Bisons senior pitcher Josh Smith is no stranger to the spotlight, but he may have to share it on Friday night when the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles visit with their major-league pitching prospect Chris Sale.
The two teams will open the weekend series Friday night at 6 p.m. at Ken Dugan Field. Both Smith and Sale are expected to take the mound in what should be a showdown between two future draft choices.
Smith, a fifth-year senior from Margate, Fla., has set the tone this season in Lipscomb’s weekend series. The Bisons ace has tallied a 6-1 record while posting the Atlantic Sun’s fourth-best ERA of 2.98.
Typically, when the Bisons right-handed pitcher takes the mound, he garners all of the attention. However, with the A-Sun’s top pitcher coming to town this weekend, fans should be in for quite a treat. Smith said he looked forward to the opportunity to pitch against Sale.
“He is a definite first-round pick,” Smith said. “He is everything you want in a Friday-night guy. It is definitely going to be a fun day. Being from the same state as some of these guys, I actually played growing up against some of them. My sister goes to school there, so there is definitely a little something extra in this game.”
Smith has thrown three consecutive complete-game victories for the Bisons over the last three Friday nights. During that span, he struck out 41 batters while giving up only 25 hits. On the year, Smith leads the A-Sun with 70 strikeouts.
The Bisons veteran leader gives all of the credit to his teammates for the success he has had this year.
“It is all about our defense right now,” Smith said. “We have been playing pretty good ‘D,’ and coach makes good pitches and our offense has definitely helped me out. When we score runs it is easy for me to go out there and get outs.”
Smith’s teammates gave him the nickname “salty veteran” because of his experience in a Bison uniform. He has even been on the team longer than Bisons head coach Jeff Forehand, who was not hired until after Smith had enrolled. This is Smith’s first season pitching in the Friday-night slot of the weekend rotation.
The road to the top was far from smooth for Smith, who suffered an arm injury early in his career. Smith said getting the chance to watch other great players like last year’s ace Rex Brothers has helped him develop as a pitcher.
“My freshman year is when I got hurt,” Smith said. “It was definitely good for me to watch other guys pitch. And then when Rex got here it was just one of those things. You don’t get to play with a guy like that every day. So I would try to learn as much as I could when I played with him. It was definitely an honor when I played with him. He is one of the greatest pitchers I have every played with.”
The Bisons won last weekend’s series against Kennesaw State 2-1. Lipscomb ranks sixth in the A-Sun with a conference record of 4-5, 12-22 overall. The Eagles enter the series atop the league with a conference record of 12-3, 21-10 overall.
Smith said the Bisons defense will have a tall task of slowing down the Eagles offense.
“They are hitting .350 as a team,” Smith said. “They are a great hitting team and just a great overall team. I’m definitely going to have to bring my best stuff and just mix it up a lot in order to give us a chance to win.”
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