“We’ve got a guy that pitches on Saturdays that we trust a lot, Connor Thomas,” said Hall. “He’s kind of got that killer instinct. He gave us a shot to win the series (Sunday).”
Thomas recognizes the responsibility and thrives on the challenge of it.
“We didn’t play our best on Friday and I just tried to put the team on my shoulders and give them the best chance to win,” said Thomas, who threw seven innings, allowing only one run and five hits, with four strikeouts vs. one walk in the 9-1 series-equalizer. “Our ability to bounce back from a first-game loss is huge. It’s really a testament to this team’s fight, which is something that I’ve seen increase tremendously. I don’t know that this team didn’t have the same fight last year.”
Thomas gets his back up and his pitches down when he takes the mound down with the series on the line. In the four starts following series-opening losses, he’s pitched to a 2.25 ERA (seven earned runs in 28.0 innings, with 25 hits allowed and a near 10:1 strikeouts-to-walks ratio (29 K’s vs. 3 BB’s) — he’s got a 1.70 ERA (seven earned runs in 37.0 innings), with 30 hits and a near 7:1 strikeouts-to-walks ratio (34 K’s vs. 5 BB’s) in the five starts.
“I don’t think I take anything more personally,” he said. “I think our team as a whole, the bats, maybe they get woken up. We say, ‘Hey, we have to step it up and beat this team because we can.’ From a pitching standpoint, I approach every team the same way. I’m confident in my abilities and just kind of go after them.”
His teammates have the ultimate confidence in the junior southpaw.
“He just gets out there and he knows what kind of pitcher he is. He’s going to work down in the zone, get us some ground balls, he knows that the team on defense is going to make plays behind him,” said Wilhite. “I think that really boosts his confidence, knowing that he’s got eight guys behind him that are going to be making plays for him, no matter if it’s a hard-hit ball or a soft-hit ball. It just gives him confidence to throw all of his stuff in the zone. Instead of trying to pitch around guys he goes right at them.”
Thomas’ greatest influence may actually be on sophomore Brant Hurter, who’s been pitching behind him. Hurter completed the series comeback against B.C. by blanking the Eagles over seven innings, allowing two hits and whiffing an ACC-best nine. He’s 2-0 in ACC series-deciders, and the Jackets are 3-1 — an epic Cardinals’ comeback against the bullpen is the only blemish in his starts (he was scratched from the series finale against UNC). Three of the four Sunday games in which he’s pitched have been one-run affairs. Pretty nerve-wracking, huh?
“I love going into those situations and being able to produce for the team and the hitters producing for us. It’s a fun atmosphere,” he said.
He also loves feeding off the energy Thomas gives the team — something Thomas attributes to his feeding off Friday night starter Xzavion Curry.
“It fires me up a ton,” said Hurter. “It’s great to see (Thomas) do that. If he can make hitters look like that, I feel confident going in that I can do the same.”
Thomas believes the vicious cycle that is the Jackets rotation is only going to get better down the stretch now that Hurter is comfortable in the Sunday role and is back to pitching at 100 percent.
“He has been a Godsend,” said Thomas. “We were looking for a third starter to begin the season. I figured Brant would fill that role and, sure enough, he has. He has really improved from last year and we needed him to.
“‘Zay and I have already talked about this,” he added. “‘Zay and I are like complete opposites. We believe that Brant is like a mix of us. He has the velocity but he also has the stuff to get hitters out. With that mix, there’s no reason he shouldn’t keep dominating like he is.”
The offense also has dominated on the weekends. In the 10 wins during the series winning streak, the Jackets have scored 76 runs and the production hasn’t been top-heavy. Against B.C., the bottom third of the order produced big time. They hit a combined .355 (11-for-31), scoring nine runs and driving in five more.
“A lot of teams, you get to the bottom of the order it’s like, ‘Oh, quick, easy outs.’ That’s not the case with our team,” said Wilhite, who extended his current hitting streak to 10 games, six of those two-hit games (including one each Friday and Saturday — on Sunday he had one hit, walked twice and scored three runs). “You get to the bottom of the order, you’ve gotta keep grinding. We get up there, we have good at-bats, see a lot of pitches, make their pitchers throw a lot of pitches and then flip the order back over by getting on base any way we can. Then it’s back to the top of the order and it’s like, ‘What do we do now?’”
