ORAL ROBERTS
eliminates Oklahoma State.
FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas, Fayetteville pitching coach Wes Johnson made no secret of his top goal upon accepting the position last summer.
Johnson wanted the Razorbacks to be power pitchers with big fastballs and the ability to get strikeouts in key situations.
The pitching staff bought in to Johnson’s vision and turned it into reality as the Razorbacks broke the school record for strikeouts in a season late Friday with Trevor Stephan and two relievers combining to strike out 14 Oral Roberts batters in a 3-0 victory in the opening round of the NCAA Fayetteville Regional.
Arkansas entered Saturday’s late winner’s bracket game against Missouri State with 571 strikeouts, 6 more than the previous standard of 565 strikeouts for the 2007 team led by Nick Schmidt, Jess Todd and Duke Welker.
Stephan used the strikeout pitch to escape trouble in the third inning and posted two strikeouts in the first, second, third, fifth and sixth innings.
“The strikeouts were really important,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “I guess it was in the third inning when … he had a runner at third and one out. Trevor got the strikeout with the top of the order, [Nick] Roark. That was huge. It gave us an opportunity to get out of the inning without a strikeout.”
After a pair of walks loaded the bases, Stephan got out of the inning by striking out Noah Cummings on three pitches.
Stephan, a 6-5 righthander, has 6 games with at least 10 strikeouts in his first year with the Razorbacks and leads the club with 120 strikeouts in 91 innings.
Sophomore Blaine Knight also averaged more than one strikeout per inning entering Saturday’s night game with 88 strikeouts in 842/3 innings.
Several other Razorbacks average at least a strikeout per inning, including lefthander Kacey Murphy (54 strikeouts in 402/3 innings), Cannon Chadwick (38 in 311/3), Barrett Loseke (27 in 25) and freshman lefthander Matt Cronin, who averages 1.7 strikeouts per inning with 29 strikeouts in 17 innings.
Stephan said the Razorbacks have turned strikeouts into a competition.
“With Coach Johnson coming here, he preaches power fastballs,” Stephan said. “That’s what he teaches. That’s what he loves.
“I think it’s kind of contagious, too, when you’ve got all these pitchers kind of competing against each other in a friendly competition. We all enjoy it.”
Johnson stressed lower leg workouts and strength training to help with velocity, stamina and leverage.
“The biggest thing for me is recovery,” Johnson said early in the season. “I want our guys to be able to recover. And not only recover but feel good about themselves.
“Confidence is your own perception of your own potential. I want them to think their potential is really high. I think that’s what the circuit and strength training really does. Like I say, it recovers them. The better they feel between outings the more they’re going to want to throw and so forth.”