Southern Miss junior Hunter Stanley has been a solid bullpen arm for the Golden Eagles all season. He’s been steady, consistent and clutch.
The way the Meridian Community College transfer was used in Biloxi during the Conference USA Tournament showed he’s the guy Southern Miss pitching coach Christian Ostrander wants on the mound in big-time situations. After all, he pitched the final three outs of the combined no-hitter in the C-USA Semifinals and he earned the save in the title game on Sunday. In total, he appeared in three of the four games in Biloxi and picked up two of his four saves on the season.
“Coming in on the no-hitter, honestly, the only thing I was thinking about was, ‘Please don’t give up a hit,’” Stanley said. “Gabe (Shepard) did an awesome job and Cody (Carroll) did his job, too, and I just wanted to do my job, because I knew no-hitters don’t come around often. I knew it was going to be an awesome feeling.”
He sat down the Rice batters 1-2-3 in the no-hitter, but he inherited a few base runners with one out in the ninth inning the next day against Florida Atlantic. He quickly got the two outs, threw his glove in the air and found himself at the bottom of the dogpile with his catcher Cole Donaldson.
“The dogpile was crazy,” he said. “Me and Cole ended up at the bottom and it kind of hurt a little bit, but we just felt pure bliss.”
But that’s enough reminiscing on the good times in Biloxi, because Stanley and the pitching staff have to prepare for an Arizona State team that leads the country in home runs. The Sun Devils have collected 91 homers this season and they have six players who are hitting better than .300 on the season.
Stanley won’t start the game, and he might not even pitch in the contest. However, one thing is for sure. If Southern Miss is in position to win late, Ostrander will look to the Hammond, Louisiana native. Stanley didn’t start the season as the team’s closer, but he’s definitely grabbed control of that role lately.
“He’s a guy that every time he goes out there I know what I’m going to get,” Ostrander said. “He’s a strike thrower, he’s not scared of any situation and he’s going to make them beat him by hitting the baseball.”
While Ostrander doesn’t like to give definitions to his pitching staff, Southern Miss coach Scott Berry is willing to call Stanley the closer.
“Yes, he certainly seems to be our go-to guy there on the backend,” Berry said.
Stanley entered late in the final three ballgames of last week’s tournament and got the final out in every single one. He pitched out of the jam in the eighth inning against Marshall and proceeded to finish off the Thundering Herd quickly in the ninth, closed out the no-hitter with nine pitches, and pitched around two base runners in the final inning of the title game. Prior to last week he only had two saves on the season, but he’s always been a reliable arm out of the bullpen. With a 2.75 ERA and a 5-2 record, he’s logged 36 innings this season with 33 strikeouts and seven walks.
Stanley was a starter pitching in high school and at Meridian Community College, so he doesn’t have a ton of closing experience throughout his pitching career. He does have some familiarity to being in that position, though.
“It’s just kind of getting in a different frame of mind,” Stanley said. “It’s different than starting, for sure, but you just have to have that ‘who cares’ mentality. Not like you don’t care, but it’s got to be like ‘you attack the hitter and whatever happens, happens.’”
Stanley’s hometown is less than 50 miles from Alex Box Stadium at LSU, and just like most young baseball players in Louisiana, he grew up dreaming of playing there.
“He grew up rooting for the Tigers, for sure,” he said, “It’s going to be wild down there this weekend. A lot of my friends I went to high school with went to LSU. I’m sure there will be a lot of my friends to come out and support me, which is really awesome. I know a lot of them came to Biloxi, but we’re excited to get down (to Baton Rouge).”
There’s no guarantee he’ll get to face the team he grew up cheering for, and for now he’s just focusing on Southern Miss’ first opponent – Arizona State. With their home run numbers, the Sun Devils present a challenge the Golden Eagles haven’t seen much of this season. Troy was the best home run-hitting team they’ve faced all year, and the Trojans hit 20 less than Arizona State in six more games.
It’s also worth noting Stanley hasn’t given up a home run all season.
“They hit a lot of home runs, we know that,” Stanley said. “There’s no panic or fear amongst anybody on the team. We’re going to keep our same mentality against them. Just go out and attack. I’m sure we’ll pitch a couple of people a little differently than usual, but we feel pretty good about it.”
