PALM BEACH, Fla. — Excuse Rick Schnur if he scoffs at any pitch-count theories in baseball.

The 1993 Butler graduate and 1996 PSAC Pitcher of the Year while with Indiana (Pa.) University has been disproving such things all his life.

“I've never had a sore arm,” Schnur said. “If anything, my back or neck aches a little bit when I'm done with a game.

“I guess I've been lucky.”

Now 44, Schnur has never stopped pitching. He moved to Palm Beach County (Fla.) in 1999 and began pitching for the Palm Beach Beach Bums of the Palm Beach County National Adult Baseball Association shortly thereafter.

“We're in another league now — the MSBL — but we're still playing,” Schnur said.

They're still winning, too.

The Beach Bums are a half-game out of first place in the league and Schnur is a major reason why. He recently pitched shutouts in a pair of nine-inning games and allowed one run in a complete-game 2-1 victory. Those three games occurred within a month of each other.

Schnur is among the best pitchers in a league that features numerous former minor leaguers.

“A lot of the hitters in this league have reached Class AA or higher in pro ball,” Schnur said. “It's a very good league.

“I pitch as a starter and in relief. When I start, I usually finish.”

Schnur routinely throws more than 100 pitches per start. He appears in approximately 20 games a year on the mound and works between 150 and 170 innings.

At 5-foot-10, 190 pounds, he is not an intimidating figure on the hill.

“There's a team of Hispanic players in the league that has nicknamed me Muerta Lenta. That means Slow Death,” Schnur said, laughing. “That's kinda how I pitch.

“It looks like I'm not doing much on the mound because I'm moving the ball around. The hitters don't seem to barrel me up very often.”

Schnur's fastball is in the low 80's. He also throws a curve, slider and changeup.

He gets his share of strikeouts — particularly at critical times.

“I pitch to contact most of the time,” he said. “But I can still dial it up when I need to.”

League games are played Sundays and mid-week. The games start at 9:30 a.m. and the league plays a summer and fall schedule.

“It gets hot. Summers are brutal here,” Schnur said.

Yet he takes his regular pitching turn throughout both seasons.

“I'm a throw-back,” Schnur said. “I see young kids today. All they want to do is keep throwing harder. They throw as hard as they can for as long as they can, then they're replaced.

“Finesse pitching has gone out of the game. It's sad. So few pitchers know how to pace themselves anymore.”

In terms of a pitching career that has now spanned 26 years since high school — he was 6-1 with a 0.98 earned run average while being named the Golden Tornado's Outstanding Pitcher in 1993 — Schnur is still pacing himself.

“I'll pitch until I can't be effective anymore,” he said. “Hopefully, I'm effective into my 50's. That's what I'm counting on.”