BUTLER TWP — Throw strikes. Change speeds. Work fast.

Years ago, longtime major league pitching coach Ray Miller hammered home that philosophy to every pitcher he worked with.

Butler graduate Mark Gross makes that philosophy work every time he takes the mound.

“Strike one, strike two, then he handles you from there,” Youngstown Astro-Falcon coach Andy Timko said. “He’s pitched that way for us over the past two summers.”

The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Gross did not lose a game in the Youngstown Class B League all summer. He worked approximately 50 innings, fashioned a 1.70 earned run average and walked only two batters all season. He struck out 28.

“My biggest thing was staying ahead in the count,” Gross said. “I’d do that with my fastball, then I’d use my slider because it looks like a fastball coming in.”

Gross has a fastball in the mid-80s. He throws a curve and changeup with that slider as well.

The Astro-Falcons won 30 of 36 games this season. Gross was one of six players from the squad selected to play for the 10-team Youngstown Class B League’s all-star team in Palomino Tournament play this year.

Youngstown hosted the East Zone Tournament and won it, advancing to the Palomino PONY World Series in Compton, Calif., last weekend.

“This was my final shot at getting to the nationals,” Gross said. “The Butler Township teams I played for (ages 14-15) lost in the zone championship games and our (Astro-Falcons) team got knocked out in the quarterfinals last year.”

Once he got to California, Gross made the most of the opportunity.

He pitched a complete game against South Zone champion Louisiana, winning 8-2. Gross allowed one earned run in his only appearance at the World Series.

The Youngstown team finished third in the tourney, winning twice during the double-elimination competition.

“That experience was phenomenal,” Gross said. “Just about everyone out there has been recruited to play college baseball. Facing that caliber of competition will only help me down the road.”

Gross is headed to Case Western University this fall. He will play baseball and major in computer science or engineering there.

Gross ranked No. 2 academically in his graduating class at Butler.

He had a 4.5 grade point average, counting weighted courses.

“He’s just an outstanding kid and an extremely efficient pitcher,” Timko said. “He could throw a complete seven-inning game in 75 to 85 pitches. He did it consistently for us.

“Mark pretty much finished every game he started. The only time he didn’t was when we pulled him to save innings for a relief appearance later in the same tournament.”

Also a basketball player at Butler, where he started for two years, Gross never considered playing that sport in college.

“I wasn’t getting looked at and I never pursued anything,” he said. “Baseball was the sport I focused on.

“There were opportunities for me at other schools, but the computer science program at Case — and the chance to pitch there — swayed me in that direction.”

Case Western was 24-15 last season. Seven of its 14 pitchers were freshmen or sophomores and the staff compiled a 3.63 earned run average.