These Guys Can Hit

By John Rohde // SoonerSports.com

Oklahoma pitchers Jacob Evans and Robert Tasin went to speak with baseball coach Pete Hughes last fall and before either player said a word, Hughes knew precisely what the subject matter was.

“Every pitcher says he can hit,” Hughes explained. “Both of them came to me and said, 'Do you mind if I swing the bat? I swung in high school. Since I'm not going to throw this fall (to rest their arms), it'll give me something to do,' ” Hughes explained. “And they were right. They can hit.”

Hughes usually appeases pitchers by allowing them to hit for a couple of weeks in the fall before sending them back to the mound. Not so with Evans and Tasin.

“Never once did we think about telling these guys to go back to pitcher because they're pretty talented offensively,” Hughes said. “It was immediate they were both pretty talented. Both of them were pitcher-only guys when we got here (two years ago as a staff), but we were going to rest those guys in the fall because of how much they had pitched last spring and last summer.”

Evans and Tasin (pronounced tuh-SEEN) were assigned to batting groups alongside other position players last fall. Sophomore Sheldon Neuse (NOYZ-ee) also has spent some time on the mound this season (1-1, 1.12 ERA in six appearances), but his primary duty was starting 56 games at shortstop for the Sooners.

Never once did we think about telling these guys to go back to pitcher because they're pretty talented offensively.
Pete Hughes

“To me, you can't have too many left-handed bats off your bench and both those guys give you that,” Hughes said. “Evans has got some power. If I'm looking for a three-run homer, he's probably the guy I'm going to. Tasin is probably more of a complete hitter using all fields. I've been really surprised at both of those guys offensively. They've given us a deeper bench and a much more well-rounded roster.”

When Hughes coached at Boston College (1999-2006), he looked for as many hitting pitchers as possible because he had only three scholarships at his disposal. “I'm always looking for guys who can do both,” Hughes said. “It gives you more depth in your program. It gives you more moves late in the game. It's like a National League game (with no designated hitter). You've got a nine-man lineup. You get some double-switches involved. It does get tricky sometimes, but it's something I'm accustomed to. I had to live and die with some two-way guys at Boston College. I tried to get as many two-ways guys as possible to maximize those scholarships.”

Hughes admits making the proper maneuver at the proper moment with Evans and Tasin can get a little complicated. With Evans, do you let him hit only after he's been inserted as a pitcher; do you use him as a hitter and then insert him as a pitcher; do you start him as a designated hitter and then move him to pitcher, or vice versa? ans (5-1, 1.79 ERA, eight saves) is a junior and the team closer. He bats left and throws left. Tasin (8-2, 2.64 ERA) is a redshirt-senior and a starter, who leads the team in victories heading into this week's Big 12 Tournament in Tulsa. He bats left and throws right.

“It does get tricky at times,” Hughes said. “It's tricky if I want to use him (Evans) in the field because he's the guy we want to pitch at the end of the game. If someone wants to match up with him lefty-lefty late in the game, we have to live with it. We want him to have the ball the last inning or the last two innings. I'll pinch-hit with him in the DH spot so he can enter the game as a pitcher later on. I've done that before. Yeah, it does get tricky.”

In 20 plate appearances this season, Evans has a .350 batting average and a team-high .550 slugging percentage.

He came to OU as a standout pitcher at Broken Arrow High School, where he went 10-0 with a 1.83 ERA, 103 strikeouts and just 11 walks during his senior season when Evans also found time to hit .430 with six home runs and 41 RBI. “This past fall, I just started messing around with coach (OU hitting coach Mike) Anderson and saw that I could still swing a little bit,” Evans said. “He put me in a hitting group and it just sort of went from there.”

Evans is incredibly unassuming, and it shows in how he speaks. Braggadocios, Evans is not.

Here is Evans explaining why Hughes might decide to insert him as a hitter late in games: “Sometimes he kind of puts me in during kind of pressure situations. If a righty is pitching late in the game, he might put me in just to try to get on base, or maybe in an RBI situation. I might hit the ball in the outfield maybe more than somebody in the lineup.”

I'd like to think I could hit him, but he's a really good pitcher.
Robert Tasin said of his teammate, Evans.

Evans' career highlight came on April 2 at L. Dale Mitchell Park against Kansas in a performance that still radiates to this day.

With the Sooners trailing 6-2 going into the bottom of the ninth, Evans was inserted as a pinch-hitter and wound up with double-duty. He went 2-for-2 at the plate, mowed down the Jayhawks in order from the mound and became the winning pitcher by hitting a walk-off, lead-off, solo home run in the 10^th inning to win the game 7-6. “I got the pitch and it flew off the bat,” Evans said that night.

