Indiana University Athletics
DIPRIMIO: ‘Suffocating’ – Indiana Pitching Rules
4/24/2021 12:04:00 PM | Baseball
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Forget fair. Indiana has the pitching to buckle knees, freeze bats and suffocate aggression.
Even with relievers who normally aren't pitchers.
"I have incredible confidence in our bullpen," coach Jeff Mercer says.
For good reason, and not just because guys such as Matt Litwicki barely give up hits let alone runs.
Consider redshirt senior Grant Macciocchi, a reserve infielder (hitting .241 in 10 games and 29 at bats) who pitched for the first time in his IU career Friday against Minnesota. In 2.1 innings of relief, he allowed no runs and no hits, and struck out three.
That followed an 11-strikeout, five-hit, 6.2-inning starting effort by Tommy Sommer to highlight a 9-3 victory at Bart Kaufman Field.
"Tommy is a unicorn because of the changeup," Mercer says. "You can't read it."
All this reflects a season of pitching dominance, a major reason why Indiana swept fading Minnesota (4-22, nine straight losses) with a 7-1 nightcap win. The Hoosiers have won six of their last seven games to improve to 17-8, and are pushing to break into the Big Ten lead, just behind Nebraska (19-6) and Michigan (18-6).
"You always know where you are in the standings, who's chasing you and who you're chasing,'' outfielder Drew Ashley says. "We knew this was big. We needed them both, and we got them."
The Hoosiers have the Big Ten's best team earned run average (2.71). That's basically a run better than the second-best conference squad, Michigan. They hold opponents to a .181 average. That, too, leads the Big Ten. They also have struck out 247 batters while walking just 101.
Beyond that, they have shut out three opponents, allowed one or fewer runs seven times and given up two or less runs 12 times. They also have five games where they've allowed two or fewer hits.
If the hitting kicks in gear -- it's showing signs of that with the 16 runs against Minnesota, highlighted by Ashley's five hits that included a home run and a double (actually a home run, but downgraded by a missed call) -- look out.
But let's get back to the main point, which is this is pitching as you love to have it.
The Hoosiers have a guy throwing just shy of 100 mph, another with a wicked sinker, another with a changeup so brutal it earns the pitcher a "unicorn" label from Mercer when he's not insisting that some pitches are so good and deceptive, they are, in essence, "invisible."
A couple of years ago, Indiana won a Big Ten title by crushing home runs at a record pace. Now they win by turning offenses into rubble, with Gabe Bierman (2-2, 2.34 earned run average), McCade Brown (4-2, 2.41) and Sommer (5-1, 3.42) as starters, with Litwicki (four saves in eight appearances with 13 strikeouts, two walks, two hits and zero runs allowed), Ty Bothwell (28 strikeouts in 21.2 innings) and John Modugno (19 strikeouts in 19.2 innings) as top relievers.
Modugno, by the way, started for the first time this season in the second Minnesota game, going 4.2 innings and allowing no runs while striking out four. Mercer wanted to rest Brown to ensure he'll be ready for May's stretch run.
As far as the Hoosiers' best pitching performance of the season, nothing tops the combined no-hitter thrown by Brown and Braydon Tucker against Illinois on April 10. It was IU's first no-hitter in 37 years, when Mark Gramer shut down Rose-Hulman 6-0 in 1984.
Brown tied the school record with 16 strikeouts during those seven no-hit innings, which also broke the IU record for most strikeouts against a Big Ten opponent.
Mercer has the pitching depth that, no matter the circumstance, "We don't have to extend our starters. Our middle relievers are just as impressive as the starters. When a guy is done in the fifth or sixth inning, he's done. He doesn't have to throw 120 pitches.
"And when we can get the ball to Litwicki at the backend, hopefully the game is over there."
The 6-2, 220-pound Litwicki -- Mercer calls him "as strong as an ox" -- has come a long way from his Tommy John surgery in 2018. He was throwing 91 to 93 mph before the surgery.
Last year, he was at 95 mph. Now, his sinker reaches 99 mph, and he's just under 100 with his four-seam fastball.
"He can go sinker in, sinker in at 97 to 99 mph," Mercer says, "and some batters are on it. Then he flips to a four-seam fastball for a strikeout. It's just a game-changer."
