NCAA REGIONAL TOURNAMENTS

Command performance

Razorbacks’ ace staying in the zone

Arkansas pitcher Ryne Stanek reacts after throwing a pitch in the first inning of an April 13, 2013 game against LSU at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.
Arkansas pitcher Ryne Stanek reacts after throwing a pitch in the first inning of an April 13, 2013 game against LSU at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE - Ryne Stanek is on another late-season roll for Arkansas’ baseball team, and that usually means trouble for the Razorbacks’ opponents.

Stanek, a 6-4 junior right hander, will enter his Saturday start at the NCAA regional in Manhattan, Kan., having won his past five starts, allowing just four earned runs in 34 2/3 innings in those appearances for a 1.04 earned run average in that stretch. Stanek (9-2, 1.40 ERA) hasn’t given up an earned run in his past 23 innings.

“I like to pitch, and in a bigger game I’m excited to get the ball,” Stanek said.

“He’s a dude, man,” Arkansas first baseman Dominic Fi-cociello said. “There’s a reason he’s going to be a top-five pick in the draft, probably. He goes out there and he knows he’s got the stuff.”

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Stanek has always owned a top-notch fastball, but it’s his command of it - along with the emergence of a wipe out slider, a plus curve ball and change-up - that has put Stanek in the elite class of college pitchers.

Last week at the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala., one of Stanek’s fastballs was clocked at 102 mph in a 4-1 victory over LSU.

“God blessed him with a lightning bolt on the right side of his body,” fellow Arkansas pitcher Colby Suggs said.

Stanek was eager to display the heat on his fastball earlier this year but fought control issues and struggled to go deep into games. He has been strong late this year after turning in a series of postseason performances that helped the Hogs reach last year’s College World Series.

The Razorbacks have won his past eight appearances, dating to a March 30 loss to Mississippi State in which he allowed one earned run.

His last start - a victory over LSU during last week’s SEC Tournament - was typical Stanek. He allowed six hits and walked three while earning the victory by allowing no earned runs in eight innings.

“He doesn’t give up a lot of hits,” LSU Coach Paul Mainieri said. “That’s why he’s going to make a lot of money.”

Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said Stanek has picked up steam late in the season in each of his three years with the Razorbacks.

“This is what he’s done his whole career,” Van Horn said. “As a freshman he was just OK until May, and then he became really good. Then last year as a sophomore he got off to a shaky start, then here he comes again at the end of the year. I wouldn’t have taken another pitcher over him all the way through the World Series.

“This year he was a little bit better earlier. He knows how to win. He knows how to fight through adversity when things aren’t going real good for him. Really, now, I think you can just see that every game means so much.”

Stanek said a better command of his pitches has led to improved results.

“My curve ball, I’ve started throwing a little bit more these last three or four weeks,” Stanek said. “ I’ve been able to throw it for a strike. My change-up has gotten a lot better. My slider’s been fairly solid throughout the year, just getting a little more depth with it.

“My biggest thing is like throwing the fastball. When I throw the fastball for a strike, everything gets a lot better”

Stanek’s best fastball is a force, and it’s hard for even the best college hitters to center it up on the barrel.

“When he’s locating the ball, he’s pretty much unhittable,” Arkansas catcher Jake Wise said.

Stanek, who is projected as an early first-round pick in June’s amateur draft, said it’s easy to separate what is left in Arkansas’ season from what is just around the corner in his career.

“I’ve dealt with it since high school,” he said. “I just try to go out there and control what I can control, do what I can on the mound and my goal, first and foremost, is to win ballgames for my team here, and that’s all I really focus on.”

Alabama Coach Mitch Gaspard said Stanek’s improved command has made a difference.

“The guy can overwhelm you with stuff, but his command is what is so much better now than what it was his first couple of years,” Gaspard said. “I’m probably not a great guy to ask about him because he has just flat stuffed us three years in a row.”

Stanek has stuffed nearly all comers this season, building on last year’s postseason domination that included a 2-1 victory over South Carolina in a winner’s bracket game at the College World Series, breaking the Gamecocks’ streak of 22 consecutive postseason victories.

“The way he pitched against us last year in Omaha was very, very special,” South Carolina Coach Chad Holbrook said. “I thought right then that you’re looking at the first or second or third pick in the draft.”

Stanek’s next performance against the Gamecocks resulted in a complete game three-hitter and a 4-2 Arkansas road victory in whichSouth Carolina scored no earned runs.

“Against us, he’s thrown strikes, worked ahead in the count, and he’s just kind of overpowered us, which he can do if he’s in the strike zone,” Holbrook said. “When he’s pitched against us, he’s been better than us. He’s beenbetter than our hitters.”

Stanek has sharpened his performances since the start of SEC play, dropping his ERA by more than 2.3 runs per game (from 3.71 to 1.40) during his 11 starts against league opponents. His ERA against the SEC is a minuscule 0.97.

“When he takes the mound, he takes the mound with a chip on his shoulder,” Texas A&M Coach Rob Childress said.

Stanek went no further than 5 2/3 innings in his first five starts this season, including a 3-2 loss to Arizona State.Since then, he’s pitched fewer than six innings only twice in 10 starts and the Razorbacks are 8-2 in those games.

“I just wasted a lot of pitches early instead of going right after hitters,” Stanek said. “I’d just try to go out there and be a little bit too fine and try to make a perfect pitch every time. That’s unrealistic. You have to go out there and be under control with good controlled pitches down in the zone.

“As soon as I was able to take a step back and say, ‘OK, I need to work on a couple of things and throw the ball down in the zone,’ my outings have gotten a lot better.”

Sports, Pages 17 on 05/29/2013

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