Jordan Foley continues strong run as baseball's ace pitcher
When you’re pitching as well as sophomore Jordan Foley, you don’t always need to be at your best.
The 6-foot-3 native of The Colony, Texas, struck out a career-high 12 batters but walked five over six and two-thirds innings in the baseball team’s 6-3 win over Northern Illinois Friday afternoon.
“I thought Jordan did well, even though he was a little inconsistent in the zone,” said head coach Steve Jaksa. “He wasn’t in sink as good as he’d like to be; obviously, if you can go into the seventh inning and strike out 12, he was in sink enough, but he wasn’t smooth all the way through.”
The win improved Foley’s record to 5-1 and lowered his ERA to 0.82. Even with the win, Foley said he expects more from himself.
“Next time I go out, I'll take four strikeouts and nine innings rather than 12 strikeouts in sixth and two-thirds innings,” he said.
Foley threw 118 pitches in the win against the Huskies. He would have gotten through the seventh inning if it wasn’t for a throwing error by junior shortstop Noel Santos. The error allowed the inning to continue, and the Huskies eventually plated two runs.
Still, Foley was in command for the majority of the game, and he said he’s getting used to the fact that he is the ace of the pitching staff.
“I enjoy being the Friday starter,” he said. “It’s my job to go out there and set the tone for the whole weekend. I like that responsibility. I just try to go out there and get a win for the team.”
He added that he was just trying to be aggressive in his start against NIU.
“It’s what I’ve been doing all year,” Foley said. “It’s been working so far, so I don’t plan on changing it.”
Foley is scheduled to make his next start in the Chippewas series-opening game Friday at Ball State.
