Baseball's hurlers enduring ups and downs

JULIA TIERNAN/YH The Bulldogs are counting on Sudha Reddy, BK '00, to lead the young bullpen in the right direction.

Such an assessment of Yale's pitching staff hardly tells the whole story. While the team ERA is high, and the record lopsided, the bullpen, led by veteran Sudha Reddy, BK '00, is beginning to come around.

Kicking off the season with a long road trip in Texas was a rough introduction to the world of college baseball. They really swing the bats well down south. It's just a different, more power driven style," said pitcher Randy Forman, SM '00, who is currently resting a sprained MCL. The powerful offensive units of teams like Texas San-Antonio, coupled with rowdy crowds at schools like Lamar and Pan American Universities, while tough to beat, certainly battle tested the Yale squad. "The Texas trip was good for everyone, including the young guys. It's important to learn how to compete with good teams in front of hostile crowds," catcher Todd Kasper, PC '99, said .

The jump from high school ball to college ball is a big one. The trip to Texas introduced a new brand of baseball to the young players. "You can't get away with the same stuff in college as you can in high school. From top to bottom, every batter we face is capable of putting it out of the park if a pitcher makes a mistake," first baseman Mike Kahney, JE '00, said. It may be an overstatement, but Kahney stressed that it is important for a freshman pitcher to "learn right off the bat what not to throw to someone."

The question is, 26 games into the season, has the pitching staff, particularly the freshmen, applied what it learned over spring break? Well, yes and no.

Last weekend's 2-2 Ivy League start certainly saw some good pitching by the younger members of the squad. "McCarthey, Breslow, and Lindsey stand out in my mind as guys who completely stepped up over the weekend," Kahney said. McCarthey was especially impressive in his five-inning start against Princeton, in which he gave up three runs and was spectacular until he tired in the fifth inning. Breslow also performed well against Cornell, pitching three dominant innings of relief for the win and the sweep against the Big Red.

Others, however, have struggled. Steitz, who started the game Breslow finished against Cornell, had control problems in his first career Ivy start. Veterna catcher Kasper feels that the problem is corrctable. "Sometimes young pitchers, even the best, are inconsistent with their control. Keeping the ball down and getting breaking balls over for strikes are really the keys to being successful. All of these guys know that and certainly have the ability to accomplish it," Kasper said.

Despite some inconsistency thus far, the team is gaining confidence with each game. "With the Texas experience under our belts, we're really beginning to settle down out there," Breslow said. The rest of the team is also extremely confident of their pitchers. "With Sudha leading the way, we know we'll get a quality start every game," Kahney said. With the freshmen stepping up to fill the void left by the departures of 1998 Ivy League Pitcher of the Year Eric Gutshall, TD '98, the bulldogs can look forward to good pitching in the years to come.

In reality, what's holding the Yalies back right now is their weak offense and defense, not pitching. "Honestly, fielding and hitting with men on base are our big problems," Kahney said. The Princeton series was a perfect example of both of these problems. In game one, with McCarthey on the mound, the Bulldogs suffered from an anemic offense and lost 3-2. "We wasted a heck of an effort by McCarthey against Princeton," Kasper said. Game two was another disappointment for Yale; five errors and five unearned runs doomed Yale. "Sudha really pitched well. We just played terrible defense," Kahney said.

Yale hopes to remedy the situation this weekend in order to stay competitive in the Ivy hunt. With doubleheaders at home against Columbia and Penn, the Bulldogs are looking to stretch their league mark to 6-2 and stay near the top of the league standings. But if the bats don't come alive in scoring opportunities, the bulldogs could be in a hole. "Our offense and defense better come together this weekend, or we could be in trouble," Kahney said.

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