Photo by Kavin Mistry
By Matt Weiner (@MattWeiner20) — BSB Beat Reporter
You don’t have to look far to see why the Spartans leapfrogged from a three-game winning streak to a four-game losing streak.
During the two wins against New Mexico and one win against Cal Poly, starting pitching allowed two runs in 14.2 innings.
In that stretch, Jonathon Clark, Micky Thompson and Aaron Eden didn’t go longer than five innings, but they did enough to eat up outs early to keep the games competitive when the offense was colder than an ice pop.
However, this couldn’t be more different than the four-game losing streak, when starters have allowed 26 runs in 11.1 innings. Ethan Ross was the only starter to pitch into the fourth during this span. The last two games have been especially bad with Thompson allowing eight runs in 1.1 innings and amassed seven walks before getting four outs. Carter Heninger was nearly equally as bad, allowing seven earned runs in 1.1 innings, but only gave up two walks.
In retrospect, the bullpen has followed a similar trend, giving up 38 runs during that span.
However, when it occurs during the first couple innings, it can feel like the outcome has already been decided.
Let’s hope this analogy can stick the landing:
It’s the equivalent of setting your alarm clock at 6:15 a.m. for an 8:15 flight, but accidentally snoozing through it and waking up at 7:45 instead. You can spring out of bed, book your uber in the shower and skip breakfast, but it’s just not enough. Instead of comfortably sitting at the terminal with a toilet-seat shaped neck-pillow caressing your neck, your plane leaves while you’re going through the metal detector.
If this sounds oddly specific, mind your business.
Through the four-game run bonanza, the Spartans’ offense has been doing enough to win, scoring an average of 7.2 runs per game and haven’t scored four or less in a single contest.
A direct opposite of the three-game win streak when the offense scored 3.1 runs per game.
What made the win streak spectacular was the pitching staff being able to punch zeros in and let the offense come around in the back half of the game.
The winning streak started with Charles McAdoo’s no-doubt shot in the bottom of the eighth with the score knotted at one apiece. If pitching fizzled out early, McAdoo wouldn’t have had the opportunity to become a hero.
Less than 24-hours later, the Spartans were down 2-0 in the bottom of the eighth and sparked a four-run rally to take the game.
This was a huge area of concern for SJSU heading into the season, considering that last year, the seven Spartans that hurled more than 20 innings had an average ERA of 8.39 and opponents hit .301 off them.
If pitching remains as is, then the early success from this season will be as impactful as a candle sitting in the sun.