Freshman Sales Stands Out for UNCW Against Ohio State

Image credit: UNCW RHP RJ Sales (Photo by John Crouch)

WILMINGTON, N.C. — Despite being a freshman, and a freshman with a 7.53 ERA in 14.1 innings this season on top of that, the UNC-Wilmington coaching staff trusted RJ Sales to carry the load on Saturday against Ohio State, and that trust paid off in a big way. 

The righthander turned in far and away his best start of the season, throwing 6.2 shutout innings with two hits and two walks allowed in a 2-0 win. It was exactly the type of outing UNCW needed from him on a day when the offense managed just two runs of its own, one on a run-scoring double play ball in the first and another on an RBI single for Ron Evans in the second. 

Sales’ previous season high in innings was 4.2 innings Opening Weekend against St. John’s, and he’d given up three or more runs in three of his previous four starts. 

Last weekend against Kennesaw State, he threw four innings, giving up four hits and one run in a 2-1 UNCW win, and that was a step forward, but Saturday’s outing against Ohio State was more of a leap. 

“I’m really proud of our freshman, RJ Sales, (he) went out there and gave his best outing of the year and filled the zone up,” said UNCW coach Randy Hood. “Our biggest Achilles that’s been hurting us most is our free bases and he just attacked, attacked, attacked.”

As Hood alluded to, the big difference for Sales was the way he attacked the zone relentlessly. It only took him 90 pitches to get through his 6.2 innings, and 59 of them were strikes. And after walking nine batters in his 14.1 innings through four starts, he didn’t walk anyone until the seventh inning on Saturday, when two walks finally chased him from the game. 

“He’s had some trouble in the past filling up the zone, but today he was just on it,” said UNCW catcher Matt Suggs. “He was just filling the zone, throwing strikes and he was doing a really good job of putting pitches where he wanted to and that’s huge.”

It’s easy to see it being a very different ballgame had he not thrown as many strikes as he did. 

Ohio State hit the ball hard on a number of occasions. Hood counted more than 10 balls that were scored as line outs or were otherwise hit hard that either went right to UNCW defenders or were knocked down in the outfield by a stiff wind that had the center field flags flying parallel to the ground for most of the afternoon. 

Had Sales put a few runners on via walk or hit by pitch and even a couple of those hard-hit balls find grass rather than gloves, perhaps because infielders are holding runners on or at double-play depth, the Buckeyes are likely on the board rather than being shut out. 

“I chalk it up to just filling up the zone and our players were ready to make plays,” Hood said. “When you attack the zone early and get contact, sometimes the game rewards you, and today it rewarded us by a lot of balls hit right at us that were very hard.”

The arm talent for Sales is clear. Despite being relatively slight in frame at 6-feet-tall and 160 pounds, Sales works with a fastball in the low 90s that has touched as high as 95 mph this season. 

His athleticism is also clear, and Hood says that there’s an alternate scenario where if he weren’t so needed on the mound, that he’d be contributing as a position player as well. 

That skill was readily apparent on Saturday in the second inning. Colton Bauer was on first base for Ohio State with one out when Drew Reckart hit a ground ball to UNCW second baseman Brooks Baldwin. Baldwin’s throw to shortstop Taber Mongero in an attempt to begin a double play was wild and the ball rolled into left field. 

Third baseman Jac Croom ran into shallow left to retrieve the ball, leaving the third base bag unoccupied. Rather than getting caught watching the play as many pitchers—especially freshman pitchers—would get caught doing, Sales instinctively sprinted to the bag, caught the throw from Croom and applied the tag to Bauer for the out all in one motion, effectively ending the Buckeyes’ rally. 

“Croom went to go get the ball and I noticed that third base was open,” Sales said. “We work on that stuff in practice, trying to go and cover the bag that’s open. So I just went over there naturally and tagged him out.”

Sales going as deep in the game as he did was partly because the Seahawks haven’t gotten a lot of depth from most of their starting pitchers, but it was also a show of faith in a young pitcher who shows a lot of raw ability.  

With Sales still getting adjusted to this level, it would have been easy for Hood and pitching coach Kelly Secrest to pull the ripcord on his start after five or even six innings in an attempt not to overexpose him and to give him the chance to go out on a high note. But instead, they continued to run him out there, and it didn’t go unnoticed. 

“I love it, man,” Sales said of the faith shown in him. “Having Kelly’s trust in me, it’s just a big boost for me.”

Sales’ emergence is a big reason for optimism on the mound not only for this particular UNCW team, but for future UNCW teams, and he’s not alone. 

Fellow freshman righthander Marty Gair, who earlier this season touched 100 mph with his fastball, has also been a big part of the bullpen, and he was warming up to potentially close the game had fifth-year senior lefthander Bryce Cota not gone 1-2-3 to shut down the Buckeyes in the ninth. 

The hope is that performances like today for Sales, and in crunch time moments later down the line for Gair, will have those talented young pitchers ready to be real weapons come the CAA Tournament or a regional. 

“When you’ve got freshmen out there and a young team, and you’ve got guys in those types of situations, it’s great experience for down the road,” Hood said.