The crooked smile that almost serendipitously curls under the intense fire blue eyes of junior pitcher Zach Luman implores you to ask him about his story. His eyes of flame come from a fire that he has danced around for most of life — temptation.
“My entire life I was a Christian, but I never walked in my faith. I partied, had sex, used drugs, and identified in baseball and not Christ,” said Luman of his past.
Luman came to Messiah with a lot success under his belt as a player. He was a three-time varsity letter player. During his senior year of high school at Dallastown, Luman was First Team All-County and District as a third baseman and a pitcher. In 2011 and 2012 Luman was a part of the YAIAA York County Division Champions team. He contributed a 6-2 Record with 1.80 ERA on the pitcher’s mound, and at the plate, he was potent with a .363 Batting Average.
Luman was also fourth-year Head Baseball Coach, Patrick Lightle’s first recruit.
“Like all our recruits, each guy goes through a pretty rigorous evaluation. They are evaluated on their baseball talent, and how they can make an impact by helping us be a championship team. We also evaluate all recruits on how well they fit the Messiah profile as a person and student. Will they place academics first? Will they place an emphasis on developing as a Christian? So, Zach met all of the criteria. It was an easy decision as he is exactly the prototype of a player I look for,” said Lightle of Luman.
Luman’s freshman season was a decent showing. He finished the 2014 season with 4.08 Earned Run Average over fifteen and two-thirds innings pitched. In his fifteen and two-thirds innings pitched Luman tallied eight strikeouts and only walked five batters. The future for Luman at Messiah looked extremely promising as 2014 came to a close.
Looks, however, can be deceiving.
Luman’s sophomore season was out of tune with the numbers that he had produced his freshman season. Playing off key, Luman’s final statistics reflected a 7.08 Earned Run Average, over thirty-four innings pitched. Luman also only tallied twelve strikeouts, only four more than he had as a freshman with more than double the innings. Luman’s walks tripled as well as, and he totaled sixteen.
“I performed poorly on the field last year [2015]. All of my failures on the field drove me to hating life. Because my entire life I was one of the best on the field at any given time, I never experienced prolonged failure. I turned to alcohol and marijuana in the midst of it all, and with that my diet became very poor. Before you would even know, I went from being a fit 225lbs to 245lbs, and from throwing 85-87 mph down to 78-80 mph. I completely stopped working out, and I hated my self-image. I knew something was wrong with me, deeper than just being a college kid trying substances, and I took the initiative to see a therapist my first day back in the summer,” said Luman of his reaction to his poor season.
Luman’s disappointing season reflected deep in the 2015 Spring semester. He was skipping class, not paying attention when he attended class, fighting depression, battling a porn addiction, and giving in to a prolonged desire to drink his troubles away.
“I would drink so much during my spring 2015 term at Messiah that I wouldn’t wake up until 3 or 4 PM the next day, and I would immediately drink again. I was addicted to alcohol, chewing tobacco, and porn. I had no one to turn to, and I was too ashamed to tell anyone on my team. They knew it wasn’t going well, but no one understood. Not even myself, and I hated God. I didn’t even believe in God,” said Luman.
Luman was diagnosed with depression once the Spring term ended. He tried to play baseball that summer [2015], but after his first game he decided to take the summer off from baseball. Luman felt cornered, and he decided to do something about his demons.
“I decided I was going to take my own life. I was driving 80 mph down a backroad and decided to flip my car off into the woods, hoping I would die on impact. I tried to turn the steering wheel, and my arms locked straight out. This happened two other times, and I know it was God saving me. This was a life-changing experience I will never forget,” said Luman.
Luman began attempting to repair his life. Cutting ties with negative people and resisting the urge to consume alcohol were only part of Luman’s plan. He started eating healthy, running half marathons, and losing the weight from his body. Luman could not, however, lose the weight of depression which became worse after a trip to his doctor.
