Talk with Justin Turcovski, and it quickly becomes clear that he is a thoughtful, quiet young man of great faith. So when asked about an injury he suffered during his sophomore season with the Pitt-Johnstown baseball team, Turcovski looked at it simply as part of a larger plan from a higher power.
There’s no regret in his voice. No hint of anger or disappointment.
“A blessing in disguise,” he called it.
“I kind of discovered myself through it a little bit, discovered how to work harder,” the Norwin grad said. “A lot of adversity not being able to lift your arm for six or eight weeks. You get out of that, and you’ve got two options: either quit or work harder.”
Turcovski chose the latter, and he bounced back from a shoulder injury that limited him to 18 games as sophomore by hitting .260 with six homers and 44 RBIs last season. Those numbers, plus his solid defense — he committed only one error — landed him on the PSAC West second team.
Now a redshirt junior, Turcovski entered the weekend leading the team in batting average (.333), hits (18), homers (3) and RBIs (15).
On Feb. 25, he earned PSAC West Player of the Week honors after going 8 for 15 with two homers and 10 RBIs in a four-game series with Wheeling. He had at least one hit in 12 of the Mountain Cats’ first 16 games.
“I think the biggest thing is his plate discipline,” said coach George Roberts, who is serving as the Mountain Cats’ interim coach after nine seasons as an assistant. “Early on in his career … he swung at a lot of first-pitch stuff. Kind of got himself out as opposed to being patient and hitting his pitch.”
Added Turcovski: “It’s simple things like being purposeful with driving the ball to certain areas and what I’m looking for in what counts depending on where I’m batting.”
But first, there was that shoulder injury to overcome.
It occurred during the second game of a doubleheader April 3, 2023, at Seton Hill. A ball was hit toward the line, and Turcovski sprinted over from his left-field spot. He had a split-second decision to make: dive for it or try to catch up to the ball on foot?
Turcovski dove, and as he stretched out his right arm to try to glove the ball, he landed awkwardly on his shoulder.
Turcovski said he felt a pop but wasn’t immediately sure how seriously he was hurt. He told his coaches he could continue, but when he picked up a bat to prepare for his next trip to the plate, he said his shoulder “just felt dead” when he swung.
Surgery followed a little over a month later (May 15), and Turcovski was in a sling for nearly two months. It wasn’t until mid-October that he was able to swing a bat, and he couldn’t face live pitching until late December.
Still, he made it back in time for the season and ended up playing in — and starting — all but one of UPJ’s 49 games in 2024. Turcovski admitted the road to feeling like his old self was a long one even though he had an all-conference season.
“Monday (my shoulder) would be cool, but then I’d get to Friday and it was feeling stiff,” he said. “But every week, I just built upon each week prior. Toward the beginning of the season, there might have been a few hiccups late in a series. But, physically, I was there.
“Mentally, it was always a worry. Can I still go through this? Can I perform again? And then trying to make a diving play again. It took awhile. I wouldn’t say I was fully committed last year to diving head-first, but I’d like to say I’ve broken a threshold now.”
As he worked his way back into form, Turcovski focused on changing his approach at the plate. Specifically, he said he had a tendency to “press the panic button” too quickly in certain counts. Now, Roberts said, Turcovski is more relaxed at the plate and able to adjust to what the pitcher gives him.
“He’s not taking the good pitches and not swinging at too many of the bad ones,” the coach said.
Turcovski has shown the ability to hit to all fields, and he has displayed opposite-field power. And after hitting further down the lineup early in his time at UPJ, Turcovski consistently has been slotted into the No. 3 spot in the order this season.
Additionally, Turcovski has been the Mountain Cats’ regular center fielder thanks to his speed and having what Roberts said is the best arm among his outfielders. Given Turcovski’s tool kit, Roberts said a professional career isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
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“I think if he’s able to keep hitting for higher average and limit his strikeouts, you just never know,” Roberts said. “With our league, the PSAC, we’re facing probably 88-92 (mph pitchers) every week. He works hard enough to do it. It’s just a matter of if it all comes together for him.”
Turcovski, too, would like to play at the next level. But there’s a more immediate goal he wants to conquer: getting UPJ to the PSAC playoffs. The Mountain Cats haven’t made the postseason since 2015.
With a number of new players, particularly on the pitching staff, who have joined the program through recruiting or the transfer portal, Roberts and the Mountain Cats are hopeful of ending that drought. Conference play began over the weekend with four games against Slippery Rock, which was picked second in the preseason conference poll.
UPJ (7-9 going into the weekend) was picked sixth and will have work to do to climb over the likes of Slippery Rock, preseason favorite IUP and perennial powerhouse Seton Hill. Turcovski, as he did with his injury, is keeping the faith.
“That would be incredible,” he said about the prospect of making the PSAC playoffs. “I’ve never experienced it, so I don’t know how I will honestly feel but definitely a sense of relief. That’s something you sit at night and pray for.”