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Men's Baseball June 4, 2018

Top 10 Clarkson Highlights - #10 Clarkson Pitching Among National Leaders

In what proved to be the final game of his collegiate career, senior Andrew Smith was one hitter away from tossing his first collegiate shutout when he did something odd against St. Lawrence's number five hitter James Cronin. His first pitch sailed high for a ball.

Cronin was the 24th hitter of the game for Smith, and it was only the fifth time in the game that he did not start a batter off with a first pitch strike. The senior righty settled in on his last hitter, however, and finished him off with a strikeout on his 78th pitch of the afternoon.

It was a fitting end for Smith, who reached a three-ball count just once all day, polishing off a complete-game gem with his sixth strikeout in the contest. But the shutout was even more indicative of Clarkson's season overall, as the pitching staff excelled throughout the conference slate. On only five occasions in 22 conference games did Clarkson's opponent score more than five runs, as the staff kept the Golden Knights in game after game down the stretch.  Unfortunately, the Green and Gold finished outside of the league playoffs for just the fourth time in 16 seasons, coming up shy by a handful of percentage points and trailing three of the five teams ahead of them by only a half game in the conference standings.

Though the Golden Knights 3.61 earned run average was only the team's best figure since 2014 (2.81), when the Knights had four starters with earned run averages below three, and it lacked the whizzing fastballs of teams from more than a decade ago, which trotted out pitchers who routinely touched 90 miles per hour, the current crop of Clarkson hurlers kept opponents off the scoreboard by limiting the damage in any given inning. The .269 batting average and .386 slugging percentage allowed by the Knights were not particularly special numbers, but the .326 on-base percentage led the conference by a wide margin and proved the difference in many contests.

Further testament to the control of the pitching staff comes in other categories as well. The Knights led the Liberty League with the fewest wild pitches (17), fewest passed balls (3), and fewest hit batsmen (22). The Knights ranked in the top 10 in the country in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.25, seventh) and walks per nine (2.31, fifth) while ranking 31st in WHIP (1.31).  


The Golden Knights were led by the Liberty League's Co-Pitcher of the Year Will Coleman. The senior righty, who was just the third pitcher to win end-of-the-year honors for the Knights (joining former Players of the Year Dan Hojnacki in 2004 and Matt Nolan in 2000), posted the third-lowest earned run average by a Golden Knight in the past four decades at 1.52. He was just as good in league games with a 1.60 earned run average, and overall Coleman struck out 59 hitters in 47.1 innings against just seven walks (two of which were intentional). Smith, a Liberty League Second-Team All-Star, finished fourth in the league in earned run average among starting pitchers at 2.62, and he dropped his ERA to 2.01 in league games, trailing only Coleman among all starters in the conference. The duo earned conference all-star accolades, as did sophomore Mark Connor, who gained honorable mention notice for his work which came primarily in relief with a strikeout per inning (33 strikeouts in 33.0 innings).

If the Knights had made the conference tournament, perhaps the arms could have carried them to an unlikely upset. At the very least, five teams were pleased to not have to worry about an unforgiving pitching staff with their season on the line.  

The Top 10 Clarkson University Athletic Department Highlights of 2017-18 were carefully selected by the Clarkson Sports Information Staff. Top 10 Clarkson highlights will be posted on Mondays throughout the summer.
 





 
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Players Mentioned

Will Coleman

#8 Will Coleman

RHP/UT
6' 0"
Sophomore
R/R
Andrew Smith

#2 Andrew Smith

RHP
5' 10"
Sophomore
R/R
Mark Connor

#20 Mark Connor

RHP
6' 1"
Sophomore
R/R

Players Mentioned

Will Coleman

#8 Will Coleman

6' 0"
Sophomore
R/R
RHP/UT
Andrew Smith

#2 Andrew Smith

5' 10"
Sophomore
R/R
RHP
Mark Connor

#20 Mark Connor

6' 1"
Sophomore
R/R
RHP