The Student Becomes The Teacher

I wanted to see the baseball Razorbacks play a game in person before I wrote anything about them. Up until now, I've heard some practice reports from a few people and kept up with the newspaper stories. And I got a chance to attend my first Swatter's Club meeting earlier in the month.

But until I saw them live, as far as I was concerned, I knew as much about this team as anybody else who listened to their first six away games on the radio.

My initial impression? After watching Friday's doubleheader in person and catching Saturday's game on the tube, I couldn't help but be extremely excited about this team, currently ranked #17 by Baseball America.

And, of course, the first thing you have to talk about is their superstar. Folks, Nick Schmidt is now officially the best amateur pitcher I've ever seen in person. And I've watched many SEC teams over the past few years come into Baum Stadium and bring some great pitchers. Last year's Clemens Award winner Luke Hochevar of Tennessee and Jeremy Sowers of Vanderbilt from a few years ago immediately come to mind.

But what sets Schmidt apart right now from the rest can be described in one word: command. He throws the ball how and where he wants to throw it...just about every single time.

Schmidt has been so good that when he finally gave up his first hit of the season on Friday, after an amazing 13 2/3 hitless innings, most of us in the Baum Stadium crowd literally gave him a standing ovation. There were even a few players on the Louisiana Tech team that mockingly clapped. Their sarcasm would soon be silenced.

As the third inning began, Schmidt was rolling along. As is sometimes typical of a crowd watching a good pitching performance, the Baum faithful were fairly quiet.

Schmidt had struck out the first batter...already his fourth "K" of the game. Tech's manager and third base coach Wayne Simoneaux, in the middle of the next at bat, called over first baseman Joey McCarthy to discuss their...uh..."hitting strategy."

Now granted...you see this type of meeting sometimes in college baseball during certain situations. But with nobody on base, everybody in the ball park knew what was going on. Diminutive home plate umpire Wes Hamilton allowed the meeting to go on for at least two minutes. And the crowd was furious with him.

But Schmidt stood silently on the mound waiting for McCarthy to return to the batter's box. And I noticed that the Arkansas coaches didn't seem to get too excited either.

As play resumed, Schmidt used his gift of command to place the next pitch directly under the chin of Mr. McCarthy. The crowd erupted. McCarthy did his best John Kruk "happy to be alive" impression. Simoneaux barked at Hamilton for a warning. I thought about the line by the umpire from Field Of Dreams: "Sure, kid. Watch out you don't get killed."

Schmidt then proceeded to strike McCarthy out and, just to make sure his point was made, struck out the final batter of the inning...looking. The crowd went berserk. Simoneaux quickly scurried back into the dugout and was hardly heard from again for the rest of the weekend.

The skipper had learned a valuable lesson. Sometimes the best managing move is...to make no move at all. Nick Schmidt was the teacher on this day.

I'll post more impressions later. Until then, I'll leave you with a teaser. Remember this name...David Hum.