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GREENSBORO — Trevor Brackett was boiling over on the mound, spouting verbal grenades at no one in particular as one of his first efforts as a pitcher was being thumped around the diamond like he was throwing a pinata.

A fuming Brackett took the loss that day three years ago. His parents earned the save.

"They told me if I ever did that again, I was going to hear about it," Brackett said.

The Page senior right-hander can thank Treva and Tony Brackett for helping him temper his emotions to become the Pirates' ace and a future Maryville (Tenn.) College pitcher. He's one of the most intriguing players to watch tonight when Page faces Grimsley at 5 p.m. in the Bob Doss Memorial Tournament at NewBridge Bank Park.

"It's just a game," Brackett said of his new outlook, a Zen he now knows to step off the mound and remind himself of in times of stress. "Nobody's going to live or die because of what happens out here."

"Competitive in everything" as a kid, Brackett said the pressure of having the ball in his hand to start every play was unlike anything else he experienced in the field.

"Everybody has a bad day," Brackett said, "but when you're pitching it just snowballs and snowballs."

Brackett had never pitched entering Page, but early struggles at the plate as a freshman JV player convinced him to consider the mound as a chance to stay on the field. He persuaded his coaches to try him in the early innings of a blowout loss to Grimsley, and Brackett opened his career with a string of adrenaline-fueled fastball strikeouts on his way to closing out the game.

His uncle taught him a curveball when he decided to make pitching his priority, and it remains one of his strongest pitches as a control expert. He started working out weekly at the Greensboro Batting Center and with Carolina Acceleration that summer, and he racked up 12 wins against six losses entering this season.

Last summer, Page head coach William Hardin helped Brackett land a spot in the Blue/Grey Classic at NewBridge Bank Park, a traveling recruiting showcase featuring players from across the region. Brackett had played on summer teams before, but he said he had rarely been a prominent player and had received little attention to that point.

One strong showing at the Blue/Grey Classic brought calls from several schools the next morning.

Every Monday night for a month, Maryville's coaches would call and make their pitch, and one visit was enough to convince Brackett that's where he wanted to make his next pitch. A Division III school of about 1,000 students, the Scots play in the Great South Atlantic Conference.

Brackett has become much more cerebral about his time on the mound now, spending time watching his favorite pros like Josh Beckett ("serious but not angry all the time") and Zach Grienke ("so much he can do") to analyze how they stay in control.

Playing at NewBridge tonight, the field that started his recruiting flurry, puts him another step closer to them, if only for a few hours.

"I always think," he said, "maybe I'll be here someday."

Contact Tom Keller at 373-7034 or tom.keller@news-record.com