Sports
Thursday, March 26, 2015
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Seams change in store for baseball Steve Shonder Staff Writer T @NSSportsShonder
DeKalb | Baseball’s hitters aren’t seeing much of a stats increase at the plate since the adoption of the flat-seam baseball, but they say they are enthusiastic about the idea of change in favor of offense. The NCAA made the switch this season from raised-seam baseballs to flat-seam baseballs, which are similar to what are used in the minor leagues. The change was made to take away the upper hand pitchers have enjoyed since the 2011 adoption of Batted Ball Coefficient of Restitution bats. “It’s about time that hitters got a little bit of an advantage,” said head coach Mike Kunigonis. “It’s all been about the pitchers and not scoring runs. … Just where we went from how extreme the bats changed in a short amount of time, I think this brings back some more offense. As a hitting guy, I’m excited.” There has been a 40 percent increase in home run totals across Division I baseball through March 1 when compared to the same time period last season, which has been the intended effect, according to an NCAA news release. “The balls go farther,” said redshirt senior Nate Ruzich. “Fly outs go farther, and there have been a couple home runs that go where they normally wouldn’t. … I think it’s better because these bats really gave the pitchers an advantage. These new balls are helping hitters out.” Out of 22 games this season entering Wednesday’s game, the Huskies have seven home runs compared to the two they hit during the same number of games last season. Despite this, Kunigonis said it’s still too early to get a fair idea of how the ball has affected the Huskies’ performance at the plate.
Gavin Weaver | Northern Star File Photo
Sophomore Andrew Frankenreider bats in a game against the Toledo Rockets on April 5 at Ralph McKinzie Field. The NCAA made a change this season from raisedseam baseballs to flat-seam baseballs, which are providing an offensive boost, easier fielding and forcing pitchers to be more accurate.
“It’s just a small sample size right now,” Kunigonis said. “I think what, in my opinion, gives you a better example of how well college players hit in a year is normally their college season and … their summer stats because that’s another 50 games. You have a greater sample size.” While pitchers were the intended targets of the new ball’s effect, they aren’t seeing much in the way of change beyond the increase in fly
ball distance. The flatter seam has affected the way off-speed pitches are thrown, with pitches coming out of the hand faster. “You have to be more aggressive with the off-speed pitches,” said senior pitcher Ben Neumann. “… The only difference is you throw it a little harder and the ball on off-speed pitches is a little sharper. Right away, you can tell the difference between the pitches if you throw with the old ones and the new ones when you
change. It just all feels regular.” Neumann said the response of the ball on off-speed pitches has resulted in a change in release points since the ball doesn’t move as easily with the flatter seams; however, the flatter seams have given pitchers an added bonus: fewer finger blisters. “It’s a little smoother,” Neumann said. “It doesn’t really rub up against your fingers as much. You don’t really get blisters as much as you would with the other ones
because they were so rigidity.” The difference in grip translates to the field, as well. There hasn’t been any change in how the new ball takes hops, but fielders are noticing it’s easier to get a better grip on the ball. There’s also been a difference in how the ball is thrown by fielders. “It’s easier to grip the ball on the seams,” said junior Brian Sisler. “I noticed with the higher seams when I throw it actually tailed more than it does with these seams.”
5 minutes with...
Kunigonis leads baseball success on, off field Retirement Center, food drives, the horse to water, but you can’t Little League camps and playing force him to drink.’ We’re on the indoor soccer with the Special right track and we’re close for this DeKalb | Head coach Mike Olympics on Monday. group to do something special. Kunigonis has baseball sitting just below .500 after 23 games into his Q: How do you feel the season Q: Have there been any indifirst career head coaching job. has gone for you personally with it vidual moments or games that The Huskies are 11-12 this season being your first head coaching job? have stood out to you? after they were 4-18-1 at this point A: I’ve seen some good, seen A: The good, bad and ugly is you last season under former head coach some bad, seen some ugly — a look at Purdue game No. 1. That Ed Mathey. Still, little bit of everything. team could beat any team that we Kunigonis said The best thing about this group go up against and give us a chance he felt the team is they’re all good kids. They work to win against anybody. I’ll take left three wins hard. They want to get to the next that team down to Texas Tech and on the field. level; we’re not quite there yet. But, we got a chance to go down there NIU is workthey want to, and that’s the first step and win. And then the same team ing the kinks of turning things around is when two games later was a completely Mike Kunigonis out as it nears Head coach guys want to get to that next level. different team still learning how the midway Now comes the hard part is how to completely put something topoint of the season, and Kunigonis do we get there. gether on a full weekend. said he’s beginning to see consisTake the Buffalo weekend, for tency and chemistry on the field. Q: What will it take to get to example: again, great day, sweep Off the field, Kunigonis and that next level? the doubleheader, lose focus on his staff have implemented the A: That’s not up to me; that’s up Sunday and we lose 5-1. So, in DeKalb Pride Project to build to the guys. It’s up to them to fig- that whole weekend you see a lot team and community cohesion. ure that out. As coaches you can of things — good things, great The team has performed com- point guys in the right direction things, see where you could build munity service events that have and show them the way, but at the and see where we’re still lacking. included volunteering at Feed’em end of the day they got to do it. It’s And that’s what I mean by the Soup, the Barb City Manor like the old saying, ‘You could lead good, the bad and the ugly. We’ve Frank Gogola Sports Editor T @FrankGogola
had flashes of being real good. We’re still learning.
Q: What been your most challenging or frustrating moment this season? A: I can’t sit down and say, ‘Hey, listen, I really needed to get through this.’ This is no different than any year. As a coach you live in the moment. And when you’re a competitor and you’re as driven as we are, every loss is the worst thing ever. And then 12 hours later you’re like, ‘We did this well. We did this well. We just have to do a better job of this.’ The thing about our game is you play the next day, and you go out, you play well, you get a win and you feel like a million bucks. That’s the big thing about coaching, is there’s no one day where we just have to get over this one hump; it’s every day is a grind.
Midweek matinee loss
Things didn’t exactly go the Huskies’ way against the IllinoisChicago Flames on Wednesday. NIU was shut out, 10-0. Read the recap online: bit.ly/1y9VZIf.
amount of community service with their athletes, and the university as a whole; ‘communiversity’ is one of the big words they use here. I’m coming from a program [Virginia Tech] that has put community service even further out in front to where we want to go above and beyond. It’s us taking pride in what we do, helping other people, and by doing that you learn a lot about yourself through community service. You learn what it means to help somebody else. You learn how fortunate you are. And then you build relationships, you build friendships that Q: How did the whole DeKalb you never thought you’d have. We’re Pride Project come about? just kind of doing what they’re alA: We started that … when I ready doing here. We just kind of got here. NIU does a tremendous put a name on it for us for baseball.