Pitchers are carrying load for young Utah State baseball club
While the young Utah State baseball club has been searching for a solution to stranded base runners, the pitching staff has quietly given the team a chance to win every game.
With a shortage of arms on the team, assistant USU baseball coach Brian Prolokoff has been surprised by the resiliency the pitching staff has shown this early in the year.
“For the limited number of pitchers we have, those guys have been giving us all they have,” Prolokoff said. “They are really extending themselves and going on short notice. I’m really happy with them.”
Pitching coach Jeremy Gordon believes in keeping his staff in shape year-round and they can be found running the Old Main stairs or in the weight room.
He also believes this year’s staff has become pitchers rather than just throwers.
“We are working on making the inside half of the plate ours instead of the hitters,” Gordon said. “We have to be able to pitch inside to be effective and we’ve been doing that.”
Allowing only two or three walks a game has been a boost to the success of the staff. They are throwing strikes, believing in the defense and are trying to get the batter to hit a ground ball.
It was evident this weekend with only 10 fly balls hit to the outfield.
“Some of the guys throw a split finger fast ball, which is only effective when it’s down,” said catcher Orion Bell. “I have to be ready to keep the ball in front of me if it bounces in the dirt, and it happens quite a bit with a splitter.”
Bell said he is learning the idiosyncrasies of the pitching staff, which is important for the catcher to know when handling a pitching staff.
“Some of the guys want me to talk to them and let them know how they’re doing,” Bell said. “Brock Yancey is really fiery on the mound though, he wants me to shut up and put my mitt up so he can get the ball and throw it. So that’s what I do.”
While the position players are young, Gordon described his staff as veteran with only one freshman pitcher and a couple of transfers.
“The guys I have right now have been doing great,” Gordon said. “You can never have enough pitching. I’d like to have a few more arms, but I’m ready to go into spring with the guys I have.”
With a staff of only eight pitchers, veteran players such as Justin Johnson and Sean Maynard realize they are going to have to help the team on the mound.
“I haven’t had to pitch in awhile,” Johnson said. “But I’ll be ready to throw when they need me to.”
Head Coach Ernie Rivers has been more than happy with the pitching during the fall.
“I can’t say enough about those guys,” Rivers said. “We are going to figure out a way to score more runs for them. They are throwing too well not to pick up a win.”
Although he’s the head coach, Rivers doesn’t concern himself with the pitching staff. He described pitchers as living in their own baseball world and it’s best if he stays out of the way.
“That’s Jeremy’s job,” he said. “He always brings those guys ready to throw. He’s a fantastic pitching coach.”
The pitchers don’t practice with the position players, instead they go off on their own, work on conditioning and their throwing mechanics.
“We kind of do our own thing,” Gordon said. “That’s probably why we’re such a tight-knit group. We have a mix of personalities, but come game day we’re ready to go.”
With the pitching staff coming together, Rivers plans to continue working on eliminating some of the team’s hitting woes.
“Like I said, we are going to be a small-ball team,” Rivers said. “I think we’re going to have to bunt and move the runners around the bases.”
With the weekend series against Weber State canceled, the team will have extra practice time to work on their hitting.
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