SLIPPERY ROCK — Every time Mike DeCola rocks back on the pitching rubber and uncorks his powerful right arm, he feels a tinge in his shoulder.

The Slippery Rock University senior closer concedes he will always feel some pain in the joint as long as he is pitching.

No matter. The former Slippery Rock High School star is OK with it.

"It's coming along," DeCola said. "The pain is minimal right now. The strength is not there yet, but it's coming."

Even at partial strength, DeCola can spin out three devastating pitches from a violent, uncoiling delivery.

He's always been able to get people out. It's just been a matter of staying healthy enough to do it.

In high school, he spent stretches stuck in the dugout with arm problems.

During his freshman year with The Rock, he suffered a shoulder injury early and was redshirted.

He even contemplated a move to the outfield. But his arm was too lively and too precious a commodity for The Rock staff to give up on.

This December, DeCola found out by accident how serious his freshman-year shoulder injury was.

DeCola thought he had torn his right bicep tendon this winter.

An MRI revealed his bicep was fine, but his rotator cuff was frayed.

"It happened during my freshman year and it didn't show up when I had my MRI back then," DeCola said. "It's too late to do anything about the rotator cuff now."

So, DeCola plugs on. After each outing, he entombs his shoulder in ice and he is a regular in the training room, stretching and limbering the joint.

He does anything he can to keep his valuable arm as fresh and as pain free as possible.

It's working. DeCola is off to a spotless start with The Rock (10-5), which enters a four-game home-and-home letic Conference rivalShippensburg this weekend.

DeCola has pitched three hitless innings, striking out seven and walking two.

During his last outing against Gannon, he struck out the side in his only inning of work to get the victory.

DeCola's fastball hits 90 mph, but it is only average. What sets him apart is a deceptive changeup and a nearly unhittable, sharp-breaking curveball.

"His best pitch is his hammer," said SRU baseball coach Jeff Messer. "It's his out-pitch. He has a major league curveball. It's 12-6 and looks like a fastball, then drops off the table. When it's on, it's unhittable. Even when it's not on, it's unhittable. Just ask Gannon."

There were signs that DeCola was putting things together at the end of last season.

With his arm feeling as good as it ever had, DeCola finished the season with a 4-0 record and a 1.27 ERA in 14 appearances. Opponents hit a mere .187 against him.

"Last year was his first real strong year," Messer said. "Last year, at the end of the year, he really figured it out. Then he had arm problems this winter."

The rotator cuff limits how much and how often DeCola can throw.

He can't pitch back-to-back days and one inning is usually his limit.

ButDeCola will take it. So will Messer.

"In the past, the biggest thing he battled was the mental stuff more than the physical," Messer said. "He'd have a bad outing and his confidence would suffer. Now, I think he's confident in what he can do."

DeCola is the first to admit that when he left SlipperyRock High School, he was a thrower.

"I could get away with throwing fastballs as hard as I could," DeCola said. "I didn't take care of my arm. Now, I know to take a little bit off to save myself and throw strikes. It's hard to hit your spots throwing 100 percent every time."

Now he is a pitcher.

DeCola doesn't worry about his arm abandoning him again. In the back of his mind, though, he knows each pitch may be his last.

"You can't think about that," DeCola said. "You never know when your last pitch is going to be."