Collegiate Times

"I was still new," Fisher said. "I just started pitching last year. I only had a fastball and a slider."

Fisher has been asked to do a lot more this year and with an added pitch to his arsenal, his strikeouts have jumped. He has already matched last year's total of 18, and with almost double the innings of work, opponents are still only batting .203 against him.

"This year coach Turgeon worked with me and I developed a changeup," he said. "It has really helped me out. Last year I was mainly facing righties with a slider and fastball, and this year I'm facing lefties with a fastball and changeup."

A former walk-on, Fisher hopes to be the closer, and as long as his stats continue to improve, the Hokies will have the good kind of tough decision - if he or sophomore Jesse Hahn should close.

Both Turgeon and Hughes teach each member of their pitching staff the same approach.

"I think the mentality that we preach all the time is to be aggressive," said Turgeon. "Don't pitch to corners as much as pounding the zone. Be on the offensive on the mound, and put the hitters on the defense. With that you can't have a problem pitching to contact. You're going to get ahead in counts, and hitters expand the zone once pitchers get ahead."

McDermott and Fisher are not relaxing on the new skills they learned during the offseason. They still are trying to improve their game and help the team.

"(I'm working on) throwing my breaking ball for a strike, being more consistent with offspeed pitches and pitching out of jams," McDermott said.

"(I need to) stay ahead in the count," Fisher said. "Sometimes I fall behind in counts and that hurts me, but if I can stay ahead I'll be fine."

At the season's midpoint, pitching will become more important, especially with a spot in the ACC tournament on the line. Mistakes made last year may no longer hamper the Hokies' hopes for postseason play.  

"We tell them (pitchers) every day," Turgeon said. "You're going to win some and lose some, but if you keep going after hitters and attacking the strike zone, you're going to win a hell of a lot more than you're going to lose."

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