St. John's University Athletics
Throwing Strikes With Anthony Varvaro
4/28/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 28, 2005
Every week through the end of the regular season, junior pitcher Anthony Varvaro will chronicle the 2005 St. John's baseball season in a journal on www.RedStormSports.com.
Q: You were leading the nation in strikeouts per nine innings, and have been the top five in the country in that category all season, is the strikeout something you look for?
I knew I was there before our West Virginia game. Honestly, that doesn't mean a thing to me if we're not winning. Do they matter? Yes and no. Yes, because it's nice to see that you can do that. But if you're striking out 10 or 12 and losing, you may as well strike out no one. I'd rather have single digit strikeouts and win. What I'm most happy about is that my strikeout to walk ratio is down.
Q: What's been the difference for you this year?
It's a combination of things for me. I've got more experience, that's probably the biggest factor. I'm also concentrating more and I'm just confident with all of my pitches.
Q: Do you feel pressure going out the first game of every weekend series?
I don't feel pressure. I just hope that we jump them before they jump me. It's a lot easier for me to pitch with the lead. I'm pretty confident in our hitters, and I know that they can come out and give me a lead. A seven-inning game is pretty short and that's what I've been pitching. When they give me the lead, it just gives me more confidence.
Q: You have a few inning games coming up, how does that change your approach?
"I'm just going to pitch as many innings as I can. As much as I hate to come out, I always want to put us in a position where I can hand the ball to Craig (Hansen)."
Q: At Seton Hall, you were coming off a rough start at West Virginia, where you didn't throw the best you have, but you were able to grind out a win. What was the difference in the outings?
"The hitters made it easy for me in both games because they gave me a lot of runs. I knew (at West Virginia) that if I didn't let two, three runners on, they weren't going to beat me with one hit. I wasn't really panicking because I knew I didn't have my best stuff. I think my stuff was pretty good (at Seton Hall), not the best it's ever been. They were hitting fastballs early on me. After the first inning, I was starting them off-speed. I'd go hard in the middle of the count and then went soft at the back. It worked in the middle innings and I stayed that way the rest of the game.
Q: How important is the relationship you have with your catcher, senior Joe Burke?
"We get on the same page. We don't talk about it, but he sees what I want to throw and I see what he wants to call. We know what the hitter did the previous at-bat and where he sets up. Joe's really good with reading batters and that's a big help. He really reads batters well. He waits until they get into the box to see where he's standing, where his hands are and he remembers what he's done against us. At one point in the Seton Hall game, he shook me off and pointed away. He knew something I didn't know and it worked out.
Q: You and Joe are friends off the field, does that make the pitcher-catcher relationship even stronger?
"It's really important. I think it's an advantage because I live with him, so we have a very strong off-field relationship. We're both from the City and live maybe 15-20 minutes from each other, so we've lived the same lives in a lot of ways. I played summer ball with him (for the Metro Cadets in the ACBL) before he first came here, so we were able to forge a relationship right from the start."
Q: How do you feel about where the team is now?
We really have to win all of our mid-week games and we have to win each series coming up. It'd be great to sweep, but we have to win each series to get to the BIG EAST Tournament. We're really confident right now, but we're going to take it one weekend at a time.
