One of the biggest question marks surrounding the Charleston baseball team heading into this season focused around the pitching staff.
The group that was ninth in the Mountain East Conference in earned run average as the Golden Eagles struggled and won just 16 games did not return four of the eight pitchers who threw more than 20 innings in 2016.
But with a staff that is relying on several new faces to step up and pitch a lot of innings so far this season, Charleston's pitchers are doing exactly what their coaches are asking - and it's leading to success for the Golden Eagles.
"All we ask of them when they step out on that mound is to make the pitches to give us an opportunity to win games, and that's what we've seen from them all season," UC coach Andrew Wright said. "For these guys to come out and experience that success early has been important this year because that's what we're pushing them to expect from themselves."
The success has been there so far. After winning 13 and 16 games in the last two seasons, the Golden Eagles sit at 16-7 through the first 23 games of this season.
And a big key to that success, in addition to an offense that has been able to catch fire as of late, has been the steady performance of the pitchers. UC is No. 3 in the MEC in ERA and are one of just three teams in the conference holding opposing hitters to a batting average below .300.
"It shows that what we talk about with them works, which has helped them buy in even more," UC pitching coach Casey Hodges said. "When you pound the strike zone and make them put it in play if they want to get on, it's going to work out in your favor more often than not - especially when you have a solid defense backing you up.
"[The success early this season] has made them push harder in practice, they're working harder in their bullpen sessions because they want to keep executing and keep getting better as much as they can."
It's a young group that Wright and Hodges expected would experience some growing pains at times. In addition to left-handers Adam Jafine and Kaleb Kinder, who provide some veteran leadership to the rotation, UC has been able to get quality innings from freshmen starters Jonathan Carr and Austin Henrich while another freshman, Robert Fultineer, is one of three players on the team with three saves this season.
Fultineer helps to lead the way for a bullpen that has been sharp at finishing games most of the season. He has worked well with players like Brandon Harris, Levi Nash and Andy Hoyer to provide a steady combination of guys the team is comfortable handing the ball to at the end of the game.
Those four pitchers have combined for a 2-1 record with nine saves in 45 2/3 innings pitched with a 2.56 ERA.
"Our strength is our depth because we don't need to let a guy sit out there if he gets in trouble," Wright said. "We can go to the next guy and trust they'll do a great job of keeping the ball down, attacking hitters and helping us get out of jams.
"It's been good to see and it's something that has really been good for their confidence."
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.