Larkins Having Stellar Season

Release Date: April 25, 2001

Psst! Hey, over here, behind the dugout. I’ve got a great baseball secret for ya … Yep, heard it the other day ‘bout that kid at Monmouth College, Joe Larkins. You know, the one that keeps winning games every time he pitches … It’s the secret to his pitching success … Are you ready? I’m only going to tell you once … Okay, here it is … The more you run before the game, the less runs the other team gets during the game.

Profound, huh? What, you don’t get it? Here, I’ll let Monmouth’s coach, Roger Sander, explain it.

"Pitching’s running," said Sander recently, when talking about the success of his staff ace, Joe Larkins, a junior righthander from nearby Galesburg. "It comes from the legs."

"I’ve told Joe that he could be one of the best pitchers in Division III if he got in better shape. He’s really stepped up his approach this year. He runs on his own, and then he runs with the team."

As a result, said Sander, his prophecy of Larkins’ talent is being fulfilled this season.

"I think all of his pitches are better," said Sander, who’s guided Monmouth to a 132-117 record in 7-1/2 seasons. "His fastball has better velocity, and his curveball has better bite."

The success has led to a 6-1 start for Larkins, who’s posted a 1.62 ERA. He’s fanned 43 batters in 50 innings and has a WHIP just over 1.00 (40 hits and 13 walks allowed).

Larkins also throws a slider and change-up, and he gives a different look to all of his pitches by sometimes throwing sidearm. His fastball is in the 85-90 mph range, although Sander remembers a game from last spring’s Florida trip when he even exceeded that.

"Oh, man, he was really bringing it last year against Amherst," said Sander. "I guarantee you he was over 90 in that game."

While he threw hard in that relief performance, Sander said Larkins’ best games have come in starts this season, including back-to-back shutouts of Coe College and Division III regional power Illinois Wesleyan University, a perennial "thorn in our side," according to the MC coach.

In another game against Mount Mercy, Larkins squared off against the Mustangs’ all-time home run leader, Raul Matta, with the game on the line in the fifth inning. Matta had gone 3-for-3 in the opening game of the doubleheader, but Larkins fanned him with a wicked sidearm slider to strand two runners in scoring position and preserve a 4-2 victory.

Sander also said Larkins was dominant in a complete game win over Nichols College in Florida.

"He was throwing so well, Nichols didn’t have a clue," he said. Through five frames, Larkins allowed only three baserunners, including one on an error. Larkins also belted a homer in the game, and his talent at the plate actually helped Sander land the former Galesburg High School star.

"When I recruited Joe, I didn’t want him just as a pitcher," said Sander. "I wanted him to have 100 at-bats a year. Other schools were just looking at him as a pitcher. I really believe in the future he can be a better hitter than a pitcher. I definitely think he needs someone to take a look at him after college."

Larkins is two shy of the school’s all-time home run record, and he has a career .315 average to go with 16 homers and 67 RBI in 89 games. On the mound, Larkins’ amazing 2001 season has pushed his career record to 13-5 and lowered his ERA to 3.02. He’s struck out 120 in 134 innings.

Although Larkins has taken it upon himself to improve this season, he also gives much of the credit to his catcher, another junior from Galesburg, Taylor Thiel.

"Taylor’s very strong behind the plate defensively," said Larkins. "It makes a huge difference to have him back there. I feel so much more confident, especially with runners at third base. You know you can still throw your best out pitch, and he’ll block it for you if it’s in the dirt."

Not only have the players spent the better part of a decade playing together as pitcher and catcher, they’re also tied for the team in homers with four. In fact, you might call the hardhitting 1-2 punch "Assault and Battery."

Thiel, who leads the team with 24 RBI, may be the only person in the Midwest who’s had consistent luck against Larkins. Both players laughed as they recalled the day Thiel hit two homers off his friend during a simulated game in high school.

"I always give him a little trouble about that," said Thiel. "I’m never going to let him live that down."

Larkins said he began his running regimen when it occurred to him that he didn’t want to be only the player he came to college as.

"I wanted to become the player I could be," he said, "so I started running over Christmas break and kept it up three times a week over the winter. I also run a mile or a mile-and-a-half after my starts in addition to what we do as a team."

The Fighting Scots’ ace said his own personal favorite game this year was a 4-3 triumph in Florida over a highly-touted Muskingum team on just two days rest. He homered in that game also, and retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced, sealing the victory with a strikeout with the tying run in scoring position.

"That’s probably the most exciting game I’ve pitched," he said, forgetting, possibly, his most recent outing, when Thiel’s bases-loaded double lifted Larkins to a 4-1 extra-inning victory against defending MWC South champion Grinnell.

The batterymates agree on Larkins’ best pitch – a sidearm fastball.

"I can spot it on the inside corner, and they can’t pull it," Larkins said of righthanded batters. "It’ll just freeze ’em."

"If we’re in jam, that’s what I call," said Thiel.

Despite Sander’s prediction for Larkins at the plate, pitching is his favorite baseball job.

"You’re totally in control of the game when you’re pitching," he said. "Nothing starts without me throwing the ball. And if you look at the stats, you’ll see that I hit a lot better in the games when I’m pitching."

Two other trends have developed in Larkins’ starts, including the fact that his first five decisions, all victories, came after a Monmouth defeat.

"When you’ve been around baseball for a long time, you realize that the real good teams never go on a long losing streak," said Sander. "They always have that guy who can go out and get a W. Every time we’ve had our backs to the wall this season, that’s what Joe has done for us."

The other trend is that Larkins has been nearly perfect through the first five innings of his starts. He’s allowed just five earned runs in those 35 innings, pitching scoreless ball through five frames in all but two of those contests. His only loss came when Illinois College snapped a scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth inning with four runs on April 13.

So with all this good news, is there a knock on Larkins?

"He doesn’t run very well," said Sander, referring to speed.

But he does run often, and hey, when you’re trotting around the bases after belting another home run or blowing a sidearm fastball by somebody’s cleanup hitter, how fast do you have to run anyway?

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