Chris Whitaker
May 14, 2008 11:31 pm
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AMERICUS — Michael Swain was prepared to be Southland Academy’s ace on the mound when this baseball season started.
Will Webb was ready to anchor the middle infield at shortstop and was unaware of the task that would be laid before him midseason.
With a struggling pitching staff, Webb was called upon and has become the Raiders’ No. 2 pitcher.
And while Swain has thrived in the role as the Raiders’ top pitcher, it’s been Webb’s emergence that has given the Raiders a solid 1-2 punch entering this weekend’s best-of-three series at North Cobb Christian.
“When they’re on, and they are most of the time, they keep us in ball games,” said coach David Cochran. “The make their opponents hit their way on and they show a lot of guts and leadership out there. That’s what we’ve got to have.”
The senior duo stifled Pinewood Christian last weekend in the first round of the GISA AAA playoffs. Webb tossed a one-hit shutout on Friday, and Swain followed with a career-high 15 strikeouts as the Raiders edged the Patriots in extra innings.
Their season numbers stand out — Swain (7-1) has 76 strikeouts compared with 25 walks, and Webb (3-2) has struck out 36 compared to walking nine and has two shutouts.
They don’t compare each other’s pitching styles, they like to compliment one another.
“He’s a more off-speed pitcher, and I’m more of a fast ball, placement kind of guy,” said Swain. “We don’t really critique each other, we just let each other do our own thing. ‘You do your thing and do it good, and I’ll keep on doing what I’m doing.’ ”
Webb didn’t see any time on the mound until the semifinals against North Cobb, and he hadn’t thrown a pitch this year until Cochran threw him into the fire at Trinity Christian.
“It was tough because I hadn’t thrown a bullpen or anything,” said Webb. “But I’ve pitched before, and it wasn’t a region game or anything, so I wasn’t that nervous.”
Webb induced three ground balls that Cochran said should have been outs, but instead, two of the three plays turned into errors and the Raiders lost 8-7.
Webb said it can be hard to rebound from scenarios as that one, but he gained a lot of confidence from the appearance.
Cochran said that he knew then Webb could become the team’s second starter.
“We saw he had the ability to pitch in tight situations,” he said. “You could see after that his poise and confidence was really beginning to grow.”
Webb has started four games since then — Westfield, Deerfield, Pinewood and Trinity. He’s not sure if he’d rather pitch than play shortstop, but both have their positives.
“Pitching’s more fun because you’re into the game and you don’t have to wait to get a ground ball, you get the ball every play,” he said. “But playing shortstop, your arm doesn’t hurt afterward.”
Swain has had some slow starts this season, but in most cases he’s gotten stronger as the game progressed. Twice he’s retired 10 or more batters in a row, and he wants to be the go-to guy.
“Every pitcher wants to be the guy to beat,” he said. “You want to be the guy everyone wants to get a hit off of. While they’re trying their best to get a hit off me, I’m trying my best to get them out.”
Both played on the football and basketball teams, and Cochran said he knew what he was getting with them on the mound.
“Michael was the man as far as experience is concerned, and he’s fulfilled the bill,” he said. “Mike pitches with great emotion, and he’s a great competitor who has good talent and a lively arm. He’s the ultimate team player.
“Will’s stepped in big time. Will’s so even keel. You never know by his facial expression if he’s ahead or behind. That helps him stay focused for the next pitch.”
Senior catcher Adam Fussell knows both pitchers pretty well as he said they grew up together. Even with Fussell calling the pitches, Swain and Webb makes his job a lot easier.
“They don’t give up, and their good leaders,” he said. “They show a lot of maturity when they’re on the mound and when they’re pitching good, we seem to start hitting good. I’m glad they’re on my team and I don’t have to hit off of them.”
Bonuses come with Webb and Swain considering their defense and hitting. Swain’s hitting .371 and has a .992 fielding percentage from second base. Webb is tied for the team lead with 15 walks, has a team-high five sacrifices and has started five double plays.
The Raiders are 5-3 in one-run games this season, and Swain said the one factor that’s got them to the second round has been determination.
“We’ve come back in a lot of games that it didn’t look like we were going to win,” he said. “I believe the biggest thing we have is that when we get down, we don’t fold the tent. We don’t quit until it’s over.”
North Cobb has eliminated Southland each of the past two seasons, but the Raiders have reason to believe the third time’s a charm with their two pitchers.
“It would be very hard for us to be at this point right now without both of their contributions,” said Cochran. “They’ve really battled through some tough times and got out of some spots by showing a tremendous amount of courage. We’ve got to play good defense behind them and, be selective at the plate and put the ball on the bat when we need to.”
Game 1 is Friday at 4:30 p.m. with Game 2 slated for 11 a.m. Saturday and a Game 3 to follow, if necessary.
Southland senior P/2B
Michael Swain
Rec IP SO BB ERA
7-1 55.1 76 25 3.74
* struck out a career-high 15 batters against Pinewood in AAA first round
BA RBI 2B BB OBP
.371 14 6 15 .519
Southland senior P/SS
Will Webb
Rec IP SO BB ERA
3-2 30.1 36 9 1.78
* tossed a one-hit shutout against Pinewood in AAA first round
BA RBI 2B BB Runs
.302 12 6 15 20
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