When Spencer Harris somewhat surprisingly burst onto the scene as Trenton’s top arm early in the 2017 season – the first for the Trenton baseball program – the Trenton coaching staff and Bulldog fans alike almost immediately began dreaming of a one-two punch at the top of the rotation including him and the injured Drew Rorebeck. As Rorebeck rehabbed and Harris continued to dazzle, anticipation grew.
Until it didn’t.
Almost immediately after Rorebeck returned at, or close to, 100 percent, Harris’ season was cut short when he suffered his own injury – one that ended the senior’s career with the Bulldogs and left Trenton with a “what-could-have-been” sentiment.
Despite playing together for not much more than a week, the duo combined to pitch nearly 60 of the Bulldogs’ 136-plus innings on the season. They were the only two pitchers on the Trenton staff to throw 15 or more innings and post ERAs of under five. Rorebeck had an ERA of 4.07 and struck out a team-high 48 batters; Harris was at 4.15 with 38 strikeouts.
Positively thinking, Trenton only has to replace one pitcher since, due to the injuries, the Bulldogs were always without one or the other to begin with. The harsh reality is that the two seniors were far and away the best, and most heavily used, pitchers in the rotation.
“I would say at this point there are more question marks with our pitching and defense than there are at the plate,” Trenton Head Coach Andy Hight said. “The simple fact is that pitching is the most important part and defense is right behind it. When you lose the amount of innings that we did from last year’s team and you have to replace that, it’s always going to be a challenge. But I think we have the kids that are capable to do that.”
The luxury Trenton will have is an ability to throw numbers at the problem. Hunter Dugan and Jesse Farmer are the top returning arms in terms of innings pitched, logging 17.2 and 17.1 innings, respectively, during the Bulldogs’ inaugural season. Colton Colston, Avery Cooksey and Sam Schilling are all back as well, having thrown over 10 innings each last season.
Of that group, Cooksey is an outlier. He fired a team-low 2.50 ERA last season, striking out 16 despite walking 17. He allowed 37 runners to reach base, but only five came around to score an earned run against him, just under 14 percent.
Arm issues limited Cooksey to just 14 innings pitched on the season, however, less than half of what Rorebeck and Harris threw individually in injury-shortened campaigns.
“I feel like my arm will be a lot better,” Cooksey said. “I just need to do the arm stretches and everything that we need to do to prepare and I will be fine this year.”
Colston was the only Trenton pitcher outside of Rorebeck and Harris to strike out more batters than he walked last season. He was also the only Trenton pitcher to garner a save, converting in his only opportunity. Hight sees Colston filling the closer role again this season and the senior pitcher is looking forward to that challenge.
“I like it,” Colston said. “I’m not really there to pitch a bunch of innings, I’m just there to kind of close the game.”
With Colston being the team’s top catcher and shortstop, limiting his innings will bode well for the Bulldog defense.
Schilling, who probably has the most upside among Trenton’s returning pitchers, is a now a sophomore. He had a pretty steep learning curve as a freshman, allowing 20 runs, 14 earned in 10.1 innings pitched. He walked 17 batters and struck out just five.
Trenton will also get a boost from Hunter Beverlin – a junior varsity starting pitcher last season who has made big strides over the off-season. In the first two bullpen sessions of the year for the Bulldogs, Beverlin displayed varsity-level pitching that should bolster the Bulldogs’ rotation.
Needless to say, Trenton will need some marked improvements out of its pitchers this season as the Bulldogs strive to replace their two frontline starters. If Trenton can get enough improvement out of a big group of pitchers, the Bulldogs could very well be taking another step forward in the program’s second season.
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