Korn, Estridge hush TCU with a shutout
Opening the series with a 2-0 win against TCU, No. 9 West Virginia used just two pitchers who shut down the Horned Frogs. Right-handers Ian Korn and Carson Estridge set up the series well for the Mountaineer pitching staff, paving the way on how to attack TCU’s lineup.
The name of the game was not allowing a single free pass. While Korn did allow six hits and Estridge just one, they were phenomenal at limiting opportunities. The two discussed how they kept TCU quiet in a postgame press conference on May 15.
Korn’s New Role
Typically used out of the bullpen, this was Korn’s second start in his 17th appearance. His first start came against Cincinnati on April 24 in place of the injured Maxx Yehl. Against TCU, it looks to be a move to replace the struggling Dawson Montesa.
His outing will make it hard to put him back into the bullpen. Korn fired six scoreless innings, striking out as many batters. He said no matter his role, he ensures he sticks to what he knows.
“I try to keep the main thing the main thing, every time, doesn’t matter what role, what inning I’m throwing in, it’s just filling up the zone with multiple pitches and trusting the defense,” Korn said.
Getting Better Through The Game
Of Korn’s season-high 100 pitches, he claims he did not even have his best stuff later into the game.
“I didn’t have my best stuff at all through the first two or three innings,” Korn said. “Coming out of the pen, it’s usually like pitch one, I’m crisp. I would say adrenaline got to me a little bit.”
His outing started with three hard-hit balls, resulting in outs. While he got some help from the terrific defense behind him, he believed the “baseball gods” were on his side while he searched for his best stuff.
“I got kind of lucky with the baseball gods there. There were a few balls barreled straight to guys, so I mean, maybe metrically the pitches were fine, but they weren’t thrown aggressively with conviction to the spot,” Korn said.
Trust In Defense
Even without his best stuff, Korn still had confidence in every pitch. WVU leads the Big 12 with a .981 team fielding percentage, while only making one error in eight games in May.
“[My confidence] is through the roof,” Korn said. “When you go out there and can get barreled around for a few innings, and your guys are just making spectacular plays. There’s nothing better than that.”
Finish What He Started
While he left every inning clean, it wasn’t always sunshine and flowers. Before he ended his outing, he needed to work out of a sixth-inning jam. With an out, he surrendered two hits, then struck out the next two batters. There was a mound visit after the second hit, but Korn was adamant about staying in the game.
“I wanted to finish that inning badly, I didn’t want the ball taken from me at that moment. I put those runners on, so I was going to finish the job,” Korn said.
Estridge Followed
After Korn left the game with a 2-0 lead, Estridge knew he had big shoes to fill. He answered the call with a three-inning save. Korn was effective, throwing 69 strikes of his 100 offerings. Estridge hurled 39 pitches, 27 of which were strikes.
Estridge believes that is why he was successful.
“Korn’s got a lot of heat; he goes at people with elite command and has absolutely disgusting stuff,” Estridge said. “So, just got to follow up with basically what he did by setting the tone with just making good pitches.”
“He set the tone, so it’s just my job to go out there to deal my best stuff for strikes and just go dominate,” Estridge continued.
Closer Role
While it was not a typical save as Estridge recorded nine outs, he is used to the role. This was his seventh of the season and 11th of his four-year career. With experience in this role, he understands how to use his adrenaline to his advantage.
“If you’re going just to have a two-run lead, then you’ve got all the adrenaline in the world. You want to get every single hitter out the best you can. So it’s quite an adrenaline rush, especially when the game’s close,” Estridge said.
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