USM baseball’s pitching dominance this season the result of a revitalized bullpen
The unsung heroes of Southern Miss’ explosive 2022 season have quietly gone about their business.
They enter games with a just few innings left to play, and often leave the visitor’s score as they found it. They make up a revitalized, zone-pounding group of relievers that has left opponents lifeless in the final frames.
A year ago, the only reliever on the staff to throw under 2.50 ERA baseball, Ryan Och, graduated, along with a pair of starters. It was natural, then, to wonder what would happen in a new season, with new players with less experience.
But, what was once a question mark is now a strength.
Trove of arms
In Och’s stead, a trove of hard-throwing arms have blossomed out of the pen. A mix of newcomers and improved returnees have given head coach Scott Berry multiple options to which he can turn in the final innings.
“I felt like last year we had some pieces that were starting to develop and then we added some with Landon (Harper) and Dalton (Rogers),” Berry told the Sun Herald. “Some of our other guys have really started to develop well. (Garrett) Ramsey continues to do well, Tyler Stuart, Justin Storm has really started to come on.”
Harper and Rogers arrived from the junior college ranks and made the transition easily. Rogers is leading the pen with 40 strikeouts, including eight in three innings of scoreless work against Old Dominion on Saturday.
Harper leads the team in saves with nine and has allowed just 27 base runners in 29.1 innings pitched.
A secret weapon
The secret to the group’s success is one of the best kept secrets in college baseball: pitching coach Christian Ostrander. Coach “Oz’s” style of teaching can be seen on the national leaderboards year in and year out, and this season is no different.
Southern Miss is among the top five in the country in both strikeouts per nine innings and strikeout-to-walk ratio. If Golden Eagles pitchers do anything, it’s hit the zone.
“Coach Oz does a great job of that,” Ramsey said. “He pounds our head every day, ‘just fill it up.’ He doesn’t care about home runs, he doesn’t care about hits as long as you’re throwing strikes. The only thing he won’t accept is balls and hit by pitches.”
Under Ostrander’s tutelage, Ramsey has improved his strikeout rate to 13.8 per 9 innings and reduced his walk rate to 3.2 per 9 innings. As a result, his ERA is down to 2.78 from last year’s 4.50.
“I feel like (Ostrander) is one of the best pitching coaches in the country,” Berry said. “He really relates to these guys. He’s not a coach that clones them, he’s a coach that takes what they do well and makes it better.”
Strength in numbers
Ramsey is far from the only one that’s seen his numbers improve. In eight spot appearances, Justin Storm has been nearly flawless. He allowed two runs against Jacksonville State, but has shut down everyone else he’s faced.
The same goes for Aubrey Gillentine, who finished the 2021 season with a 5.50 ERA. This year, he’s given up one run in 6.1 innings.
“We just grew up a lot and matured,” Ramsey said. “We’re pretty good right now... we all try to follow each other and one-up each other.”
Having multiple arms with shutdown stuff is imperative when high leverage situations come around in postseason games. The bullpen allowed 10 runs in the final two games of the 2021 regionals in Oxford, and Berry had to put a pair of starters on the mound in relief in the last game against Ole Miss.
This year is shaping up to be much different now that USM has multiple weapons.
This story was originally published May 8, 2022 at 6:02 AM.
