For almost a year, Gavin Allen was forced to go without baseball.

The all-state pitcher for Community R-6 went into his first college season at William Woods University last year with excitement but had to put that on hold. Allen tore his ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery, a famous operation that has prolonged players’ careers since 1974.

Allen returned to the mound for William Woods in December for his redshirt freshman season before going north of the border to play in the Western Canadian Baseball League – a summer collegiate league – for a couple of months this summer. He is back to a normal routine in the States now, but his first practice after Christmas break during freshman year was abnormal.

“The first bullpen I threw in that practice, I threw a curveball and it popped,” Allen said. “I threw one more pitch after it popped because I was confused, and my velocity went from around 84-86 mph down to 68.”

Instead of going for a starting spot, Allen had to go to the doctor to learn he had a full tear of his UCL. He said he was “shocked” and losing his college season was “pretty rough,” but after his surgery on Feb. 13, 2024, Allen was in high spirits.

“I'm a faithful person so I did some praying,” Allen said. “It gave me a challenge, and my challenge was to not just come back good but better. There was that motivation to not only get back but improve.”

With a mix of excitement and nerves, Allen got back on the mound on Dec. 24, 2024, shortening the typical year timetable. He made his college debut on March 8, 2025, and worked his way from the reliever to a starter by the end of the season.

Before that, Allen had to work his way up from “lightly tossing” just before the Fourth of July to strengthening his body to prepare for his return. He said he is grateful for the assistance of Premier Pitching Performance in Wentzville, which Allen said helps other college athletes and professional players.

“It was a lot of lower half lifts, getting my lower half ready, and doing more mechanical stuff with my upper half,” Allen said.

Allen did the necessary work to ensure he was physically strong and even said he was stronger. He noticed his pitch arsenal was upgraded with better velocity and movement.

That doesn’t mean obstacles are nonexistent, however. Allen said there is some room for improvement before his redshirt sophomore season, partially because his arm was tired from not being used to the number of innings, but mainly because of his mind needing to be sharp like his stuff.

“There is some physical stuff with my arm lagging or staying behind like I’m just trying to protect it too much,” Allen said. “The main thing was, relating to that, is the mental side of things. I still struggle with it from time to time, but it’s more just trusting my arm and I can’t have the fear of ‘what if this happens.’”

Allen’s college career wasn’t the only thing put on hold because of the surgery. Before Allen was injured, William Woods head coach John Cavness told him about the Western Canadian Baseball League. Cavness played in the league in 2015 and thought Allen would be a good fit so Allen decided to go north earlier this year.

In May, Allen joined the Lethbridge Bulls in Alberta, Canada, for 50 games. Lethbridge finished with a 32-18 record to finish second in its division, 3.5 games behind the Okotok Dogs.

The WCBL has several alumni who went on to play in MLB, including current reliever Andrew Kittredge, John Axford, Marco Gonzales and Andrelton Simmons. The late All-Star and World Series championship closer Tug McGraw pitched in Lethbridge before going to the majors.

“The competition is great,” Allen said. “It varies from high-end NCAA Division I guys to really good NAIA guys and Division III guys. I only started two games, and I was in the bullpen the rest. The second game, I got hit pretty well. I got my welcome to the WCBL then. It was a good experience but a tough challenge for sure.”

Allen enjoyed the “new and crazy experience” of living in a new country for a while. He said he was blessed with a good billet family, or host family, and his billet mother was “amazing.”

He did have to adjust to some aspects of Canadian life, like the different currency and metric system. The American dollar is worth more up north so Allen said he was able to buy items for a cheaper price. While he was still given miles per hour readings for his pitches, Allen said he also had to get used to seeing kilometers instead of miles in other places.

“The main thing that I personally enjoyed the most was the weather as it was 70-85 degrees with no humidity almost every day,” Allen said.

Allen was able to enjoy the weather to the fullest when his family visited him for a week when they visited popular resort town and tourist destination Banff, which is about three hours away from Lethbridge in Alberta. Banff is known for its mountains and hot springs and is really pretty, according to Allen.

“It has amazing views,” Allen said. “Me talking about it won’t do it justice. It has beautiful water and beautiful mountains – similar to the Rocky Mountains but way better.”

When he wasn’t there or at the popular restaurant Tim Hortons, a Toronto-based business Allen estimates eating at 30 times, Allen was in the weight room or hanging out with his teammates.

He said the postgame periods, especially after victories, were fun whether they happened in the clubhouse or at someone’s house. They weren’t just great athletes and players but great friends.

“It was a close-knit group,” Allen said. “A lot of guys, even if they were from Canada, a lot of them were 10-12 hours away from where their family is. Pretty much all we had up there was each other. It turned out to be great and brought us closer together and is why we had such a good team this year.”

Allen joked that whatever bits of Canadian accent or terminology have started to fade now he is back in America. There is no chance of his love for baseball fading after spending so long away from the game.

“Going without baseball for a year was definitely tough,” Allen said. “Now I am just way more grateful for it. I just want to keep getting better mechanically and stronger mentally. Everything I was working on while I was injured is the same stuff I need to be working on right now healthy.”