The West Virginia State University baseball team's pitching staff lives by one hard, fast, short rule: Live low.
"We've kind of simplified things to that's our only message," Yellow Jackets head coach Sean Loyd said.
Simple works for State's staff, which finished the last two seasons - and is working on a third - with one of the top earned run averages in NCAA Division II. The leaders of the Mountain East Conference's South Division stay near the top by working around the bottom.
"Live low" is a mantra created by former WVSU head coach Cal Bailey that his successor - his former assistant Loyd - and his staff kept alive. The key to effective pitching in the Yellow Jackets program is to put the ball in the bottom of the strike zone.
"We pound the bottom of the zone," pitching coach Nathan Gainer said. "We like to pitch to contact. We have a good defense and we use that defense."
Pitches low in the strike zone are no fun for hitters, Loyd said. They'd rather see a flat pitch sailing their way. Then they get to see the whole ball, especially that good middle part that allows them to swing flat and get the ball into the outfield or farther.
Locating the ball low into the strike zone puts a tilt on the ball and makes it much harder to see.
"If the ball has tilt, you're seeing the top of the ball," Loyd said. "So if you're swinging flat, you're beating the ball into the ground. You do have to force them to change their swing a little bit. We want them to hit it, but we want weak contact, not hard contact."
When Loyd seeks new pitchers for his staff, velocity isn't one of the traits at the top of his wish list. Sure, he'd love to sign a pitcher who throws in the high 90s, but those prospects most likely are on their way to Division I or the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. So WVSU looks for pitchers who are competitive, show they have command, and have movement on their pitches.
And when those pitchers get to Institute, they're taught two things: The low end of the strike zone is your friend, and walks are your mortal enemy.
"Walks are unacceptable," senior Eric Roberts said. "No matter what."
"You always want to live low and miss low," senior Dustin Kincaid said. "You never want to leave the ball up."
The Yellow Jackets pitchers' adherence to those rules have made them one of the most effective staffs in the 255-team Division II. Their 3.61 ERA ranks 21st nationally. They finished 2015 with the 14th-best ERA at 3.17. In 2014, they finished 33rd with a 3.35 ERA. They're the only MEC pitching staff that has not yet allowed 100 earned runs and are tied with Concord for fewest walks allowed with 86.
After a 1-5 start to its season, WVSU has rallied to a 20-10 record, 15-5 in conference.
What comforts Kincaid - one of three State starters along with Roberts and Tyler Hall with an ERA under 3.69 - is that the Yellow Jackets' younger generation of pitchers have ingrained themselves in the system as much as the veterans, so the team's reputation for strong pitching can continue.
"The ones that are growing and the ones that start fresh as soon as they get here to the program, they buy in and they also buy in to the leaders that are ahead of them and they learn from what they do on the mound every single day," he said.
As the Yellow Jackets attempt to remain the only MEC baseball team to win the conference tournament title - they've won the league's first two - they'll continue to lean on their pitchers' arms. Loyd knows he isn't alone in stressing the importance of a top pitching staff, and he's happy he has one in his arsenal.
"I think the cornerstone of any program ... you ask any coach in the country, if you have the choice between a top-notch position player and a top-notch starting pitcher, who would you take?" Loyd said. "Ninety-nine percent would say the pitcher. It's the most important part of the game. If you don't have it, it doesn't matter how good your hitting is.
"You have to have pitching. You have to have it, and you have to have quality pitching."