It wasn’t Colby Killian’s fault, all those runs scored against the Emporia State starting pitchers last weekend at the MIAA tournament.
But it’s Killian who the Hornets are putting all their chips on to get out of their recent funk and avoid another big early-game deficit.
Killian will start Emporia State’s first regional game on Thursday against Angelo State in Warrensburg, Mo. After spending most of the season as the team’s No. 4 starter, Killian has been upgraded to the ace — by default.
“I’m pretty pumped,” Killian said. “Hopefully things will turn out better than last week.”
Killian is not a surprising choice. ESU Coach Bob Fornelli has said all season that Killian has some of the best stuff of any ESU pitcher.
“If he’s not absolutely perfectly right, he can get away with it because he’s got good stuff,” Fornelli said. “...If he throws the ball down the middle, it’ll move six inches one way or the other. You might not know which way it’s going to move, but it’s going to run and he’s going to throw 88, 91.”
Killian also had the fortune of missing out on the ego bruising that occurred for starters Tyler Applehans and Ryan Anthony at the MIAA tournament. The two senior lefties combined to give up 10 runs in only 5 2/3 innings.
The problem for both was pretty simple and Killian learned from their mistakes.
“Just watching last weekend, they left the ball up quite a bit and I’ve got to work on that,” he said. “Got to work on keeping the ball down and getting that curveball over, then things should work how they need to.”
Killian had the highest ERA (5.02) of the four ESU starters, but he had one of the best finishes to the season. Take away a bad start at Missouri Southern, and Killian has given up just two runs in his last five appearances over 23 innings.
Other than leaving the ball up, the big problem for Applehans and Anthony in Kansas City was walking batters, and that’s been Killian’s Achilles’ heel this year. He’s tied with Applehans, giving up a team-high 34 walks.
“He’s got to come out and throw strikes,” Fornelli said. “Colby doesn’t get hit, Colby gets himself in trouble because he walks people. If he’ll throw the ball in the zone and let the ball work for him, he’ll have a chance to be successful on Thursday.”
Killian threw to hitters on Tuesday and had good control. He faced nine hitters and gave up only one hit.
Fornelli’s game plan for the rest of the tournament with his other starting pitchers is still up in the air. Ben Graham will be available out of the bullpen for long or short relief on Thursday. If Graham does not pitch in the opener or pitches an inning or less, Fornelli might go with him as the starter on Friday.
Graham pitched well on Saturday against Central Missouri in relief, going 5 1/3 innings and giving up just two runs — one of which was unearned.
“We like Ben coming out of the pen, because we know what we’re going to get,” Fornelli said. “He’s going to throw strikes. He’s going to keep us in the game. At the same time, he might be one of the better two guys to start for us, too.”
Graham was the team’s ace until a midseason shoulder injury kept him out almost three weeks, and he’s just now starting to get back to where he was before.
“After sitting out for three weeks and then coming back, it was always in the back of my mind, me re-injuring my shoulder,” he said. “Once I got past that, it was more finding out how my mechanics were and my arm worked and getting back to normal. Both of those factors are finally coming together right now and I’m starting to pitch like I used to.”
The Hornets also need Applehans and Anthony to find their regular season form, because both are eventually going to get a chance if the Hornets don’t suffer an early exit in the double-elimination tournament.
Both made the All-MIAA team and both were the team’s top two starters most of the season.
“We’re obviously capable of pitching really well,” Anthony said. “We just need to get back in the groove.”
Francis back in lineup?
Outfielder Jeremy Francis was a noticeable scratch from the lineup on Saturday and was also taken out of the game early against Nebraska-Omaha on Friday.
Fornelli’s reasoning was Francis’ recent struggles. He’s hit .192 in the last 10 games.
“He’s fine. He’s just got to start believing in himself again,” Fornelli said. “He hasn’t had great at-bats, and we need him to have good at-bats.”
Francis hit .351 this year from the two-spot in the lineup between Conner Crumbliss and Kenny Burkhead. He should be back in left field on Thursday; however, Fornelli did not say for certain that Francis would start.
Good luck hosting
The host team of the South Central Regional has not won the regional the past two seasons, which doesn’t bode well for Central Missouri. The Mules sort of backed into hosting by reaching the MIAA championship game, which they lost to Nebraska-Omaha.
The regular season MIAA champion Hornets likely would have hosted if not for such a poor showing at the MIAA tournament.
“All six teams in this regional can win it,” Fornelli said. “There’s not one team head over heels of anybody. That’s why nobody knew who the No. 1 seed was. It’s a matter of going in there and playing right and believing in ourselves.”
Emporia State was the last team to host the regional and advance to the World Series in 2006.
Regional schedule
Thursday
Game 1: (12:00 p.m.) No. 3 Angelo State vs. No. 4 Emporia State
Game 2: (3:30 p.m.) No. 2 Abilene Christian vs. No. 5 Nebraska-Omaha
Game 3: (7:00 p.m.) No. 1 University of Central Missouri vs. No. 6 University of Texas-Permian Basin
Friday
Game 4: (12:00 p.m.) Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 2
Game 5: (3:30 p.m.) Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 1
Game 6: (7:00 p.m.) Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 1
If four teams remain after game 6, the following schedule will apply:
Saturday
Game 7: (12:00 p.m.) Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6
Game 8: (3:30 p.m.) Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 6
Game 9: (7:00 p.m.) Winner Game 8 vs. Loser Game 7
Sunday
Game 10: (12:00 p.m.) Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 9
Game 11: If Needed...30 minutes after Game 10
If five teams remain after game 6, the following schedule will apply:
Saturday
Game 7: (12:00 p.m.) Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6
Game 8: (3:30 p.m.) Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5
Game 9: (7:00 p.m.) Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 7
If two teams remain after game 9, the following schedule will apply:
Sunday
Game 10 : (12:00 p.m.) Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9
Game 11: If Needed...30 minutes after Game 10
If three teams remain after game 9, the following schedule will apply:
Sunday
Game 10 : (12:00 p.m.) Winner Game 8 vs. Loser Game 9
Game 11: (3:30 p.m.) Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10