Electricity was in the air at Baum Stadium on Friday. It was buzz, buzz, buzz as pitcher Blaine Knight lit up the radar gun that displays on the scoreboard.
Knight’s first pitch was recorded as 98 mph. The third pitch registered 99.
It was the rage across the stadium as the Arkansas baseball team blanked Miami (Ohio) 7-0 in the season opener. The radar numbers almost overshadowed the big news, the end of a 13-game losing streak dating to the end of last season.
There had been word all fall that new pitching coach Wes Johnson had given all of the staff a boost in velocity with heavy sled workouts, weighted baseballs and some tweaks to mechanics based on high-tech looks from a Doppler system called TrackMan.
Just to make sure, I jaunted to the seats directly behind home plates to check with professional scouts. They confirmed my suspicions. The scoreboard gun was “hot.” Subtract 4-5 mph and you’d have it right, they said.
That was revealed quickly after the game from Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn, a little upset about the poor calibration on the stadium gun. The coaching staff has its own gun in the stands and it was producing the same read as the scouts. Subtract 4-5 mph and you’d have it about right.
“The scoreboard was…too fast,” Van Horn said. “I hope Blaine didn’t turn around and see that.”
Knight said he did not, but that someone “told me” in the dugout.
“I just thought if that number is right, it’s awesome,” Knight said. “My arm felt good and I thought I had good velocity.”
Later, the sophomore from Bryant admitted that he was “not surprised” with the true velocity.
“I’m definitely up over last year,” he said. “I’ve been hitting 95 to 96. Mostly, I’m at 94 and that’s up.”
Van Horn went to administrative personnel right after finishing his interview to ask for a fix of the gun.
“We’ve got to get it re-calibrated,” Van Horn said. “That’s just wrong to show those kinds of numbers. I know we are up, but 99 is something that’s extremely rare.”
The real news did concern the pitching. The number that jumped off the box score: Three UA pitchers did not walk a batter. They threw lots of strikes.
Knight threw 46 of 72 pitches for strikes. Relievers Jake Reindl (30 of 44) and Cannon Chadwick (20 of 27) were around the zone, too.
That’s how you throw a shutout. Conversely, Miami starter Cole Gnetz could not locate hardly any of his pitches. He walked four and hit two more as the Hogs plated six runs in the first inning. Only 17 of his 37 pitches were for strikes.
Knight was impressive. Van Horn would have liked more than four innings, but that was about his only criticism.
“We were going to let him go 80, and he was at 72,” he said. “We could have let him go out for one more, but he did a tremendous job.”
Reindl weathered a 15-minute delay at one point because the home plate umpire was injured. It didn’t faze the sophomore from Shiloh Christian. Chadwick threw a dynamite breaker for strikes in retiring six of seven batters.
Knight recorded five strikeouts, Reindl added three and Chadwick four. Really, all three were throwing multiple pitches for strikes. Knight was pleased with a new pitch added under Johnson, a cut fast ball.
“I threw (the cutter) a lot,” Knight said. “It worked like it has been. I look forward to using it more.”
Knight also mixed in an effective changeup for strikes. It’s all set up by a good fast ball, but not as good as most were thinking. Van Horn hopes the numbers on the board are correct for Saturday’s first pitch.
It won’t matter if the Hogs keep throwing strikes. That’s the reason all those goose eggs showed up Friday.
Clay Henry can be reached at chenry@nwadg.com.