It is said that nothing in baseball is more important than starting pitching. Without it, winning is only temporary and post-season success is nearly impossible.
Last season, the Dukes had an All-American in their outfield, a man who was named the National Co-Player of the Year as a sophomore, and who set three career offensive school records in his time at JMU. They finished 22-31.
In June, the Dukes lost Kellen Kulbacki to Major League Baseball, drafted by the San Diego Padres in the supplemental round. Kulbacki was only a junior, and he could have stayed for his senior year if he chose. Not surprisingly, he left Harrisonburg to pursue a career in the MLB, drafted 40th out of the more than 1,500 athletes chosen.
In just three years at JMU, the two-time CAA player of the year set the all-time mark at Madison for homeruns (51), extra-base hits (105), and slugging percentage (.755). He hit .398 and slugged .785 while hitting 19 homeruns and knocking in 49 runs last year. He lead the team in each category.
Second to Kulbacki in batting average and slugging percentage was then freshman Matt Browning. The third baseman hit .393 and had a .785 slugging percentage in ’07.
Through 36 games this year, Browning was hitting just .248 with an on base percentage at .321, trailing all regular starters in both categories as of Monday.
The Dukes also lost their No. 3 and No. 4 best statistical hitters from last year, Mitchell Moses (.347) and Davis Stoneburner (.324), to graduation.
So with the departure of three of their best four hitters, and with the other in a season-long slump, one would assume the Dukes’ win total to be down from last year, right?
Wrong.
In ’07, JMU was 11-17 in the Colonial Athletic Association and finished the regular season in ninth — despite having one of the best hitters in the country on its side.
As of Tuesday, the Dukes are 27-10 (16-4 in CAA), second in the conference and only two games behind first-place UNC-Wilmington. In fact, its in-conference win percentage is up over .400 from last year, from .393 to .800.
“We have a different attitude this year,” Steven Caseres, a sophomore first baseman, said. “We know we’re gonna come out and win. Last year was different. We kind of struggled, we lost a couple of close games. This year we just have this attitude. If you mess up, you know someone is gonna be there to pick you up.”
In the offseason, the Dukes lost 10 of their 28 lettermen, and three of their nine starters from the ’07 season. Where they weren’t bombarded by graduation, however, was in their starting pitching rotation. Three of JMU’s four starters from last year returned for 2008.
While the rotation last season wasn’t stellar, (6.27 team ERA, eighth in the CAA) returning experienced, veteran pitchers has been crucial to the Dukes’ success this year. As of Monday, JMU’s 5.12 team ERA ranked second in the CAA, behind only that of UNCW.
Ace Kyle Hoffman, Justin Wood, and Kurt Houck’s combined win-loss record has gone from 11-18 last year to 13-4 in ’08. The trio’s collective ERA has dropped from 7.1 to 5.0.
“This year [our pitching staff] got a year older,” Caseres said. “Basically, the big difference is that they are throwing strikes, getting ahead of batters. I’ve said it to a lot of guys on the team, it’s just a huge difference in college baseball. If you throw strikes, you’re gonna be successful. The second you fall behind and you gotta throw a 2-0 fastball, that’s gonna get pounded around the park, especially with metal bats.”
Coach Spanky McFarland’s bullpen is led by two freshmen, but he feels it has been as key to the Dukes’ success this year as the rotation. In 12 appearances this year, Kevin Munson has a 1.08 ERA and three saves, while Trevor Knight has a 4.76 ERA and four saves in 14 appearances.
“Our starters, for the most part, have been able to go fairly deep in the game,” McFarland said. “So we’re having a lot more quality starts [than last year].
“And our bullpen is a lot better. A lot of them are freshmen, but they’re quality freshmen. We told them before the season, we said, ‘Look, if we’re gonna have a good year, you guys are gonna have to not pitch like freshmen,’ and they’ve pitched like veterans.”
The even better news for the Dukes; along with their two best relievers, three of their top four starters will be back again next year. Houck and Wood are juniors, and Hoffman is only a sophomore.
And while hitters like Kulbacki are very rare, offenses in general can be replenished fairly easily. Starting pitching rotations cannot be.
Even with Browning’s fall off and the losses of Kulbacki, Moses and Stoneburner, the Dukes’ offense has flourished this season.
“I think last year we may have had some better hitters, but we didn’t have as many,” McFarland said. “This year one through nine we’re getting contributions from different people.”
With a .322 team batting average, the Dukes are second in the CAA, up from .299 and sixth in ‘07. They have scored 7.6 runs per game as of Monday, a significant increase from the 6.9 of last season.
Stepping up big offensively all year for JMU have been Caseres and junior outfielder Brett Sellers, along with senior captain and second baseman Joe Lake.
Caseres has upped his .298 from last year to .342 in ’08. He also already exceeded his ’07 RBI total of 40. He was at 45 as of Tuesday, with at least 14 games remaining in his season.
Sellers didn’t play for much of last season because of back problems, but has been able to battle back to lead the Dukes in hitting this year. His average is at a ridiculous .439, slugging .770 with 11 home runs.
“I don’t know if we really look at it like we’re filling Kellen’s hole,” Sellers said. “We look at it like we personally have a job to do. Steve is one of those guys that’s gonna have a good year anyway. I’ve had a hot hand pretty much all year, and hopefully everything continues.”
At .973, the Dukes lead the CAA in fielding percentage, committing only 38 errors through 37 games. Pitching and defense go hand in hand, and it is not a coincidence that the second best pitching staff in the conference has the best fielders behind it.
“Our defense is better than last year,” McFarland said. “We’ve improved pitching and defense and I think our offense has maintained.”
JMU hasn’t won a CAA title in over 20 years. It has been the runner-up, however. With the second best pitching staff and second best offense in the conference, no year looks better this. (UNCW is top in the CAA in ERA, but fourth in team batting average.)
The Dukes will face the first place Seahawks for the first time this season May 9-11 in a possible preview of the CAA championship match. The top two CAA teams will likely meet with a regular season championship on the line, and it should be no surprise to anyone that the conference’s best ERA will be on the line as well.
