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FHSU baseball wins rare three games in one day
3/27/2009
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
The ran and snow that swept through the state forced multiple changes to Fort Hays State University's baseball schedule, a rare phone call for Tiger coach Rick Sabath, an unexpected start for junior left-hander Matt Augustine and a big day from freshman Nash Smith.
Fort Hays, originally expected to play home doubleheaders Friday and Saturday against Southwest Baptist (Mo.) University, had the games switched because of weather. The Tigers ended up playing three contests on Thursday, an oddity that Sabath had never seen.
"We had to actually call the national rules editor to find out if it was legal to play three games in one day," Sabath said. "Found out that it was."
When Augustine reached Larks Park on Thursday, he didn't know about the tripleheader and expected to pitch Saturday. Instead, he provided the third straight strong start for the Tigers in a three-game sweep, 4-2, 13-1 and 6-4, that lasted 23 innings and seven hours.
"I am really proud of this team to play 23 innings in one day," Sabath said. "I thought we played well. All 23 innings, we really got outstanding starting pitching and we started to show life swinging the bat."
Augustine worked seven shutout innings and the three starters, seniors Eric Gilliland, Kent Williamson and Augustine, all won and posted a 1.50 earned-run average in 18 innings. Sabath called Augustine's performance the left-hander's best of the season.
"I had command of all my pitches, my changeup was good, my two-seam, my four-seam (fastball), I was locating really well," Augustine, a Colby native, said.
Freshman Nash Smith displayed impressive power, especially to right field. In the three games, he went 6-for-8 with three doubles, a homer, two runs scored and six RBIs from the No. 9 spot. The Tigers, who were 2-10 in their last 12 contests, moved back over .500 at 18-16 overall, 10-10 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. Southwest Baptist dropped to 7-20, 5-13 MIAA. The final game of the series is slated for Saturday at 1 p.m. at Larks Park, weather permitting.
"It's been a roller coaster up and down. I thought we were at Worlds of Fun earlier this year," Sabath said with a smile. "Hopefully we can get this leveled out and play consistent."
Starting pitching provided the foundation. In 2008, 13 pitchers started a game for Fort Hays.
The three pitchers with the most starts, Gilliland, Augustine and Donnie Moore, went 11-15 with a 5.97 ERA.
This season, the rotation is much more consistent. Only seven pitchers have started a game and Gilliland, Augustine and Williamson have made a regular turn and posted a 13-8 record and 4.18 ERA. It's kept Fort Hays in games but a scuffling offense has made it tough to put wins together at times.
"The thing that has been most frustrating for all us if you told me we would have the starting pitching and the bullpen help that we would have this year and we would come out short on a lot of 5-3, 4-3, 6-4 type of games, I would say that doesn't sound like our team, because of the people we had coming back," Sabath said.
In Game 1, though, Gilliland (5-4), the conference leader in innings pitched, delivered five solid innings. The Tigers threw out two runners at home and senior Dusty Washburn hit a two-run homer, his MIAA-best 10th.
Williamson (4-1), drafted twice by Major League teams and a Div. I transfer, picked up his first win since March 1 with six quality innings. Fort Hays' offense tallied double figures for the second time in 17 games with three hits by Smith and senior catcher AJ Levanduski, and senior Alex Harvey had five RBIs, including a homer.
Smith only played summer baseball in high school until he transferred to Beloit his senior year, a school that offered baseball. He began the year at second for Fort Hays but quickly took over the job as the starting center fielder. The left-handed Smith changed his stance after an early season slump, moving his bat from his shoulder to an open stance and his bat pointed vertical.
"It allows me to get my hands back and to get ready a lot sooner," he said.
Smith, who at 5-foot-10 and 165 pounds is the team's smallest player, ripped two doubles and a single in the second contest, all to right field. In Game 3, he smoked a two-run homer well over the scoreboard in right-center on a first pitch. In the next inning, he ripped another first pitch just inside the right-field line for a double.
"I am a first-pitch swinging hitter," Smith said. "A couple of pitches, I thought I knew what they were going to throw, so I sat on them."
In the sixth, Smith lofted another first pitch for an RBI single over second base. Overall, Smithh raised his average 67 points in one day to .273. Ten of his 18 hits are for extra bases, including five homers.
"It's amazing the power that he generates," Sabath said. "I thought they were going to play all three outfielders in right field when he came up the last time, and I wouldn't have blamed them. Great day."
On Tuesday, Augustine and his teammates heard the series would be pushed to Thursday-Saturday because of the conditions. Augustine reached the park Thursday and still expected to pitch Saturday. He forgot to bring his UnderArmour on a day where the temperature dipped near freezing and winds whipped the stadium supports.
"Coach asked me how my arm felt, if I could throw. I said 'I could come in,' " Augustine said. "I thought out of the pen maybe and then he said that I was starting Game 3. That kind of threw me for a little surprise there."
Augustine (4-3), though, kept Southwest Baptist off-balance all day. He mixed in four-seam and two-seam fastballs with a slider, and his best pitch, the circle changeup.
"With this wind, just throw it over the plate and it will move either way six feet, so it works out all right," he said with a smile.
Defensively, Fort Hays never made an error all day. Sophomore Chase Schippers, who Sabath said played "fabulous" in his first career starts at shortstop, contributed four assists and two putouts in the rare tripleheader.
"Coming out and winning three games in a day, we played well," Augustine said.
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 2/18 | SW Baptist | L 66-53 | |
| 12/1 | Oklahoma - Panhandle | L 66-60 (OT) | |