Wichita State pitchers lean on fastballs to cut down on walks

Wichita State won its past two Missouri Valley Conference baseball series with its top pitcher throwing one inning.

That isn’t the way coach Todd Butler wants to work, but that is the short-handed situation the Shockers (15-25, 5-4 MVC) face again this weekend. Pitcher Willie Schwanke is sidelined with biceps tightness and won’t pitch against Southern Illinois (23-17-1, 4-5). Schwanke, who skipped a start against Missouri State, threw one inning on Sunday against Bradley and allowed three runs before coming out of the game.

“He still threw the ball OK,” Butler said. “He was throwing 88 (mph) in the first inning. He’s just tight. He’s not hurting; he’s just tight. He needs more rest.”

Cody Tyler and Zach Lewis will start Friday’s doubleheader with freshman Clayton McGinness the possible starter for Saturday’s final game in a weather-altered weekend. McGinness rescued the Shockers with 5 1/3 innings in relief of Schwanke to help them rally from a 4-0 deficit to win 10-9 in 10 innings.

WSU is also without lefty reliever Reagan Biechler, who will have an MRI on Monday to check out elbow tightness. Butler said Biechler was on tap to throw in relief Friday before the elbow bothered him during warmups. Sophomore Chandler Sanburn, out since March 11 with biceps tendonitis, was scheduled to pitch in Tuesday’s rained-out game against Kansas State.

“We’ve done the mega-pen with him with him where he’s thrown more pitches in the bullpen to get his pitch count up,” Butler said.

Amidst all the injuries, the pitchers who are healthy are progressing from walk-prone to fastball-reliant. Pitchers who tried to trick and tempt hitters with breaking pitches are using those off-speed pitches more judiciously in recent games. Since walking six or more batters 13 times in 33 games, WSU hasn’t walked more than four in the past seven. It walked six total in three games against Missouri State and 10 against Bradley.

In MVC games, WSU leads the conference with 67 strikeouts and its 27 walks are tied for second-fewest.

“We’re having an attack plan of attacking with that fastball, getting ahead and that’s what’s eliminated walks, eliminated getting into hitter’s counts,” catcher Gunnar Troutwine said. “It’s worked because we’ve been able to establish that fastball early in the game. It keeps all the pitchers away from those 2-0 counts, 3-0 counts.”

McGinness struck out five and walked one Sunday, the longest outing of his season.

“I worked off the fastball well (Sunday), which is all off Gunnar,” he said. “He called a great game and where ever he sat up, I was trying to hit that spot.”

The Shockers, with Schwanke largely sidelined and still regrouping from a season-ending injury to starter Sam Tewes in March, enter the weekend in third place in the MVC. They are one game ahead of SIU and Indiana State and tied in the loss column with Missouri State and Bradley.

This story was originally published April 28, 2016 at 4:31 PM with the headline "Wichita State pitchers lean on fastballs to cut down on walks."