Rotation Breakdown: Regionals

The Hoos will host the Charlottesville Regional as the top seed once again this season, however this season is unlike previous ones, in that the pitching is going to need to hit on all cylinders, which will include the rotation. I'm going to take a look at all the possible scenarios and break down who would throw in which game and what strategy I would use to assign them. Not claiming I am as good or smarter than the coaches, this is just how I would approach it.

Game 1: Friday 4pm vs. Army
We are very fortunate to be a top seed, and it is for just this reason. Playing a number 4 seed that we should be able to handle allows us to save our ace for a later date. Winning game one is extremely important, but winning game two is really the key to this format. If we were the 2 seed you would most likely see Brandon Kline in this spot, but because we are the top seed you will most likely see:

Artie Lewicki

Would you believe me if I told you that Artie Lewicki holds the lowest ERA of the starters for the season? What about the lowest batting average against and walks allowed? Well believe it. Artie, as Kendall said in his previous post, is the key to this series. If he comes out and pitches the way he has all season the Hoos should take game one easily.

Game 2: Saturday vs. Oklahoma/App State
Game Two is the most important game played in a double elimination tournament. The team that wins both games has a huge advantage over the team challenging in the playback game. This is the game where you see the ACE, and Coach O'Connor should not disappoint.

Branden Kline

This is pretty obvious. Kline is a big-time power arm who is also capable, if he is on, of going extremely deep into a game. That is going to be key considering how our staff seems to run out of steam early in games. If Kline can come out and give us 7 strong, dominant innings, we should be okay.

Game 3: Sunday
This is where it gets tricky. While Scott Silverstein has been our Saturday starter, and this would be the obvious spot for him to start, do we really have the confidence in him in this spot? Silverstein has a propensity to get wild here and put up an incerdibly short outing. I think Silverstein will be used in a back-against-the-wall situation because of his unpredictability, which begs the question, what other options do we have?

If we are 1-1: Scott Silverstein

If we are 2-0: Kyle Crockett

Kyle should get the start if we are looking to advance. He has demonstrated the ability to give us consistent innings this season. A combination of 4-5 innings of Kyle, 2-3 innings of a hopefully healthy Shanne Halley, and a nice slam job from Justin Thompson at the end of the game should secure us the win. Meanwhile as stated above if we are in an elimination game we should start Scott Silverstein. He has the potential to turn in a dominant performance, but make no mistake the hook will be quick. That will be a true kitchen sink game.

Game 4: Monday
Hopefully this game won't be necessary, but if it is this could be a problem. The strength of last year's team, the depth of the rotation, is the weakness of this season's team. This will truly be the kitchen sink game. This game will feature names that might not be entirely familiar to all the fans. Expect names like Barrett O'Neill, Joel Effertz, Austin Young, Nick Howard. This could be a 2 inning apiece performance. The strategy I would use at this point is to try and get a different pitcher every time through the order. That way opposing batters don't have a chance to adjust to one of our pitchers the next time around.

Saving the pen is the key to winning these series, especially if you need to win a playback game. That means starters will have to go deep into games. Having Kline pitch a gem in game two would be a huge boost to our chances. I expect Artie to shut down Army in game one, most likely saving Halley and Thompson. If Kline can get deep into game two that will save us innings for relievers who will play a key role in the rest of the series. Big game in game two means a big win for the series. If we want to win we need to fire on all cylinders, and this rotation should keep the pitchers in line to do just that.

GO HOOS