MOBILE, Ala. — As it prepares to make its first road trip of the season for a weekend series at South Alabama, Middle Tennessee is riding a good wave of momentum, due in large part to its start on the mound.
Despite having seven games in seven days to begin the season, including four in the first three days, the Blue Raiders have powered to a 5-2 start with one of the best statistical pitching staffs in Conference USA. They're fourth in the league with both a 3.19 ERA and .229 opponent's batting average.
"We didn't get to play much last spring, and we were pumped to get out there," junior starter Aaron Brown said. "We got to play a lot of scrimmages in the fall, and that helped us a lot starting this spring. … It was tough, especially in about the fifth day, but we pushed through and grinded it out."
Head coach Jim Toman and pitching coach Kyle Bunn knew going into the campaign they were going to have a deep staff. That depth was pushed in the season's first week with so many games in such a short amount of time, but they were thrilled with the results.
Brown and southpaw Peyton Wigginton have led the way in the starting rotation with two starts apiece so far, and both currently sport a near-spotless .90 ERA in 10 innings pitched.
Right-hander Zach Keenan has done them one better in the earned-run department, not giving up a single score in eight innings over two appearances, the first a five-inning start. He was named C-USA's Pitcher of the Week this week for his efforts.
"With the messed-up week, no one really 100% knew what day they were going to pitch, so everyone had to be ready last week to throw at any time. I think that helped lead us to have some success," Keenan said. "As long as everyone is ready to pitch and go at hitters, basically just don't walk anyone, we should continue to be really good."
Keenan, Brown and Wigginton this year have exemplified the type of smart, tough-minded pitching Bunn has preached since coming to MT in 2018.
Brown hasn't walked a batter yet in two starts and ranks tied for seventh in the country with 20 strikeouts. Keenan has matched him with zero walks and 12 strikeouts, while Wigginton has walked two batters and struck out 11.
The Blue Raiders as a team rank sixth in the nation with an 86-to-15 strikeout-to-walk ratio. It's rather hard to believe they've reached that tier considering they finished 288th out of 297 teams nationally in walk rate in 2018.
"I think it's basically been having a plan for them to follow and trying to provide as much structure as possible. I'm big with routines, structure and planning," Bunn said. "We've tried to stay consistent with our message across the board, and we've had a lot of guys who've bought into that."
The competition the pitching staff has with so much depth this season has brought out the best in a lot of guys.
Of the nine MT pitchers who've seen multiple appearances so far, six of them have ERAs at 1.80 or less, including the three guys already mentioned, Adam Link, Eriq Swan and David Zoz.
Middle Tennessee might need all of those arms to travel well to South Alabama this weekend. The Jaguars also feature a good staff — they have a 3.38 ERA in seven games — so pitcher's duels could rule the three-game series.
"We've just got to continue to throw strikes," Bunn said. "We really try to focus on that a lot and getting them to understand if you aren't going to throw strikes … we aren't going to win games."
The Blue Raiders and South Alabama will start the weekend with first pitch Friday at 6:30 p.m., following with Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday's wrap-up at 1 p.m.
Brown will start on the bump Friday, with Wigginton and Keenan to follow Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
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