting to do it with guys I’ve played with and played against the last forever, since I was a little kid starting baseball. It was a really cool experience. It was interesting to see how quickly that team could bond. Especially since we all come from different parts of Alberta. Some guys had never met before, but it seemed like almost as soon as we got to our first practice and got on the bus on the way down to Fort Mac, we were already united as a team.

5. How fun was it getting to play in a big national tournament like that while on home turf?

I really tried to soak it in. Going down there, the atmosphere was insane. The field getting to play there … we played the night game against Manitoba and PEI and both of those games were electric. It was a really cool experience. I just tried to soak in the moment and not trying to let that get ahead of me too much. I think that me and the whole team did a really good job of that, and staying centered, which was a huge thing for our team. Especially with the crowds we were getting as the home team, it’s easy to get distracted.

6. You have some pretty good alumni who have come through Vauxhall like Damiano Palmegiani and Adam Macko. What’s it like having them in your back pocket when they stop by for a visit or Zoom chat?

It’s super-inspiring. We’ve had tons of very successful guys from our program come and talk to us. My grade ten year, we had Josh Burgmann, who is now with PBA in Lethbridge, he was our coach that year. Just getting to see his side of the pitching perspective was really cool and really interesting. We’ve had FaceTime calls with Damiano and Macko and Garrett Hawkins, just getting their mindsets and how they translated their game here to the next level. Just getting to learn that from them and seeing how they went about their work really inspires you and shows you that if you put in the work here, it’s going to come out. Good things will happen.

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7. We all know baseball is a game of failure. What’s been the biggest challenge or hurdle you’ve had to overcome on your journey so far?

I think the biggest challenge I had to overcome was the mental side of the game. I would either let it speed up on me too much or I’d dwell too much on the past. I worked a lot with our coaching staff and all my past teammates helped me so much with it, just finding that even-level ground. I think that’s helped me a lot throughout the last little bit here, once I kind of learned that. I think the mental role is super under-valued in baseball but plays a huge aspect of the game.

8. What’s your one piece of advice or those words of wisdom you like to impart on those young kids just starting out but wanting to get to where you’re at now?

Just take it as slow as possible because it moves so fast here. Just getting into the whole atmosphere, just take it in and learn as much as you can. Just take it day-by-day and do everything with a meticulous brain and really just simplify and slow it all down to do the best you can. Especially coming as a grade ten, three years seems like a long time, but it felt really fast. You have to take it as slow as you can.

9. What does the game of baseball mean to you?

The game of baseball means everything to me. I’ve been playing it for so long now and there’s yet to be a dull moment. Every day is exciting going in and getting the work in. The people I’ve met and the memories I’ve made have shaped me into who I am today and I can still remember waiting every day on my doorstep for my dad to get home just to throw when I was a little kid. Moments like that are just unforgettable to me, so I think just being around baseball and getting to make those moments is really special and that’s what I live for.