Games People Play — Cape May Native Brad Mountain Still on the Hill

As a dominant lefthander for the Caper-Tigers from 2000-2004, Brad Mountain always demonstrated the potential to take his gift for pitching further. Over the years his maturity and understanding for the game, coupled with his physical tools and abilities, have provided Mountain with a variety of baseball experiences, including professionally.
Standing 6-feet, 4-inches, and weighing 190 pounds, he was indeed a “mountain” on the mound as opposing hitters flailed away in frustration throughout his high school years. Mountain spent 13 years in the Cape May area and now makes his home in Collingswood where he works as a bank manager when he’s not pursuing the art of pitching.
His post Cape May County pursuit of the game began with a Division III Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Mass. From 2004 to 2007 Mountain helped the Lions win 86 games in the Commonwealth Coast Conference.
Mountain was named a Division III All-American and tossed the first no-hitter in Lions’ history. He finished with the school’s all-time lowest earned run average, most victories and most strikeouts.
In the summer of 2006 he threw for the Jersey Pilots of the 12-team Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League where he posted a 3.35 earned run average. Atlantic Collegiate bills itself as the “gateway to professional baseball” and is funded, in part, by Major League Baseball.
His next stop was the Independent, 12-team Frontier League and the Lake Erie Crushers of Avon, Oh. Based in Sauget, Ill., Frontier is a professional baseball organization in the Midwestern United States and Western Pennsylvania.
It operates mostly in cities not served by major or minor league teams and is not affiliated with either. Its level of play is considered comparable to low A-level. Frontier formed in 1993 and is the oldest currently running independent league.
“The key to pitching successfully is strike one,” said Mountain. “As part of a team each time you go out there you need to be honest with yourself that you did everything you could on the field to win the game.”
The son of Sam and Lisa Mountain, Brad grew up playing basketball and hockey, but he learned to cherish the game of baseball from his grandfather, his uncles and Sam. To this day his fondest memories are of playing the game with family and friends.
“Any life situation or challenge can be relative to the game,” said Mountain. “And how you react in the game is how you will react in life. Some days you win, some days you lose, but you can only control your attitude and what you bring to the game and to life every single day.”
Mountain also makes time to pitch for the Atlantic County Baseball League’s Hammonton entry. The ACBL began play in 1936 and is acknowledged as the best quality of men’s baseball in the region. Mountain has spent the past five seasons with Hammonton.
As you can expect from a Cape May guy, Mountain also enjoys surfing and traveling. He was adamant, however, that, at just 26 years of age, he’s not ready to hang up his baseball spikes for the more recreational activity of slow-pitch softball.
“No beers on first base for me, yet,” he said.
Reach Rossi at joerossi61@comcast.net