Versus Big Red, Pitching Is Key For CU

When asked about the performances of Columbia baseball starting pitchers, juniors Bill Purdy and John Baumann, in Saturday's doubleheader against Cornell, Lions head coach Brett Boretti had only one word-"outstanding."

Outstanding is no overstatement as Purdy pitched a complete game four-hitter, allowing no earned runs in the 7-3 game-one victory, while Baumann coasted in the second game, collecting a complete game shutout.

Baumann allowed seven hits and had five strikeouts in his second straight weekend of superb pitching. Last weekend, Baumann pitched a complete game two-hitter in the Lion's 3-2 victory over Princeton. As far as the difference between last weekend's complete game and the one on Saturday, Baumann said, "I think that this one was much tougher defensively because they [Cornell] hit the ball pretty hard off of me so the defense today really bailed me out. It was probably much more of a team game."

Columbia's defense in game two of the doubleheader was consistent, as the Lions did not commit a single error. In league play, careless errors are often the difference between victory and defeat. "When you limit errors, fewer guys get free bases," Baumann said. "Not only does it help you to not give up runs, but it also helps you in terms of pitching."

Baumann was able to be so successful on the hill because his slider and fastball were working all day. "I think I was able to throw my fastball early in the count and as the count progressed my slider was feeling good," he said. "I was able to get some outs with those. It was nice having that one pitch to get ahead and having that slider as my finish pitch."

While Baumann pitched superbly, Purdy also pitched strongly in his start on Saturday. After a rocky first inning where Cornell scored three unearned runs, Purdy pitched a two-hit shutout ballgame the rest of the way. "That's just Bill Purdy," Boretti said when discussing Purdy's play after the rough first inning. "He's been able to do that, settle down and come back strong. Probably even getting a little angry and being able to close it out speaks to his mental [strength]."

"It's really just a mental thing more than physical," Purdy said. "I just focused and realized that we're probably going to score more than three runs so [I just had to] hold it there for the rest of the game".

If that were the case, then Purdy proved to be victorious both mentally and physically, as he allowed no earned runs in seven innings of four-hit ball. He had a good command of all of his pitches on Saturday, but his fastball was on point and he used it successfully time and again.

Any good pitching performance is also a reflection of the game called by the catcher. Columbia freshman catcher Dean Forthun caught both Purdy and Baumann's games excellently and also hit the ball well on offense. In the first game he had two RBIs as he collected a couple of timely sacrifice flies when Columbia was looking to put runs on the board.

According to Forthun, the strong play of the Columbia starters made his job calling pitches and catching light work. "It makes my job easy when they throw strikes," Forthun said. "When JB and Purdy [are] throwing a lot and spots are hit, it makes it easy on my legs and it makes it easy [in situations] like when we get a two-strike pitch and I need to block it. They do a good job and it allows us to win ballgames".

The strong pitching performances from Columbia's two aces on Saturday were certainly key components in the Lions taking three out of four this weekend against Cornell.