There’s something motivating about a bad taste in your mouth.
Cade Townsend knows exactly what that feels like. The Ole Miss right-hander didn’t hide from what happened the last time he took the mound in the NCAA Tournament.
He lasted one inning against Georgia Tech in Oxford, gave up three runs and walked off the field knowing it wasn’t good enough.
“I threw horrible in the regional,” Townsend said. “Now it kind of put a bad taste in my mouth.”
That’s not the kind of thing a competitor forgets. It’s also not the kind of thing that sits quietly. It burns. And for Townsend, it’s become fuel heading into Friday’s 8 p.m. opener against Arizona State on ESPN2 at Hawks Field in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The Rebels need him to be better. And by his own admission, that bar isn’t hard to clear.
A Shoulder Scare That Spooked Him
Getting to this point wasn’t exactly a straight line for Townsend. Back on March 14 in Austin, he felt something on the mound against Texas that he’d never felt before.
He left the game in the second inning. The Longhorns won 11-2. The diagnosis was shoulder soreness but the bigger concern for Ole Miss was losing one of its weekend starters at a critical point in SEC play.
For a pitcher who’d never dealt with shoulder trouble, it rattled him.
“It was kind of a shocker. That’s why it kind of spooked me a little bit, I think,” Townsend said. “I’ve never had a shoulder problem or anything. Like, of course, I’ve been sore and I know what that feels like.
“But this was just not right, you know? I had to go look at it and good thing it was clear and clean. So, it was kind of like a little mental break, but now it’s good.”
The break stretched two weeks. He missed his start against Kentucky the following week before returning to the mound against Mississippi State on March 29. Since that return he hasn’t missed a start.
The Grind of Getting Right
Coming back didn’t mean the work stopped.
It meant more of it. Townsend described a demanding daily routine of rehab and prehab work that’s consumed a significant chunk of his schedule ever since.
“I’ve been in the rehab and prehab for forever it feels like,” he said. “It’s like an hour, two hours a day and it’s a long process. But, when you want to be healthy and you want to be out there, you’ll do anything.”
Since the return from the shoulder scare, Townsend has posted a 4-4 record and a 5.30 ERA over eight starts. It hasn’t all been clean.
His final two regular-season outings against Texas A&M and Alabama were rough patches. He allowed a combined 12 runs, 11 of which were earned, on 12 hits with eight strikeouts and four walks.
He doesn’t make excuses for it. When you talk to Townsend about what went wrong, he keeps it simple.
“It’s just execution. That’s the game,” he said. “As a pitcher you could have nasty stuff, but if you don’t execute then anyone can get a hit. That’s all it is.”
A Break That Could Help
Ole Miss didn’t stick around long in Hoover. The Rebs were knocked out by Missouri in the first game of the SEC Tournament and were back on the practice field the very next day.
The Rebels have had intrasquad games over the past week to stay sharp, though Townsend and the starting rotation didn’t throw in Sunday’s game.
They’ve kept to their usual bullpen sessions to stay on schedule.
By the time Townsend takes the ball this weekend it’ll be another two-week gap since he’s thrown a competitive inning. For head coach Mike Bianco, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
“It’s one of those things where you’ll look back on and hope that it was kind of that blessing in disguise,” Bianco said. “We talked about it. You go there to win.
You go there to play well and perform and so when that doesn’t go well, you hope that it’s going to help have the reverse effect where you kind of get your legs back underneath you.
“Some of the guys that maybe needed a little bit of a break. So for (Townsend), personally, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. For us as a team, collectively, we had a good week.”
One Goal, One Direction
This is Townsend’s second NCAA Tournament. Last year gave him a taste of the moment.
This year he knows what’s at stake and what the standard looks like. He isn’t just pitching to pitch, he’s pitching to get to Omaha.
“I just want to go to Omaha,” he said. “That’s the only thing the team wants. It’s such a common goal and it’s just the energy in here is just eager to get out there and play.”
For a pitcher who’s spent weeks grinding through rehab, fighting through rocky outings and carrying the memory of a regional start he’d rather forget, that eagerness means something.
The Rebels need a healthy and dialed-in Cade Townsend if they’re going to make a run. He’s told anyone who’ll listen that he left Oxford last postseason unhappy.
Nebraska is his chance to change that story.
