CLICK HERE TO BUY A DIGITAL DOWNLOAD OF THIS VIDEO
The players call it, “pitching backwards.” Some may call it using an opener. You could call it a pitching strategy very few high school teams use. And you can definitely call it something Licking is using for success. Head coach Harv Antle recalls the first time he brought up the idea to his pitching coach Cole Roark. “I remember talking to him saying, ‘What do you think about an opener format?'” said Antle. “I could see the wheels starting to spin. He said, ‘Ok, let’s do it.'”
The idea is, instead of pitching your best arms to start the game, you reverse it, and build as the game goes along.
“We feel we can get six outs of our first guy and then if we have to come from behind we are in better shape than trying to cover the last six,” said Roark.
And they are. After a 17-4 fall season the team is off to a 10-2 start this year. And this isn’t a senior-laden team. In fact this strategy is tailor-made for squads with young players. Almost the entire Wildcat pitching staff is made up of sophomores who are only allowed to throw 95 pitches per game. “If we can get five, six, eight outs, then our next guy in can hopefully give us some length,” said Antle. “And if he’s going well, he’ll get us to the end of the game without hitting that pitch limit.”
This played out in a recent game against Mansfield. Licking fell behind 8-2 in the third inning.
“If you give up runs late, that’s hard to come back from,” said Antle. “If you give up runs early you have 15, 18 outs to get back in the ballgame.”
And that’s exactly what Licking did. Their pitchers didn’t allow another run the rest of the game. And their hitters came from behind to take a 9-8 lead in their final at bat. Sophomore pitcher Keyton Cook closed it out like he’s done so many times this year. He says he’s all in.
“I really like the way we have it set up here,” said Cook. “It works out really good. I think it’s harder for other teams to catch up on it. I think it’s really effective.”
Antle says, others teams might not implement the strategy because it’s such a full commitment. Next year these sophomores will be allowed to throw ten more pitches per game. But Antle says his strategy man not change.
