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FHSU's Beer a good surprise
4/29/2011
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
Fort Hays State University junior right-hander Connor Beer has delivered a big turnaround and established himself as one of the Tigers' top starting pitchers behind a simple philosophy: Pitch to contact.
Beer, who ranks fifth in the MIAA with 591âÑ3 innings, is 6-3 with a 4.85 earned-run average. He has struck out 26 batters and walked 16, good for 3.9 strikeouts and 2.4 walks per nine innings.
Beer is tied for 10th in the conference in walk rate.
He is 20th in the MIAA in ERA, and his strikeout rate is the lowest. But Beer has permitted just four homers, pitched a team-high five complete games and won four straight starts.
"I would say I am a ground-ball pitcher," he said. "I go out there and I try to allow our defense to work."
Beer, one of the season's biggest surprises, has helped Fort Hays win 13 of its last 18 games to move to 22-18 overall and 19-15 in the MIAA. The Tigers, fifth in the conference, will travel to St. Joseph, Mo., this weekend to play Missouri Western State University (22-18, 21-14), fourth in the league. The four-game series starts with a single game today at 6 p.m. and continues into Saturday and Sunday.
"He has a deceptively fast fastball that even when he is down in the count, he still has a great opportunity to get a ground ball," first-year coach Steve Johnson said of Beer. "When he is not walking people, you are going to have to get multiple hits off of him because he doesn't get a lot of balls elevated off of him, not a lot of extra-base hits."
In his first two years, Beer struggled with keeping the ball on the ground. A Wichita State University transfer, Beer posted a 7.11 ERA in four appearances in 2009 for Fort Hays. Last season, former Tiger coach Rick Sabath wanted Beer to drop his arm angle down, a change the right-hander said wasn't "the best decision for me." Beer went 2-0 with a team-worst 22.95 ERA in 6 2âÑ3 innings. He allowed 17 hits, including nine for extra bases and lost confidence. This year, he switched back to his old arm angle and Johnson gave Beer a boost.
"I don't know if I could have got back on the map if he wouldn't have come in and helped me out," Beer said. "Really kind of filled me with confidence that I didn't have before."
After a shaky first start, Beer has worked at least six innings in eight of his last nine starts. Only once all year has he allowed more than four earned runs in an outing.
"(He) gets ahead of people and gives our defense a chance to play," junior shortstop Sheldon Howell said. "Because we have one of the best defenses in the league and if the pitchers allow us to play, we are going to be a good team towards the end."
Last Saturday, Beer worked six innings and allowed three earned runs in a 6-4 victory against University of Nebraska-Omaha, the league's top hitting team. He is the lone starting pitcher in the last 12 games against UNO to work at least six innings and allow three earned runs or fewer.
After five innings, Beer struggled and Johnson told the right-hander he was at 108 pitches.
But Beer said, "I really don't care, I feel good."
"I am not a huge pitch count guy," Johnson said. "I am obviously very concerned with our guys' arms. ... When I start to see them getting uncomfortable with their stuff and starting to lose something off their fastball, I don't care if they are at 90 pitches or 120, that's when it's time to (pull them)."
But Beer battled through three more outs, saved a depleted Tiger bullpen and threw 130 pitches in another strong outing.
"I feel like when I am put in the zone and allow the defense to work, then everyone is excited," Beer said. "They want to get back in and hit and they know that they are going to be active throughout the entire game."
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 2/18 | SW Baptist | L 66-53 | |
| 12/1 | Oklahoma - Panhandle | L 66-60 (OT) | |