WVU Baseball may have itself some maturity in the pitching department this season, as eight sophomores look to prove that the gap between freshman and sophomore seasons is worth more than just one year.
Sophomores Bryce Amos, Carson Estridge, Cole Fehrman, Gavin Van Kempen, Luke Lyman, Maxx Yehl, and Robby Porco, along with redshirt sophomores Tommy Beam and David Hagaman, will have an increased role on the mound this season.
Without former graduate student Blaine Traxel and now TCU senior Ben Hampton no longer with the program, who combined for 190 innings pitched last season, West Virginia baseball head coach Randy Mazey may give the young pitchers more opportunities. To feel comfortable doing so, though, he needs to see significant progression.
“They all were good for us last year. None of them were great. They were all good, but guys that look like that and throw like that, you want them to be great. At some point, they’re going to have to make that transition from good to great,” Mazey said.
Seemingly first in line to make that transition is the 6-foot-5 transfer Luke Lyman from Morehead State. In 26 innings pitched last season, Lyman struck out 24 batters and recorded a 3.76 ERA, earning him a spot on the All-OVC Freshman Team.
As for non-transfers, Hagaman proved to be the most trustworthy of the bunch last season, as he played the most games and innings of any freshman last year with 22 appearances and 38.1 innings pitched. In that time, Hagaman recorded the best WHIP on the team, allowing just 1.07 walks and hits per inning.
Hagaman earned NCBWA Freshman All-American honors last season and was an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention. He struck out 40 batters in 38.1 innings.
Making the most starts of the group last year was Porco, who earned four wins and one loss in seven starts. Porco recorded the worst ERA on the team at 7.5 runs allowed per nine innings, but he struck out 44 batters in just 36 innings. The 6-foot-8 righty earned Big 12 Pitcher of the Week honors in April.
With valuable and more experienced options at the mound for WVU, Mazey says it is unlikely for the young pitchers to see a massive jump in innings pitched, but their roles will increase as he hopes to see their skills match it.
“At some point, all those big dudes that have great talent have to figure out how to be great pitchers,” Mazey said.
“To say that that’s happened yet and one of those guys can win 10 games, not ready to do that yet, but ask Coach Sabins that question next year at this time and hopefully he’ll say they’re ready to be great because it’s coming. Hopefully it’ll be this year.”
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
