Blaine Knight and Kacey Murphy were spectacular in their starts this weekend. I like to chart different things during games, and I tracked each pitch the two threw, it’s speed (I missed a couple each game) and whether it was a strike, ball, fouled away or swung at and missed. Here’s what I tallied from their starts:
Knight: 4 one-pitch outs, 8 three-pitch outs, 5 four-pitch outs and 2 five-pitch outs. His longest at-bat against Oral Roberts was 8 pitches. It happened twice (second batter of the game, second out of the seventh). So, 19 outs recorded on five or fewer pitches.
Murphy: 3 one-pitch outs, 6 two-pitch outs, 4 three-pitch outs, 3 four-pitch outs and 4 five-pitch outs. His longest at-bat vs. Southern Miss was six pitches – happened four times. In total, Murphy recorded 20 outs in five or fewer pitches.
Together, 39 of 48 outs they recorded came on five or fewer pitches. That’s about as good as it gets.
The bullpen is rested and ready for tonight’s game, if needed. If not needed, the whole staff will be well-rested for next weekend. A great start to the CWS for the Hogs.
What I thought was interesting is how the announcers kept talking about Knight’s composure and relaxed manner…(a substantial change from two season’s ago).
The bullpen will be rested for the super regional. The CWS follows the super with 8 teams moving to Omaha. The lack of work does help but the lack of work can hurt them be effective. It’s awesome for the starting pitcher to go 8 innings.
Knight and Murphy are mature and mild mannered on the mound.
If Campbell can come up with a good performance today this could set up pretty for the super regional.
Look around the SEC and you may find we are blessed with really good pitching.