Return of Gallant to aid Kat pitching rotation
3/29/2010 7:23:00 AM | Baseball
By Gene Schallenberg Huntsville Item
HUNTSVILLE - After more than a week of nursing a tweaked back muscle, Sam Houston State pitcher Dallas Gallant is closer to returning to the mound.
Gallant hasn't thrown since coming out of series opener against Texas State on March 19. The junior from Trinity may make his return today against Dallas Baptist or against Northwestern State in the three-game series, which starts on Thursday. But SHSU head coach Mark Johnson admits it's a guessing game at this point.
"His (injury) is in a different spot," the coach said Monday. "It's on the glove side on his back, so it's not like an extension should hurt it. Right now, it's more where you would guess we might throw him an inning tomorrow or put him on the 25-man roster this weekend.
"So we're in that framework. We'll see how he feels tomorrow and see how he feels when he throws and stretches out a little bit. We'll see if it's worthy of throwing 20 pitches in a game or if we need to back off. You'd hate for him to have a nasty pull and have him gone for the next three or four weeks. I don't want to rush it. It may be fine right now, but I don't know."
The reason for the uncertainty is due to the nature of the injury and where it occurred.
"Any back injury like that would happen because of extension or over-rotation, but that's on the arm side," Johnson said. "It's a funny little strain and you don't know if it's healed until you throw hard.
"This one is on the glove side. I don't think it's associated with throwing. He says he's feeling better each day. It comes down to working up a sweat and stretching and see what happens."
Moving up in the rotation to fill the void created with Gallant's injury has been Justin Jackson and Paul Spinn. Jackson started against UTSA on Friday and picked up the win. Spinn scattered six hits through five innings and allowed two earned runs on Saturday as Sam Houston defeated the Roadrunners 9-6.
On Sunday, junior lefthander Brent Powers made his first start of the season. Powers struck out 10 Roadrunners, but allowed eight hits and six earned runs through 6 1/3 innings. Junior righthander Brandon Kimbrel, who shut down Prairie View A&M last week, closed the door on UTSA and picked up the win.
"It's interesting. We played there three days and we had three different wins," Johnson said.
"I thought Justin Jackson did a good job. He got us into the depth of the game on a windy day when the wind was blowing out. I thought if he had been throwing with the wind at the hitters, he might have been a little more successful.
"Spinn had some good innings. We're just thin in the bullpen with all these guys down right now.
"(Daniel) Nottebart closed well. I was really pleased with that. Powers, that was his first start. He had some really good pitches. He did a good job. Brandon came in last night and got through it. It was a little bit scary, but he got out of it.
"Obviously, I felt we were going to be a little bit stronger on the mound at this point and we're not there yet. I think it's there. We're progressing. I think we're a whole lot better than we were at the start of the season. That's what important to me."
Tickets for Sam Houston State baseball home games are on sale online at www.gobearkats.com. All Sam Houston students, faculty and staff receive free admission with their SHSU BearkatOne I.D. cards.
For $2, students and faculty/staff can upgrade their seats with reserved chairback seat. Offer is available at the ticket booth the day of the game.
The Sam Houston State athletic ticket office in the Ron Mafrige Field House at Bowers Stadium is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The ticket office telephone number is 936 294-1729.
Fans also can order exciting Sam Houston State gear at Bearkat Gear link on www.gobearkats.com.
