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Young stars turn in key performances for SCSU
By Drew Herron
Published:
Thursday, April 22, 2004
If nothing else, Tuesday's double-header against Winona State gave a possible glimpse of how bright the SCSU men's baseball team's future could be as two freshman pitchers stacked quality starts back to back and their sophomore third baseman went 5-for-6.
Consistent and quality pitching is growing increasingly rare at almost every level in baseball, but the future lies in youth, and the Huskies are chalk-full of that as right-hander Adam McGrane and left-hander Ryan Carlson had it going all day, limiting the speedy and solid-hitting Winona State team to a combined four runs in two games.
McGrane, who made his first start of the season in game one, cruised for most of the game after finding himself in a 1-0 hole after yielding a pair of doubles in the top of the first. Unfazed, he rebounded well, surrendering no walks and scattering five more hits over the next six innings, shutting down the Warriors to earn the complete game victory.
"I was just throwing fastballs pretty much," McGrane said. "Make them hit it."
McGrane, who improved his record to 2-1 with a 2.91 ERA, has made just one start in 10 appearances with 21 2/3 innings of work, and perhaps most impressive of all, has given up just three walks. Limiting the free trips on base would be key, as Winona State, with three players with double-digit stolen base totals, leads the NSIC in stolen bases, nearly doubling the next closest team's total.
For as well as McGrane pitched, the defense came through for him, playing error-free baseball for just the sixth time in 37 games, sparking confidence and moving the game along smoothly.
"We were worried about their speed," McGrane said. "They're something like 70 for 78 in stolen base attempts so we just tried to keep them off the base paths as best we could. It definitely helps to get good defense. We've been playing pretty good defense lately."
If a team gets good pitching and the balance of the game is still in doubt, it's usually up to the big bats in the lineup to come through in the clutch, and senior Parnell O'Connor came up huge. With a slim 2-1 lead and two on and two out in the bottom of the fifth, O'Connor hit a three-run shot off the Astound sign in right-center to put the game away for good.
"It feels good to win," O'Connor said. "We came through and pulled together."
Pitching with a four-run lead, McGrane faced just seven batters over the next two innings, allowing just one hit and striking out four to close out the game.
"It's a lot easier to pitch with run-support," McGrane said. "Then the other team has to do the work instead of you."
With Monday's 8-7 victory over St. Johns and game one's win against Winona State, the Huskies looked to add another 'W' to put together their first winning-streak of the season, and for a while, it looked like it was in the cards.
Up early with a 2-0 lead, Carlson had nasty stuff in game two, working inside to hitters on both sides of the plate, striking out seven, and bringing a two-hit shutout into the sixth inning when Warriors pinch hitter Aaron Bloom reached on a passed ball strikeout that should have ended the inning. From there, things broke open for the Warriors when designated hitter Adam Gust singled, and pinch hitter Matt Barrie doubled, driving in both runs and tying the game at two. With the momentum shifted, the Warriors added one more run in the top of the seventh to take the lead, and eventually the game.
"It's disappointing," O'Connor said. "It sucks, we blew it."
"I thought we played a pretty good game actually," sophomore third baseman Nate Swan said. "It would have been nice to get a few more runs across earlier, but that's how it goes."
Swan, who has been the team's best hitter this season, turned in one of his best performances of the season in game two, going 3-for-3, raising his batting average to .374.
"I found out the key is to take one at bat at a time and one pitch at a time," Swan said. "Concentrate on every pitch I see."
Swan, who sat out both games Sunday against Nebraska-Omaha after going 2-for-6 on Saturday, has been hot lately, despite battling an injury.
"My lower back is pretty sore, it's not feeling too good," Swan said. "But I decided just to play, I don't care."
Maybe it's better if Swan's back stays sore, because at this rate, he should finish the year batting over .400.
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