Drake Fellows’ 89 mph fastball slammed into the batter’s face like a high-speed car crash.

The batter’s head snapped back, his nose popped on impact and blood gushed onto the ground around home plate. The batter’s mom shook the chain-link fence and yelled at Fellows, “How dare you hit my son!”

The crowd watching that elite travel ball game in Fort Myers, Fla., gasped, including seasoned pro scouts and college coaches.

But Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin leaned forward in his seat with a heightened sense of curiosity. How would Fellows, a 15-year-old right-handed pitcher, handle the grisly sight caused by his rare lack of control on a day he couldn’t afford sloppy mistakes?

What Fellows did next convinced Corbin to offer him a scholarship to Vanderbilt, where he is tied for the title of college baseball’s winningest pitcher heading into Friday’s game at South Carolina.

“I broke a kid’s nose that day,” Fellows said with a dead-pan look while sitting in the Vanderbilt dugout. “But apparently what I did after that was a big part of me getting here.”

Coached by a major leaguer in the neighborhood

That fastball to the face proved to be the best bad pitch Fellows ever threw. But before finishing that story, it’s important to understand what prepared him for that moment.

Fellows grew up in Plainfield, Ill., just down the street from former major league catcher Mark Dalesandro, who played in parts of five seasons for the Angels, Blue Jays and White Sox. Mark’s son, Nick Dalesandro, and Fellows became best friends and teammates. Mark started coaching them on travel ball teams when they were 7 and 8 years old.

Nick Dalesandro, now a catcher in the Diamondbacks minor league system, would pitch while Fellows would catch, and vice versa. Behind the plate, they learned command. On the mound, they learned how to pitch with a competitive edge without being too emotional.

It was more challenging for Fellows, who always played with older kids because he was too big, strong and talented for his own age group.

“There was a Little League that wouldn’t even let him play,” said Fellows’ dad, Rob. “They thought he would hurt somebody.”

An 11-year-old’s rare act of rebellion

Playing with older kids, Fellows had to mature quicker. He was ultra-talented, but his youth brought into question his toughness and competitive edge.

Mark Dalesandro admittedly coached him hard, wanting to see the same fire he had witnessed while catching great pitchers like Roger Clemens, Roy Halladay, Chris Carpenter and Kerry Wood.

Then during a mid-summer game, 11-year-old Fellows was having a dominant performance but reached his pitch count. Dalesandro walked to the mound to replace his young pitcher, but Fellows yanked the ball away and refused to leave the game.

“I won’t repeat what I said to him,” Dalesandro said, “but he definitely gave me the ball."

Dalesandro hated the act of rebellion but secretly loved Fellows’ newfound fire.

“He was just a baby, so that competitive desire caught me off guard,” he added. “That was the beginning of what I saw from Drake ever since. On the mound, he was just focused on doing his job.”

Back to a broken nose from an errant fastball

Four years later in Fort Myers, Fellows watched as the batter with the broken nose writhed on the ground and coaches tried to clot the gush of blood.

Neither Fellows nor his coaches recall the batter’s name. But they remember he was an LSU commitment, and his mom screamed at Fellows through the 10-minute delay.

Scouts behind the plate dropped their radar guns, and some of the 55 Division I coaches in attendance cocked their heads in doubt. It was a national championship tournament, and the opposing team was loaded with two dozen players already committed to major college programs.

Maybe Fellows wasn’t ready for that level of competition.

Fellows paced around the mound a couple of times and then waited patiently for the batter to be taken to the hospital. He struck out the next three batters, retired seven straight and finished a dominant performance against an elite lineup — all while fearlessly throwing heat, high and tight.

“Drake always possessed freakish skills, but he became a man on the mound that day,” said Rich Ruffolo, his travel ball coach at the time. “After that, 150 guys called me wanting to set up (recruiting) visits.”

Corbin was one of them.

“It was a scary moment, and I wasn’t sure if they were going to keep Drake in the game,” Corbin said. “But for a young kid, he really composed himself. He stayed in there and pitched very well deep into that game.

“He responded in a very mature manner, and that moment had a lot to do with the thoughts we had on him.”

Fellows was ready for spotlight immediately

Four years later, Fellows became only the second freshman pitcher to start an opening weekend game during Corbin’s tenure at Vanderbilt. The other was All-American Tyler Beede.

A year after that, Fellows became the first sophomore pitcher since 2012 to start opening day as Vanderbilt’s No. 1 starter. The last was Kevin Ziomek, another All-American.

This season, Fellows is tied for the national lead in wins with a 9-0 record. His fastball tops out at 94 mph, which has made his change-up more effective. His signature slider is almost unhittable when it’s spinning right. And three weeks ago, he added a split-finger fastball to his repertoire.

But that fastball that got away from him may still be the most meaningful pitch he ever threw because of how he reacted to a mistake.

“Composure can make a difference,” Fellows said. “When you’re between the white lines, you’ve got to be about business.”

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Reach Adam Sparks at asparks@tennessean.com and on Twitter @AdamSparks.