By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

Sam Elam has seen Steven Mazur throw in the spring at Notre Dame and summer for the Hays Larks. Elam and his teammates provide Mazur, 5-foot-11 and 195 pounds, plenty of ribbing.

"We give him so much crap all the time," Elam said. "We tell him he is a little short guy who doesn't do this and doesn't do that. But he believes his fastball is like Randy Johnson out there and he blows it by people.

"He has a good slider that he sets people up with," Elam added. "It's a belief in himself that he is going to out there and strike everybody out."

That belief, coupled with experience, has formed one of the top seasons in Larks history. Mazur, a second-year Lark, has been Big Unit-esque with a 4-0 record and 1.11 ERA, seventh-best all-time in Hays history.

"I think I have matured a little more," Mazur said. "I think I understand the competition more and what to look for. It's a different level when you get to the wood bats versus the aluminum, how you pitch and how you go after hitters and I think I have adjusted to that."

The right-hander and Fighting Irish product leads the team in strikeouts (62) and has averaged 13.7 strikeouts per nine innings, No. 5 in the Larks' annuals.

"You get that groove and you hit that special feeling, you can hit every pitch and every spot and you are in the zone for that game," Mazur said.

Mazur's been "in the zone" in nearly all of his 20 appearances, a consistency that Hays Larks manager Frank Leo says gives the team a "feel good confidence when he is on the mound."

It's a big improvement over his 5.06 ERA last summer for the Larks.

"He grew up," Larks pitching coach Keith Harper said. "Sometimes you have to go through some bad to create the better. And sometimes the better makes you the best."

Mazur forms the backbone for Hays' bullpen, one of the team's strengths heading into the National Baseball Congress World Series.

Three pitchers, Mazur, Kevin Hennessey and Chase Johnson, average more than 11 strikeouts per nine innings, while Tyler Sturdevant and Jordan Beistline have been solid. Hays (31-16) will open tourney play Tuesday in Wichita.

"I would say with the bullpen that we have now, we probably match up with anybody in the historical past," Harper said. "We have been good up to this point."

Mazur, a three-year captain at Stony Point (Tex.), set school records for strikeouts, strikeout rate and career earned run average. He was considered one of the nation's top pitching prospects, and was recruited by several Div. I schools, including Virginia, Missouri and Kansas State.

Notre Dame made a late push at Perfect Game, one of the nation's prestigious high school baseball showcases, and Mazur signed with the Irish.

"Notre Dame wasn't even on the radar," Mazur said. "Their pitching coach at the time watched me pitch and called me that night."

Mazur signed quickly and pitched in just three games as a freshman before he headed to Hays for the summer.

Mazur posted a 3-2 record with a 5.08 earned run average, but Harper said Mazur

"wore down" at the end of the summer. The right-hander rarely saw time in the NBC, an eight-game run that resulted in a runner-up finish for the Larks.

"He wasn't good," Harper said. "He wasn't locating well (at season's end) and I just felt like he wasn't taking care of himself all summer. I think that might have been this year's reason for his success was last year's lack of success at the end. I knew he wanted to set a precedent that it was never going to happen again."

Mazur went back to Notre Dame and dedicated himself. He worked out with the team, long tossed to build arm strength and spent time with Fighting Irish pitching coach Sherard Clinkscales, a former professional pitcher.

"A lot of it is due to his work ethic," Fighting Irish head coach Dave Schrage said. "He works really hard and is always doing extra stuff with our pitching coaches here. Steven did that to a T."

"He is throwing it a little bit harder," Schrage added. "He got a little bit bigger and stronger. ... He matured a little bit."

Mazur saw his velocity jump from 83 to 85 miles an hour as a freshman to 87-88 this spring. The staff also shortened his arm circle and changed his approach.

The changes helped Mazur, who allowed a .357 average against lefties his first summer in Hays, to drop that mark down to .161 this year.

"We worked on was him hiding the ball a little bit better so lefties couldn't pick it up and him sometimes turning the ball over a little bit and running it away from lefties," Schrage said.

Mazur posted a 4.18 ERA this spring as Notre Dame's setup man and moved into a position to possibly become the Irish's closer next spring. In 20 games, he struck out 25 against six walks, a terrific ratio that catapulted him into the impressive summer.

Mazur started with two perfect innings and five strikeouts in the Larks' season opener against Denver, and has been consistent ever since.

"It takes a special individual to be a guy that knows he is a bullpen guy and knows that when he comes in, there is no mistakes, he has got to get it done at that point," Harper said. "And that takes a special person."

Mazur, who throws a slider, four-seam fastball to right-handers and a diving two-seamer to lefties, has consistently led the team in strikeouts as a relief pitcher, an occurrence that Leo calls "rare." Mazur doesn't throw as hard as Johnson nor does he have the bottom-dropping curve of Hennessey.

But it's the mindset that Elam and Harper sees as the difference, a difference that produced 12 straight innings without an earned run. Over a three week stretch in July, Mazur allowed just one run.

"He throws mainly fastballs and blows it by people," Elam said. "It's a belief in himself that he is going to go out there and strike everybody out and he is doing a great job."

"He feels like he is unhittable," Harper added. "I think it is all about the emotional state of the pitcher on the mound."

Harper has helped Mazur to stay confident. Against Nevada on July 25, Mazur uncharacteristically walked three batters (he has 13 all year) and loaded the bases in the ninth inning. He still coaxed a strikeout and earned the win in a 3-2 game.

"I would say that last year he gives up a key hit right there," Harper said.

Afterward, Harper reminded him "don't ever show weakness."

"It makes a difference," Harper said. "How confident a coach is in you is how confident a coach is in yourself."

And it's that confidence that's produced a brilliant season -- and plenty of innings at the upcoming NBC.