by Matthew Lofton, Kent State Athletic Communications

KENT, Ohio - Offense is a great commodity in baseball. However, you can have a potent offense and it means nothing if you do not have the pitching to back it up. There is no shortage of talented arms on the roster for 18th-ranked Kent State.

One of those arms in the starting rotation, junior Brad Stillings, (Washington Courthouse, Ohio/Washington Courthouse), was named one of the top prospects in the nation by Baseball America.

“Brad is extremely competitive,” said 13th-year associate head coach Mike Birkbeck. “We know on any given day when he is starting that for three hours that the game exists, he is going to give us his best effort. He is a conscientious, hard-working kid and always willing to learn. That is something that is not only going to benefit him this year but as the season progresses.”

The 2008 season was a great example of Stillings’ work ethic. Starting the season with five straight losses, he did not give in.

“I didn't get off to the start I would have liked last season,” Stillings explained. “I pitched well in the first two games, but our team didn't get the wins. After that I hit a little rough spot and didn't pitch as well as I expect of myself until the Toledo series.”

The Friday, April 11th game against the Rockets was critical not only for Stillings, but the whole team as well. Kent State stood at 13-15 overall and 1-5 in Mid-American Conference. In the game, Stillings responded with seven solid innings, giving up two earned runs on only four hits and three walks over six innings. Kent State set the tone for a series sweep with a 14-5 win.

“Getting 14 runs from our offense was a big help,” said Stillings. “When your offense goes out and scores that many runs, its easy to go out there and just pitch and not try to do too much.”

Big wins in crucial games were a continuing theme for Stillings in 2008. None may have been bigger than the final regular season game at Miami.

Going into the May 17th game against the RedHawks, Kent State stood a half game behind Eastern Michigan for the regular season MAC title and the first seed in the upcoming MAC Tournament. To add to the drama, Miami had scored 12 runs in the ninth inning to defeat the Golden Flashes 17-16 the day before.

“Pitching against Miami the day after their 12-run comeback was different in a lot of ways but our coaches made sure that all of us knew after the game that it was behind us and thats where it needed to stay,” said Stillings. “All that mattered was the next game and everything we wanted to accomplish that season was still in front of us.”

Birkbeck also reiterated to Brad that you cannot change the previous day’s result.

“Brad was fine after the Friday game. He knows that every day is a new day and you cannot do anything about the past. There was no need to worry about the future. Just take care of this game one pitch at a time, one hitter at a time and one inning at a time. Brad did it. He did a very good job.”

In the game, Stillings gave up nine hits and one walk while allowing only three runs in six innings in KSU’s 8-6 win. The RedHawks jumped out to a 3-0 lead after four innings, but a sixth-run fifth jump-started the Golden Flashes victory.

Combined with Eastern Michigan’s loss, Kent State won their seventh MAC regular season or tournament title in the last eight years.

As strong as his performance was in the regular season finale, his outing against Northern Illinois in the semifinal of the MAC Tournament was just as strong. He gave up only thee runs and six hits while striking out eight over eight innings.

“Pitching in the MAC tournament game against NIU meant a lot to me,” Stillings said “In the regular season against them, I didn’t pitch well and had probably the worst game of my season. I wanted to go out and make sure what happened in the previous game didn’t happen again.

“It was also fun pitching in the tournament because it was so close to my hometown. I had a lot of family and friends come to see that game that hadn’t seen me play since high school and for our team to come out and score eight runs in the first inning and play as well as we did, was really fun.”

When Stillings came to Kent State, he was a two-position player but decided to focus on pitching. The move paid off as he has been named a top prospect by Baseball America before the 2009 season.

“Brad is valuable to the pitching staff due to the fact he throws a lot of strikes and pitches a lot of innings. He usually gives the Flashes a chance to win on any given day he is starting,” Birkbeck said.

“As far as being one of the best prospects in the country, that is a wonderful recognition for him and deserved because he is extremely talented and only getting better.”