Written by Chris O’Dell<\/p>\n
The Bison baseball team has been working on steadily improving its rotation in the last few years. When head coach Patrick McGaha and his team can get a young walk-on to come in and have an immediate impact in the staff, things look promising for the future of Harding baseball.<\/p>\n
Sophomore Kyle Cline, from Ormond Beach, Fla., has made instant contributions to the pitching staff for the Bisons. As a freshman last season, Cline started 12 games and posted an 8-4 record with a 4.69 ERA. Cline’s eight wins led the team and were good for third best in a single season in school history.<\/p>\n
However, Cline wasn’t squeaking by with close victories after pitching the minimum number of innings to qualify for a win. In his first season playing collegiate baseball, Cline led the team with six complete games, 78.2 innings pitched, 57 strikeouts and a .262 opponent batting average. Cline said age has nothing to do with a player’s success on the diamond.<\/p>\n
“Natural talent and ability are a part of what makes a successful player,” Cline said. “The largest aspects of it all are hard work, tenacity and motivation, which all breed success.”<\/p>\n
Despite a rough start to the 2010 season, Cline and his teammates are ready to put the past behind them and move forward with the remaining part of the season.<\/p>\n
“The season has had its ups and downs,” Cline said. “The beginning of this year was a little rough, but we are coming up to a steady but increasing level of confidence just in time for the bulk of conference play.”<\/p>\n
The team began the season with four consecutive losses to powerhouse Abilene Christian University. Through the team’s first 12 games, the Bisons posted a record of 2-10. However, the team has won 12 of its past 15 games, including a doubleheader sweep over Williams Baptist and Ouachita Baptist in consecutive series.<\/p>\n
After his first six starts, Cline has posted a 2-3 record with a 6.54 ERA \u2014 numbers down from last season’s stellar year. But despite a rocky start for Cline and the Bisons, Harding is still in prime position for a conference run in the last half of the season.<\/p>\n
“The season so far has tested our character at times and will continue to do so in the face of adversity,” Cline said. “But I believe in this team and I believe in every one of those guys playing behind me.”<\/p>\n
Cline has still shown he is capable on multiple occasions this season. The 6-foot sophomore was recently named the Gulf South Conference Pitcher of the Week for the second time in his career.<\/p>\n
“Knowing the different players in the GSC and knowing the caliber of the conference itself said a lot when I was named player of the week,” Cline said. “It is a great compliment, and I am honored to have been the recipient of it for a second time in two years.”<\/p>\n
Cline became the second Bison pitcher to be honored with the award this season after senior Troy Keith pitched the sixth no-hitter in school history earlier in the year.<\/p>\n
“Troy is a great teammate, and I think more people give him credit than he does himself for that feat a few weeks ago,” Cline said. “Despite the one comment that he made to me, there has been no teasing about me getting a no-no as well. Although I will, at some point, get the seventh.”<\/p>\n
If Cline’s history is any indication, then it might not surprise many spectators if he gets the seventh no-hitter in school history. With the immediate impact the right-hander has made in the Bison rotation, the team is now looking for postseason success. Cline said he is confident this group will find it this season.<\/p>\n
“I am predicting going into the tournament as a second seed in the west division,” Cline said. “And from there it only depends on how far we want to go.”<\/p>\n
Written by Chris O’Dell The Bison baseball team has been working on steadily improving its rotation in the last few years. When head coach Patrick McGaha and his team can…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":376,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[268],"class_list":["post-4049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","tag-hurricane-florence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4049\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}