“I was diagnosed with lyme disease in the midst of it all, and I could barely move for weeks. I was so devastated, and I didn’t know what the hell to do with my life. The devil knew I was on my way back to God, even though God never left me, and the devil tried to attack me. I was so determined to beat depression, but I just didn’t know how. It wasn’t until my teammate Josh Good took me under his wing this year that I knew God and I had a personal relationship.” Luman said.
Luman began to once again leave his troubles in the hands of God with the help of senior outfielder Josh Good. Asking God for his help to heal him, Luman wanted to get better, and he was prepared to make changes in his life. His teammates did their best to try to aid his journey back to God.
“Through continually speaking to Luman about what Grace means for us and how it gives us a new identity, God transformed his life. It definitely wasn't me, and it definitely was not any person, because his transformation was a miracle from God alone,” declared Good.
Luman’s dedication to finding God was helping him. He started to feel God’s presence more and more within his struggles.
“My first day back at Messiah was the last day I was intoxicated. I have been sober now for 146 days, and I couldn’t be any happier about this. I beat my addiction to substances and porn this semester, however, it is still always a thought because the devil plays tricks on your mind. I felt God’s presence at Messiah this semester, and I met a guy who prophesied over me,” Luman explained.
The gentleman who prophesied over Luman is named Taylor Everett. Everett was healed of Crohn's disease by way of prophecy. Evert, through the power of Jesus, prayed for and healed Luman of Lyme’s Disease.
“I knew God was real when this happened, and my faith has never been the same since,” exclaimed Luman.
His teammates love and support the way that Luman has returned to his faith. They are proud of his ability to be not just a teammate, but also by his ability to be a mentor.
“He definitely is rooted in Christ, and it’s evident by his actions. He goes above and beyond to commit to what he needs to do as a baseball player, and then goes the extra mile to share the love of God in his free time,” said senior pitcher Tyler Moody.
Luman’s ability to share his tribulations are what he believes have helped to heal him in part. Feeling stronger, Luman is looking forward to this upcoming season. He has a lot of faith in his team.
“We have so much talent, but we play up to our better opponents and down to our “weaker” opponents. I think this will be our year now that we have so much more experience as a team,” Luman predicted.
Experience will be a huge factor as this Falcon lineup will graduate six seniors at the end of the season, and theses upperclassmen are sluggers. Power will be a tremendous factor in the wins and losses column this year for Messiah as they more than doubled opponents’ home run totals last season.
Regardless of the power in the lineup, the Falcons were massively deficient in the area of Walks and On Base Percentage, and this is reflected in their poor Runs Batted In numbers. This leaves a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of the pitchers, and Coach Lightle anticipates Zach Luman will be integral in the starting rotation this season.
“[Luman] has the potential to have a breakout year this year. I look for him to be an impact pitcher and leader. Off the field, Zach has grown as a person and Christian more than anybody I have ever had in my coaching career. He has overcome adversity and has become a mentor to other younger players,” said Lightle.
One of the key aspects to Luman being successful is lowering his Earned Run Average. Luman is going to use a John Wayne mentality to minimize his inflated ERA.
“I just refuse to let people score on me. I overcame suicide, depression and addiction, so I know that I can strand a runner on the bases. I’m going to attack hitters like never before with a passion for the game and let God take over,” explained Luman.
Luman also has a generalized plan of attack for facing hitters this season:
“I personally want to stay low in the zone; I get a lot of groundouts. When I throw within bat plane I find myself in trouble. I also have a dirty changeup, so I need to be more effective with that this year. Getting ahead in the counts and never getting behind batters will play a large role in success as well. And last of all, fully trusting my defense because I have the sauciest infielders in the conference behind me. So, pitching to contact and keeping my pitch count down to allow me to go further into ball games.”
Luman wants to focus more on his team this season, as well as keeping his trust in the guys that are playing behind him while furthering his relationship with God. A relationship that has left him valuing the opportunity he has to make an impact in life.
“I shouldn’t even be here,” said Luman shaking his head, “ I tried to kill myself, but God saved me for a reason. So, I’m going to make sure I boast in my weakness that God made beautiful, and I just want to share the gospel with others who I can relate to.”
