JD Arteaga shares key to bullpen management in elimination games: ‘There’s no real script’

The Miami Hurricanes knew their season was on the line Monday in the Hattiesburg Regional against Southern Miss. In that environment, mistakes are typically magnified and there’d be no exception made for how head coach JD Arteaga used his bullpen.

In the end, Arteaga turned to his bullpen early and was generally quick to make moves. That was logic that he broke down after the win, explaining it’s difficult to script out an elimination game.

“It’s a must-win, or elimination game,” JD Arteaga said. “Game 7, whatever you want to call it, because you never want to get left with your best available guy in your back pocket. So, there’s really no script to it.”

It was a tie game at 1-1 until Miami was able to put up back-to-back two-run innings in the fifth and sixth innings. That gave the Hurricanes some cushion and allowed Arteaga to use his bullpen a little more freely than he would in a tie or closer game.

Reese Lumpkin pitched the first 3.1 innings for Miami before giving up an earned run and turning the game over to Will Smith out of the bullpen. He’d go on to pitch 3.0 innings, giving up just one more run. That set up the back end of the bullpen. Rob Evans then got an additional 0.2 innings before Brian Walters pitched a two-inning save. Things would get interesting in the ninth inning, though, as he gave up a pair of runs to make it 5-4.

“Getting out to a lead there, that was huge for us. Stretching it out in the sixth inning, getting up 5-1 allowed us to play it kind of conventional, saving him for the eighth and ninth inning. Had it been a 2-1 game, it would have been a different situation. He would have come in early and maybe Will is in the back end. There was no real script to today. Just, as the game goes, you’ve got to make decisions,” Arteaga said. “But it’s something we talked about this morning for a while, me and Laz [Gutierrez]. We had every possible scenario, I think, covered. It’s tough. You don’t want to take guys out too early and get left with no pitching, but you don’t want to save your best guys. So, a four-run lead makes it a lot easier.”

Miami will now have a little time off before going to the Super Regional in Louisville. There’s some familiarity there against an ACC opponent. Still, Arteaga knows that he’s going to need to manage his bullpen for a three-game series and potentially two more elimination games if he wants to go to Omaha.