The young Perry pitching staff has struggled early at times this season with their control.  The Bluejays begin the week with a 10-4 record but the common denominator in Perry’s losses this year have been the inability to throw strikes.

“We have really focused on having our kids simply throw strikes,” added veteran Head Coach Mike Long. “We are walking and hitting way too many guys right now.  These kids threw the ball in the spring and were throwing strikes on a consistent basis.  They weren’t striking a lot of guys out but they weren’t walking as many either.  You look at the game against Boone and we walked 9 guys.  You simply can’t have that and still win a game.”

To put the numbers in perspective, last summer, the Perry pitching staff walked 59 batters all season long.  This year, after the first 3 weeks, the Perry pitching staff has issued 68 free passes and hit 9 others.

“I think some of our guys are really trying to change it,” states Long.  “At times this year, some of our younger pitchers have knocked down their velocity to try and improve on the control.  It can be difficult to balance the two.”

Perry will return to action tonight when they travel to Gilbert.