By Ernie Gonzalez
Since joining the Mountain West in three years ago, SJSU hasn’t had a team ERA below 5.50, fogging up all its talent on offense.
With 18 games remaining in the 2017 season, the Spartans have been outscored 248-169 and with a 5.87 ERA to go along with it.
Although the numbers don’t prove it, pitching coach Dean Stiles has the utmost trust in his arms.
Stiles calls it “Passing the baton,” a phrase he and his group use quite often. The Spartans first year pitching coach is working through trial and error in order to cement a bullpen that will take care of that baton once it’s handed over.
“Maybe they’re going in for a couple innings, maybe they go in to get just one hitter out, they have such confidence and rapport in each other, that it fosters positive energy in the bullpen,” Stiles said.
Energy indeed, but with a staff that struggles to do their part when leading and closing out games, how does the energy not exhaust?
Over the weekend, the Spartans blew their second ninth-inning save opportunity in as many weeks when Josh Goldberg allowed five runs before recording two outs in Saturday night’s 9-7 loss.
Goldberg said he understands nights such as this happen, just remind him about his outing versus Stanford last week.
“I put it behind me because I want to help my team win,” Goldberg said last Thursday.
Little did he know last Saturday’s outing would be worse. His mindset is set-in-stone, however, keeping his focus on one batter at a time.
“I like to treat it as pitch by pitch, and at-bat by at-bat, not by the season. One pitch at a time, one game at a time,” Goldberg said.
“When you’re a pitcher in the pen, you want to prove to the team that you are the guy to call in pressure situations. That means competing against one another to earn that title.”
The competition isn’t just during games, but at practice, according to middle-reliever Zach Wallace, who has proven himself to be one of the more consistent arms out of the cage for the Spartans.
“We’ll throw like ten pitches. And whoever throws the most strikes out of those wins. We compete like that to elevate our game — make it more game-like,”Wallace said.
As long as the Spartans continue to carry a “next pitch” mentality, the bullpen has an opportunity to fuse together, aiming for consistently — something it has lacked all season. But it starts with quality starts from the starters to catalyze that much-needed positive energy, the same positive energy coach Stiles discussed.
“We are a really tight-knit group.” Goldberg said.“We talk a lot as a team about staying present, and not thinking too much into the future.
That is exactly what the pen needs to do. Stay in the moment, have fun doing it.
Senior submarine pitcher Zach Tanner is the guy to call when the Spartans need a ground out. Tanner isn’t high on superstitions, but thinks anti-inflammatories lock him in during games.
“I take Ibuprofen at a certain point in the game so I’m ready to go,” Tanner said.
No, the bullpen doesn’t have a crazy routine, a superstition or a lucky charm. No, the Spartan relievers are not that best group of pitchers statistically, but they keep a positive mindset and focus on the pitch at hand.
“A big motto of ours is stay in the present. Don’t worry about the past, don’t worry about the future. Just — one pitch at a time, Tanner said.