Call to arms
Nathan Wiles recent surge has been a big boost to the Sooners pitching rotation, who struggled early to find a No. 3 starter behind stalwarts Jake Irvin and Devon Perez.
— When Nathan Wiles walked from the bullpen to the mound Sunday, he showed nothing but confidence.
Wiles’ Oklahoma squad was down in the series 0-2 to Texas and needing a strong performance from the 6-foot-5 sophomore right-hander.
Also, Wiles felt “the worst (he) could have felt” after his warmups before the game.
Wiles wasn’t comfortable but he was confident, and after a couple of rocky innings at least in terms of control and placement, Wiles settled in and turned in the performance of his career.
In a 6-0 win, Wiles threw 7 scoreless innings, striking out seven and walking one.
It was the latest example of Wiles figuring how to win without his A-plus stuff.
“I did not feel very good in the bullpen, I didn’t feel very good in the game, I just felt uncomfortable,” Wiles said. “I didn’t have my accuracy that I normally do. But again, that is one thing that I’ve changed this year is that I can handle all that and still be successful. The thing that I did was that I turned that into a way for me to be comfortable in an uncomfortable situation.”
It’s becoming more and more routine for Wiles, who has allowed one or no runs in three of his four Big 12 starts.
“You have your A-game maybe once a year — your AA game,” Wiles said. “If you’re uncomfortable, you’ve got to find a way to handle it.”
A big part of that is maintaining the confidence even when things don’t feel quite as sharp.
“My conviction is everything I do.” Wiles said. “I’m convicted, I’m confident and I’ve got to appear that way. If I go there and I’m terrified of what could happen, I’m going to get hit all over the park.”
That’s been a big part of Skip Johnson’s message to Wiles.
“If you were to ask Major Leaguers, and I’ve been blessed to be around some of those guys, when did you have you A-game? I bet you 99.9 percent of them say maybe seven, eight, nine games I had my A-game,” said Johnson, whose MLB pupils include Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw. “Then for 10-11, I had my B-game and for 10-11 I had my C-game and trying to get to six innings. That’s when you become a pitcher and understand that that’s what your role is to try to set that tone and keep the momentum in the dugout.”
Wiles’ recent surge has been a big boost for the Sooners, who struggled early in the season in the Sunday slot as they looked for a No. 3 piece in the rotation behind stalwarts Jake Irvin and Devon Perez.
Now the Sooners have that, moving to the top of the Big 12 in pitching with a 3.31 ERA.
They’ll need it especially over the next two weeks, as they’ll play critical Big 12 series at Texas Tech this weekend and in Stillwater and Tulsa the next week against Oklahoma State.
“They’re going to be fun,” Wiles said. “Obviously they’re big weekends but we’re so excited. It’s a chance to show everyone who we are and what we can do.”