Starting baseball pitcher Scott Turmail tossed a complete game Saturday, April 26, giving up three earned runs and one walk in the Billikens’ 5-3 loss to George Washington University. Turmail’s achievement came in the first game of a double-header, saving the Saint Louis University bullpen for the second match-up of the day.
“Throwing [all nine] is not something I do every start, but starters usually go seven to nine innings in the better college programs,” said Turmail, a junior right-hander from Florissant, Mo., after the final out.
Turmail’s complete game highlights a basic difference between the training regimens for starting pitchers and relievers. Since starters must be able to pitch deep into games and last several innings for each start, the pitchers in the starting rotation adhere to specialized training routines. These workouts include long-distance running, weight-training specific to each rest day and strategic bullpen sessions.
Billiken relief pitchers, such as junior Brad Perkins, generally focus on sprints and light strength training. The goal is to maintain basic conditioning without exhausting players who must be available to enter a game at any time.
“There’s a difference in mentality,” said Perkins, a right-hander from Collinsville, Ill. “Relievers have to be prepared to pitch every day.”
Another key distinction is that starting pitchers, unlike relievers, are typically capable of throwing three or more different pitches for strikes. Turmail’s arsenal, for example, consists of a curveball, slider and change-up, in addition to his best pitch: the fastball.
A coach must consider the athlete’s safety and may remove a starting pitcher when he shows signs of fatigue. Loss in velocity or difficulty locating pitches, in addition to preserving the starter’s arm for a future game, are all reasons why a coach might relieve a starter.
Perkins said that when a coach does remove a starting pitcher, his choice of relief pitcher often depends on the context of the game.
While starting pitchers may experience the frustration of watching a quality outing wasted by a shaky bullpen, relievers bear the responsibility of being more mentally resilient.
“In a tight game, obviously, you want to bring in your best guy,” Assistant Coach Kevin Moulder said. “Their role is to keep it close.
“They have to be able to forget the day before if they had a bad outing and pitch the next day.”
The Billikens suffered another loss in the second game of Saturday’s double-header, but rallied behind junior starter Dave Sever on Sunday, April 27, to defeat the Colonials 11-4 in game three.
