Jacksonville slugger’s surge an ‘out-of-body experience’
Jacksonville’s Kris Armstrong could always hit for power, but never like this.
Armstrong slugged six home runs over eight at-bats against Central Arkansas last weekend, and he’s gone deep eight times in 15 trips to the plate since Thursday.
“It’s kind of an out-of-body experience,” Armstrong said Monday. “You don’t expect to do three home runs two games in a row. I think it’s just a matter of staying loose and trying to hit balls hard and then letting the results play out the way they deem necessary.”
The fifth-year senior is second nationally with 16 home runs, one behind his former Florida teammate Jac Caglianone.
Armstrong had 12 homers in 308 at-bats over four seasons with the Gators. He was among three players sharing playing time at first base and designated hitter by the end of last season. He transferred to Jacksonville for more playing time.
Now playing third base, he’s batting a team-best .358 and is 13 for 21 with 24 RBI during the Dolphins’ current five-game win streak. His 46 RBIs lead the nation.
He was 4 for 5 with 3 homers and a school-record 8 RBI in Saturday’s 17-2 win and 3 for 3 with 3 homers and 7 RBI in Sunday’s 12-2 win.
“I was always a power guy,” he said. “Batting practice was kind of my thing. It was always something I took pride in, trying to see how far I could hit the ball. But translating it into the game took some time.”
Armstrong attributes his recent tear to changing his approach at the plate. Instead of waiting for a particular type of pitch, he said, he’s looking for one in a certain area of the strike zone. A pitch that’s up and middle-inside is what he likes best.
“It’s really helped me,” he said. “I used to be kind of a guesser up there, just trying to guess pitches. It was more like a 50-50 coin flip whether I was right or wrong. Now I’m sort of becoming a zone hitter. I think it’s really helped me as of late.”
STAMPEDING LONGHORNS
Texas has bounced back from its 4-7 start to win 14 games in a row for the nation’s longest active streak.
The Longhorns’ surge drew little notice until this week because only one of their opponents during the streak was in the top 100 of the RPI. The weekend sweep of Texas Tech opened eyes because the Red Raiders were a top-25 RPI team coming off a series win over Big 12 challenger Oklahoma State.
Texas took the last two games in walk-off fashion, winning 6-5 Saturday on a wild pitch and 9-8 Sunday on Garret Guillemette’s homer.
AROUND THE HORN
Florida’s Caglianone homered three times in a threegame sweep of defending national champion Mississippi. … South Carolina, which was 27-28 and four games under .500 in SEC play last season, is 23-2 and 6-0 after sweeping Missouri. … First-year Washington Coach Jason Kelly picked up his biggest series win so far when the Huskies won two of three on the road against a top 10-ranked UCLA. … Southern California, which won a total of two Pac12 series last season, swept Washington State and has won three in a row to open conference play.