Then there's Bierman and his team-leading 2.34 earned run average. It's the best of his career, and it's the result of fully buying into the concept -- courtesy of a lot of conversations with pitching coach Justin Parker -- of pitching to soft contact.
"He's a sinker baller," Mercer says. "You can't throw the perfect fastball, the invisible fastball that guys will continue to swing and miss at, though he has gotten those.
"It's a weird thing, when someone says you have to let a batter hit your fastball. You're like, I don't want to do that. That's the opposite of what I want."
Doing that with a nasty sinker that usually results in fouls or swinging strikes puts Bierman -- who has pitched 15.2 straight scoreless innings -- ahead in the count and sets up his changeup.
"Justin tells him, 'You have a really effective pitch. Be the player you are. You are a terrific player. You do have a weapon in your changeup which is an equalizer to everyone else's weapon.' "
Then it gets into the subtlety, the art, of pitching. Throw in when the batter expects out, up when he expects down, slow when he expects fast.
"No one swings at a changeup when the fastball isn't established first," Mercer says. "The changeup doesn't play up when the fastball isn't a pressure pitch."
When it is, batters are left wondering what's coming.
"It's like putting a bomb in a hitter's mind," Mercer says. "Any time it can go off. Is this a fastball-changeup? Now a hitter makes bad decisions. He goes back to the dugout and says, 'I couldn't see it. I swung over it.' It's like it's invisible. Now the rest of the dugout is talking about it."
Talk equals doubt equals bad news for opposing teams, great news for IU's Big Ten prospects.
There's a final game against Minnesota on Sunday, with crucial stretch of four games against Nebraska and three against Michigan looming in May that could determine the conference championship.
IU won the Big Ten title in 2019, Mercer's Hoosier debut season. The pandemic ruined a chance for a repeat last year, but now it comes again. Mercer talks about doing the little things, making the smart plays, playing great defense (Ashley and Grant Richardson had spectacular outfield catches on Friday), and rising to the challenge because, "You never know what number is going to be called."
That can "suffocate teams," he says, "and when you do that, you have a chance to win every game."
#GoIU
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Forget fair. Indiana has the pitching to buckle knees, freeze bats and suffocate aggression.
Even with relievers who normally aren't pitchers.
"I have incredible confidence in our bullpen," coach Jeff Mercer says.
For good reason, and not just because guys such as Matt Litwicki barely give up hits let alone runs.
Consider redshirt senior Grant Macciocchi, a reserve infielder (hitting .241 in 10 games and 29 at bats) who pitched for the first time in his IU career Friday against Minnesota. In 2.1 innings of relief, he allowed no runs and no hits, and struck out three.
That followed an 11-strikeout, five-hit, 6.2-inning starting effort by Tommy Sommer to highlight a 9-3 victory at Bart Kaufman Field.
"Tommy is a unicorn because of the changeup," Mercer says. "You can't read it."
All this reflects a season of pitching dominance, a major reason why Indiana swept fading Minnesota (4-22, nine straight losses) with a 7-1 nightcap win. The Hoosiers have won six of their last seven games to improve to 17-8, and are pushing to break into the Big Ten lead, just behind Nebraska (19-6) and Michigan (18-6).
"You always know where you are in the standings, who's chasing you and who you're chasing,'' outfielder Drew Ashley says. "We knew this was big. We needed them both, and we got them."
The Hoosiers have the Big Ten's best team earned run average (2.71). That's basically a run better than the second-best conference squad, Michigan. They hold opponents to a .181 average. That, too, leads the Big Ten. They also have struck out 247 batters while walking just 101.
Beyond that, they have shut out three opponents, allowed one or fewer runs seven times and given up two or less runs 12 times. They also have five games where they've allowed two or fewer hits.
If the hitting kicks in gear -- it's showing signs of that with the 16 runs against Minnesota, highlighted by Ashley's five hits that included a home run and a double (actually a home run, but downgraded by a missed call) -- look out.
But let's get back to the main point, which is this is pitching as you love to have it.
