Saving Grace - (TW)

[Bogus Smith]

This was in the Tulsa World on Friday morning, but with everyone traveling, this probably missed getting posted.  This is being added for those outside the Tulsa area that would have an interest in this.

Saving grace

by JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer

6/1/2007

Relief pitcher Erik Crichton is vital for ORU

WICHITA -- Starting pitching has carried Oral Roberts this season. But if the Golden Eagles are going to get through the Wichita Regional this weekend, it'll be the bullpen that makes it happen.

That's a lesson ORU learned last season, when Sean Jarrett pitched the final 4 2/3 innings in an 11-inning victory over Arkansas, then came back the next night and saved a 5-4 triumph over Oklahoma State.

Aces are nice, but ace relievers are at a premium this time of year.

"Without 'em, you're up the creek," ORU coach Rob Walton said. "You have no shot of moving through a tournament. You need a go-to guy out of the pen."

Jarrett is gone, so somebody has to pick up his slack. In the late innings this year, Walton has turned the game over to senior Erik Crichton. He hopes Crichton can do what Jarrett did in Fayetteville, Ark., last June.

"Yeah, I'd say I've got the same role as him," Crichton says. "Except I'm not striking everybody out."

Third-seeded ORU (40-15) opens play at 1 p.m. Friday against No. 2-seed Arizona (40-15). Top-seed and host Wichita State (49-19) plays No. 4 New Orleans (37-24) at 7 p.m., if the weather doesn't delay things.

The comparisons between Crichton and Jarrett are minimal, starting with their stature. Jarrett was a wiry 6-foot-4, Crichton is a stocky 5-10.

Their pitching styles are just as contrasted.

"Little different mentality," Walton said. "Erik's a grit-your-teeth, bulldog kind of guy. Sean was really kind of a critical thinker kid, very, very, smart, highly intelligent. You really needed to talk to Sean in those manners and explain the process how you want to get him out, and he would go do it. And Erik's more, 'Hey, here I come, I'm in your face, I'm coming after you, this is what you're going to get.' "

Crichton has been in the postseason fires before.

Like Jarrett, he was a regional hero in 2006.

At Baum Stadium, Crichton pitched a perfect eighth inning to set up Jarrett's ninth in the first game against Oklahoma State.

And in the championship game against the Cowboys, Crichton came in during a fourth-inning, bases-loaded, nobody-out mess and bailed out starter Chance Chapman with a strikeout and double-play ground ball. Crichton went six scoreless innings and gave up only four hits and a walk.

"I was throwing well," Crichton said, "so Rob left me in."

The life of a relief pitcher isn't as easy as all those guys sitting around in the bullpen with their feet up make it look. Most times, a reliever goes to the ballpark not knowing if he'll even pitch, but yet must always stay mentally ready.

"Sometimes starters kind of take an inning or so to get in their groove, where I've got to be in that groove when I walk on that mound," Crichton said. "That run from the bullpen to the mound is when I get myself ready to throw strikes."

Relievers usually come in to put out some kind of fire.

"As he puts it, he's got a case of little-man syndrome, and that works to his advantage," said starter Jeremy Hefner. "He competes like nobody I've ever seen. He's gotten us out of jams all year long."

"He's fearless," Walton said. "Sometimes he can be over-competitive and overthrow it a little bit and leave a ball in the middle of the plate. We've worked hard on trying to control that part of his nature and talk him through it and make sure that doesn't happen. But you'd always rather have to calm a guy down a little bit than pump him up."

Crichton is 4-4 this season and his 2.75 earned run average is strong.

He's won his last four decisions (all in Mid-Continent Conference play) and has five saves.

His four losses -- at TCU, at Baylor, at Texas and at Arkansas (his only start) -- came against some of the top competition in the country. All four teams are in regional action this week.

But Crichton sat out practice last fall, and bad weather hampered spring practice.

His development came during games, and it did come. Three of his saves came at Baylor, versus Arkansas and at Missouri State.

"I wasn't concerned about him because he's tough and he's a guy who recovers," Walton said. "He's very resilient."

[Bogus Smith]

On a side note, John Hoover is covering our (WSU) regional for the Tulsa World this weekend while Pat Doyle is covering the Fayetteville regional.  I had a chance to talk briefly with "Hoov" yesterday and was glad to see him covering us for this weekend.  He is definitely the #1 College Baseball writer in our area and he has treated us well in the past.  He used to be our beat writer before Mike Brown and is very familiar with the ORU athletic administration and coaches.