Jacob Evans (walk-off) Evans' first collegiate home run had come in just his seventh at-bat. Not bad for someone who hadn't hit in a month-and-a-half and didn't have any at-bats his first two seasons at OU.

“Evans can hit because he runs into the ball,” Hughes explained the night of the KU win. “He gives you a chance. I know how to pitch him because I am his coach, but he does match-up against certain guys. He gives us the chance for a home run. We were talking about it between the innings, that the flags were down and that he would really have to hit one to get it over. He has got that power, as he showed. It is who he is that we got that play at the plate. He wants to get the final three outs and he wants the last at-bat. He was awesome. You can't even script that.”

Hughes stirred things up by inserted three pinch-hitters in the ninth inning against the Jayhawks. It was Tasin who knocked in Evans with a single up the middle in the bottom of the ninth to draw the Sooners to within three runs. After crossing home plate, Evans quickly trotted down to the bullpen to warm up in case of extra innings.

Delaware co-defensive coordinator Tim Weaver was Hughes' former college teammate and roommate at Davidson in the late 1980s. The morning after Evans' heroics, Weaver texted Hughes. “He said, 'I don't know who that kid is, but he needs to retire, right now,' ” Hughes said with a chuckle.

Hughes also started Evans in left field at Texas on April 11. “He's an athlete. I trust that kid,” Hughes said. “We were down a man against Texas and I didn't even second-guess for a second with putting him out there.” Evans went 1-for-4.

In 89 at-bats this season, Tasin is batting .258 and has an on-base percentage of .340.

During his senior season at Klein (Texas) High School, Tasin batted .355 with seven home runs and also had a 2.40 ERA over 35 innings.

Prior to arriving at OU two years ago, Tasin played his freshman season at Texarkana College, where he hit .360 with 19 RBI. He posted a 3-1 record with seven saves and a 1.98 ERA, which earned him conference freshman of the year honors. Tasin played his sophomore season at Howard College in Big Spring, Texas. (In 2009, Howard won the NJCAA national championship with a 63-1 record.)

“I was mostly a hitter until I got to OU. I spent most of my time in the field in high school,” said Tasin, who was his team's top closer despite starting in left field and sometimes at third base, first base and shortstop.

“Tasin had a limited amount of action when we first got here,” Hughes recalled. “He really was playing for his life to make the roster. I think he just needed a set of fresh eyes to come in and evaluate him. That's what our staff provided.”

Hughes credits pitching coach Jamie Pinzino for his work with Tasin. “He (Tasin) might have thrown six innings before we got here. Now he's our most accomplished starter on the weekends,” Hughes said. “That's coming a long way in a short period of time. He's the ultimate team guy. He's not looking for the result, but he gets caught up in the process, he works his butt off and look where it's got him.

Robert Tasin “Guys get better, especially when they buy into it. Evans has gotten better because we've got more guys around him in the bullpen and we're not overusing him. Tasin and Evans are never going to beat themselves. They're never going to lose their composure and they're both great kids. I'm going to miss coaching both those guys. They've been invaluable.”

Evans' best pitches have been his fastball (which has increased in velocity), curveball, knuckle-curve and a change-up that has come along late this season.

Tasin's best pitches are a two- and four-seam fastball, slider and change-up. “I think it's definitely grown,” Tasin said of his repertoire of pitches. “A lot of things I'm doing this year I couldn't do last year. That's really helped my confidence level, too. I have a 100-percent faith in my pitches.”

What would happen if Evans and Tasin squared off against each other?

Could Tasin get a hit if he faced Evans?

“I'd like to think I could hit him, but he's a really good pitcher,” Tasin said.

Could Evans get a hit if he faced Tasin?

“That's tough, too, but he's got a really good swing,” Tasin said with a chuckle. “It would be a pretty good matchup both ways.”

About John Rohde

John Rohde is a respected name on the Oklahoma sports scene and will provide regular features for SoonerSports.com. Voted Oklahoma Sportswriter of the Year five times, Rohde has covered OU football and basketball, the Oklahoma City Thunder, OKC/New Orleans Hornets, Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers, the Final Four, Masters and PGA Tour. He spent over 26 years for The Oklahoman, serving as a columnist and beat writer. He can be heard on 107.7 The Franchise, the flagship station for OU Athletics weekdays from 5:30-9 a.m.

Players Mentioned

Jacob Evans

Sheldon Neuse

Robert Tasin

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