The Hoosiers have a guy throwing just shy of 100 mph, another with a wicked sinker, another with a changeup so brutal it earns the pitcher a "unicorn" label from Mercer when he's not insisting that some pitches are so good and deceptive, they are, in essence, "invisible."
A couple of years ago, Indiana won a Big Ten title by crushing home runs at a record pace. Now they win by turning offenses into rubble, with Gabe Bierman (2-2, 2.34 earned run average), McCade Brown (4-2, 2.41) and Sommer (5-1, 3.42) as starters, with Litwicki (four saves in eight appearances with 13 strikeouts, two walks, two hits and zero runs allowed), Ty Bothwell (28 strikeouts in 21.2 innings) and John Modugno (19 strikeouts in 19.2 innings) as top relievers.
Modugno, by the way, started for the first time this season in the second Minnesota game, going 4.2 innings and allowing no runs while striking out four. Mercer wanted to rest Brown to ensure he'll be ready for May's stretch run.
As far as the Hoosiers' best pitching performance of the season, nothing tops the combined no-hitter thrown by Brown and Braydon Tucker against Illinois on April 10. It was IU's first no-hitter in 37 years, when Mark Gramer shut down Rose-Hulman 6-0 in 1984.
Brown tied the school record with 16 strikeouts during those seven no-hit innings, which also broke the IU record for most strikeouts against a Big Ten opponent.
Mercer has the pitching depth that, no matter the circumstance, "We don't have to extend our starters. Our middle relievers are just as impressive as the starters. When a guy is done in the fifth or sixth inning, he's done. He doesn't have to throw 120 pitches.
"And when we can get the ball to Litwicki at the backend, hopefully the game is over there."
The 6-2, 220-pound Litwicki -- Mercer calls him "as strong as an ox" -- has come a long way from his Tommy John surgery in 2018. He was throwing 91 to 93 mph before the surgery.
Last year, he was at 95 mph. Now, his sinker reaches 99 mph, and he's just under 100 with his four-seam fastball.
"He can go sinker in, sinker in at 97 to 99 mph," Mercer says, "and some batters are on it. Then he flips to a four-seam fastball for a strikeout. It's just a game-changer."
Then there's Bierman and his team-leading 2.34 earned run average. It's the best of his career, and it's the result of fully buying into the concept -- courtesy of a lot of conversations with pitching coach Justin Parker -- of pitching to soft contact.
"He's a sinker baller," Mercer says. "You can't throw the perfect fastball, the invisible fastball that guys will continue to swing and miss at, though he has gotten those.
"It's a weird thing, when someone says you have to let a batter hit your fastball. You're like, I don't want to do that. That's the opposite of what I want."
Doing that with a nasty sinker that usually results in fouls or swinging strikes puts Bierman -- who has pitched 15.2 straight scoreless innings -- ahead in the count and sets up his changeup.
"Justin tells him, 'You have a really effective pitch. Be the player you are. You are a terrific player. You do have a weapon in your changeup which is an equalizer to everyone else's weapon.' "
Then it gets into the subtlety, the art, of pitching. Throw in when the batter expects out, up when he expects down, slow when he expects fast.
"No one swings at a changeup when the fastball isn't established first," Mercer says. "The changeup doesn't play up when the fastball isn't a pressure pitch."
When it is, batters are left wondering what's coming.
"It's like putting a bomb in a hitter's mind," Mercer says. "Any time it can go off. Is this a fastball-changeup? Now a hitter makes bad decisions. He goes back to the dugout and says, 'I couldn't see it. I swung over it.' It's like it's invisible. Now the rest of the dugout is talking about it."
Talk equals doubt equals bad news for opposing teams, great news for IU's Big Ten prospects.
There's a final game against Minnesota on Sunday, with crucial stretch of four games against Nebraska and three against Michigan looming in May that could determine the conference championship.
IU won the Big Ten title in 2019, Mercer's Hoosier debut season. The pandemic ruined a chance for a repeat last year, but now it comes again. Mercer talks about doing the little things, making the smart plays, playing great defense (Ashley and Grant Richardson had spectacular outfield catches on Friday), and rising to the challenge because, "You never know what number is going to be called."
That can "suffocate teams," he says, "and when you do that, you have a chance to win every game."
#GoIU
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