March 19, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
By Matt Allibone, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- In his Penn State career, Geoff Boylston has always had a knack for seizing the opportunites that come to him.
Last year, the junior pitcher didn't get a chance to start until the 31st game of the season and responded by giving up just two earned runs in 5 2/3 innings in a victory over West Virginia. This season, he received just one start in the team's first 15 games, yet gave an even stronger outing (6 innings, two earned runs, seven strikeouts) against South Carolina on March 10.
Handed the ball again during the Nittany Lions home opener against Canisius on Wednesday, Boylston made a strong case to start getting it more frequently. The senior tossed six innings, gave up just one run and struck out a career high eight batters as Penn State cruised to an 11-1 win.
"I was jus going right at guys," Boylston said. "I wasn't messing around, wasn't feeling for anything, just going at them from the first pitch and the nest thing I knew, I was in the six inning. When you attack guys and get ahead, life's a little bit easier."
Similar to his start against West Virginia last year, Boylston had his only struggles of the day early on. After striking out his first two batters to start the game, the lefthander gave up back-to-back doubles that led to an early 1-0 deficit for the Nittany Lions.
It may have only been two batters, but the Nittany Lion hurler was admittedly not pleased with himself. Feeling as though he was too careful with a curveball on the second double to Jesse Puscheck, Boylston vowed to start attacking hitters moving forward.
"I was livid," Boylston said. "Because I hung a breaking ball, I had two strikes on him. When you have a guy on the ropes, to let him square it up like that, it drives me nuts. I just figured I'm going to out there, and if I get a breaking ball called again, I'm going to go right at him with it, and I'm not going to dump it over, I'm going to throw the daylights out of it."
Returning to the mound to start the second, Boylston did just that, quickly retiring the side with a groundout and two strikeouts against Tyler Smith and Nick Capitano. From that point on, the West Chester, Pennsylvania native gave up just three more hits and no runs as the Nittany Lions turned the game into a rout.
Asked what was working for him, the fifth year pitcher said he just kept things simple. Once he realized that his curveball wasn't breaking for him, he decided to stick to his fastball.
While fastballs may seem easier to hit, the key for Boylston was putting them exactly where he wanted to. A perfect example was the end of the fifth inning, when he chucked a ball on the outside corner that Golden Griffins leadoff man Jake Lumley helplessly flailed at, giving the pitcher his seventh strikeout on the evening.
"I really didn't think I had my best stuff," Boylston said. "My breaking ball was terrible. I was just able to locate my fastball. I think the best pitch in baseball is a located fastball. When you do that consistently, you're going to be successful."
As impressive as the strikeouts were, even more important was the control Boylston exhibited. On a night in which he threw 98 pitches, the senior didn't walk a single batter.
That aspect of the performance was what head coach Rob Cooper was most pleased by. While he's always known Boylston possessed plenty of talent, the coach and his staff had stressed control to the hurler in the past.
"He's always had that ability, the biggest thing for him is getting ahead and not walking guys," Cooper said. "Today, and his last outing against South Carolina was the exact same way. I'm just proud of him, he's attacking, he's not second-guessing himself. He's worked really hard physically, but more importantly, he's worked really hard mentally to just trust it and go out and pitch."
Having now seen him strikeout 15 batters, give up just three earned runs and throw 12 innings over his two starts this season, Cooper said he expects to give Boylston the ball a lot more moving forward. The Nittany Lions have an exceptionally young pitching staff, and they can certainly benefit from Boylston's experience and savvy.
"I don't know how you can keep him on the bench when he's giving you quality starts like that," Cooper said. "He's earned the right to continue to get the ball."