PEARL — Nick Routt knew he wouldn’t have any excuses if he didn’t perform Tuesday night after a long layoff.
The senior left-handed pitcher hadn’t pitched in a game in 10 days, but he returned to the mound to throw three shutout innings in a 5-0 victory against the University of Southern Mississippi at Trustmark Park.
“I knew I’d be well rested,” Routt said after the game.
Routt (2-4) had struggled in each of his past four outings, giving up as many runs as innings completed three times since being removed from the starting rotation earlier this month.
“I was really proud of how he defended tonight, especially because that double play he turned for the mound isn’t easy at all,” MSU coach John Cohen said. “That’s first and third there, and he took the time to look the runner at third back and calmly threw a strike to second base for the double. That took a lot of maturity to make that play, and that’s what he provides.”
The 6-foot-4 southpaw, who was solid in the last month of the 2011 season, earned his first victory since a March 3 decision against the University of Connecticut at Dudy Noble Field. He said changing his arm slot to a three-quarter motion helped him get more movement on his fastball and changeup.
MSU catch Mitch Slauter noticed an extreme difference in the movement of Routt’s stuff and his demeanor on the mound.
“He dropped that arm slot so that two-seam (fastball) has a lot more movement from side to side,” Slauter said. “When that changeup is his second out pitch Nick Routt is really good, and he was extremely dominant tonight.”
Routt was part of a left-handed relief duo with Ross Mitchell that held USM to just two hits in the last five innings.
MSU southpaw pitchers have throw 10 1/3 scoreless innings at Trustmark Park this season, including senior Luis Pollorena’s dominant 5 1/3 innings last week against the University of Mississippi.
In just three innings, Routt got four groundball outs. That statistic is a rarity, as teams had found ways to elevate his pitches to the tune of a 4.66 ERA entering the game.
“I came in the dugout tonight saying, ‘Man I feel like (groundball pitcher) Kendall Graveman,’ and it’s nice to get those easy early outs,” Routt said.
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