Whether it is the New York Yankees or the Ithaca College baseball team, it is a constant struggle to find consistency out of the bullpen in baseball. While the Blue and Gold’s bullpen is mainly made up of freshmen and sophomores, for the most part, they have been able to get the job done. However, Head Coach George Valesente said he has not yet discovered who his consistent middle relievers are.

“If we get in trouble in the middle innings, we’re going to need someone to shut the door for us,” Valesente said.

Up to this point, the main middle-relief arms have been freshman Brian Eggleston and sophomores Andrew Wall and Demetrie Spinney.

Just recently, though, Valesente brought up freshmen Jackson Quinn and Ian Rebhan from the junior varsity squad. They both made their collegiate debuts in back-to-back games for the Bombers last week, earning a save and a win, respectively.

Rebhan came out of the bullpen for the South Hill squad in the fifth inning of its game against the University of Rochester last Thursday. After senior ace Pete MacDaniel struggled, giving up seven earned runs on seven hits through only four innings of work, Rebhan came out of the bullpen and only allowed five hits and two runs, both unearned, through four innings of work.

Rebhan said he was not expecting to get into the game, but he just told himself to stay calm and not try to do too much. He said his teammates offered constant support.

“They were all just telling me to not get too worried about it,” Rebhan said. “[They said] just go out there, stay calm and throw strikes and not try to strike anyone out; just let them hit the ball and let the defense do the work.”

Rebhan started on the junior varsity team, but he said he expects to continue as a reliever for the varsity squad.

“Anytime I’ll be able to pitch, I’ll be happy, and we’ll just see how it goes,” he said.

Though Rebhan was successful in his first outing, he struggled in his second appearance, allowing six runs on five hits through 1 2/3 innings. Though only two of the runs were earned, he let up three walks.

Valesente said in one of Rebhan’s appearances earlier in the season, the reliever was loose and relaxed, but in an outing following, Rebhan got in a bit of trouble because he was pitching more cautiously and trying to be too specific with his location.

“I saw two different outings, which is hard to explain,” Valesente said.

Valesente said Rebhan’s ability to throw strikes and avoid walks was one of the factors that made him decide to call Rebhan up last week, but in his most recent outing, he did not show the same control.

Though it has been shaky at times, freshman Tucker Healy said the bullpen has been effective all year. It needs to keep working hard in practice in order to find consistency, he said.

“We have a lot of young players,” Healy said. “So we’re all just trying to learn from [junior Tom] Fishback and Pete [MacDaniel].”

Healy, the team’s closer, has been the most consistent force out of the bullpen. He has picked up four saves in 12 appearances and holds a 2–0 record, giving the relievers a 3–0 record overall.

Valesente said Healy’s fastball has been his dominant pitch because of his fluid motion.

“His fastball kind of surprises you because it explodes in the last 10 to 15 feet, so it sort of takes hitters by surprise,” Valesente said. “What they see is a nice, smooth arm action; then the movement of the ball just jumps on you.”

Valesente said other than Healy, he does not know for sure who he will use from day to day.

Earlier in the season, the team relied mostly on its starters to go deep into games. The Bombers’ starters have combined for 12 complete games this season leaving only 65 1/3 of the squad’s 266 innings up to relievers. But as of late, the bullpen has been getting more work.

Other than Fishback’s complete game effort in a loss to SUNY-Brockport on Sunday,  the bullpen has thrown 16 innings in the past five games.

Valesente said he has done something differently with his starters this season than in any other season, which may have caused them to tire out. He has taken his pitchers who typically throw on the weekends and given them one or two innings during the middle of the week. He said these innings act as their bullpen session, except they are more strenuous.

“These other pitchers are getting much more volume than they’ve ever gotten,” Valesente said. “But they’ll settle in, and we’ll have some time off to rest and nurture their arms here pretty soon.”