(69) HORMONAL BIOMARKER RESPONSE IN DIVISION III COLLEGIATE BASEBALL PITCHERS

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to monitor salivary hormonal biomarker response during preseason spring training in DIII collegiate baseball pitchers. Methods: Twenty Division III pitchers from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team visited the Human Performance lab every Monday for six weeks during spring training with 8 achieving full compliance (n = 8; 20.5 ± 1.22 yrs; 183.59 ± 5.70 cm; 87.98 ± 9.12 kg). Participants arrived fasted to provide saliva samples of at least 1 mL to monitor testosterone and cortisol concentrations. Throwing volume varied by day for each athlete and was prescribed by the pitching coach. Participants also underwent 6 weeks of undulating periodization training in the weight room. Biomarker concentrations were found using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) kits. Linear mixed effects models were fitted with fixed effects for time (6 categorical levels) and a random effect of athlete. Fixed effects were analyzed for significant main effects, follow up pairwise comparisons were carried out with Bonferroni corrections. Data was analyzed using R studio and Alpha was set to 0.05. Results: There was a significant main effect for time for testosterone concentrations (p < 0.001) with follow-up tests indicating significant elevations from baseline at week three (p < 0.05), four (p < 0.05), five (p < 0.05), and six (p < 0.05). Additional statistical increases occurred between weeks three and six (p < 0.0001) as well as between weeks four and six (p < 0.05). No significant changes were observed for cortisol concentrations. Conclusions: Significant increases in salivary testosterone concentrations were observed during a 6-week preseason training period in Division III collegiate baseball pitchers while salivary cortisol remained unchanged. Therefore, the overall training approach placed on the pitchers could be adequate for creating positive adaptations measured via internal training load. Practical Applications: Prescribing individualized, undulating throwing and weightlifting programs for collegiate pitchers could increase the ability of athletes to positively adapt to training stimulus throughout the preseason. Further monitoring is warranted to further assess adaptation throughout the competitive season which may allow for improved player monitoring for program individualization, injury mitigation, and nonfunctional overreaching or overtraining as player workload increases. Acknowledgements: None