Bullpen shows promise in 5-1 win over Seacoast Mavericks
At Tuesday’s practice coach BJ Neverett told his bullpen that walks wouldn’t be apart of its system.
Neverett said if a pitcher walks two straight batters, no matter what the situation is, he would be pulled out of the game.
On Wednesday night, the Silver Knights allowed two walks through nine innings and three pitchers.
Jeremy Roberts got the start, setting a precedent for the Silver Knights to follow all season, striking out eight through six, shutout innings.
Roberts most importantly didn’t walk a single batter.
“For Jeremy he has hit a low walk total in college,” Neverett said about Roberts. “He is going to be pitching in the zone. I thought he did a really nice job. He kept them off balance, his changeup was very good. That was a great first start for him.”
Through the six innings he pitched, Roberts was able to paint the strike zone with his fastball to set up his changeup.
Following his exit after the sixth inning, Connor Gavin entered, who was followed in the ninth by Jake Nelson.
The two combined for six strikeouts, one run, and two walks.
“We hope we’ll develop a good bullpen,” Neverett said. “It’s going to be really important and both of those guys (Nelson and Gavin) did a really good job. They’re ready for this. Both performed as well as I had hope.”
Nelson and Gavin each struck out three batters, Nelson getting the three Ks in one inning.
“With him (Nelson) he just needs to settle down his nerves and adrenaline,” pitching coach Kyle Jackson said. “Just going through his mechanics and not trying to overthrow because he does throw so hard that sometimes he can get carried away. He’s going to learn that in this league it doesn’t matter how hard you’re throwing if you aren’t throwing strikes.”
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