Holmes handles more than ‘Rafiki’ for streaking Chants

To anyone observing the Coastal Carolina baseball team through this unforgettable postseason run, it would seem clear that sophomore relief pitcher Bobby Holmes is the comic relief, the class clown so to speak of this group.

He’s the guy holding up Rafiki the rally monkey behind coach Gary Gilmore during in-game television interviews. For that matter, he’s the one who has lugged the stuffed animal and all its inexplicable powers around each day while making the good-luck charm a fan favorite.

That personality then translates seamlessly to the mound, where Holmes’ looseness becomes his poise as he has continually worked the Chanticleers out of threatening jams while throwing what have to be regarded as some of the biggest innings in program history at this point.

That persona wasn’t quite there when this season began, though, he admits. No, after a breakout freshman season last year, Holmes has had to rebuild himself into the big-game reliever the Chants have counted on throughout this program-transforming run to the College World Series.

“I guess you see me recently, I have a lot of fun at the ball field. I wasn’t having that kind of fun earlier in the year,” he said Thursday night. “It was all in my head, seriously. But I’m having a blast out here. I’m having fun again. I can’t speak enough of the guys sticking with me and allowing me to still do what I do.”

The Chants (51-17) might not be here – one of four teams left standing with a shot at the national championship and a big rematch with TCU awaiting Friday night – if Holmes hasn’t continued to do what he does this postseason.

His 4.25 earned-run average for the season belies the pitcher teams are facing now when he takes the mound, as they are quickly realizing.

Holmes’ resurgence started in mid May as he was moved back to the bullpen after mixed results over six starts in the middle of the season. Since May 13, he has allowed just four earned runs over 27 innings for a 1.33 ERA in that stretch.

He helped make this College World Series dream a reality for Coastal Carolina with two clutch relief outings in the NCAA super regionals at Louisiana State, earning the win in both games, and he allowed just one hit and one walk over 2 1/3 scoreless innings Thursday night to earn his fourth save as the Chants fended off elimination with a 7-5 win over Texas Tech.

“He and [pitching coach Drew] Thomas made some mechanical adjustments and the more we put him out there, the more confident he gets and the better he performs. So I couldn’t be happier for him,” Gilmore said. “He was one of those missing links in the beginning of the year that we expected [more from]. I think being a freshman All-American and this and that, he put way too much pressure on himself early in the year. And some of it was mechanical, but the other part was mental as well, thinking he had to pitch like a superstar everyday.”

That was precisely the problem, Holmes said.

“I never really lost confidence in myself. I had a big talk with Coach T about halfway through the season after I got put back in the bullpen to kind of get some things off my chest,” he said. “I felt a lot of pressure at the beginning of the year after the freshman All-American [recognition] and all that stuff. It’s something I had never had to handle. I was never good before I got to college. So being able to talk through all that with Coach T was a really big relief and I think since then I’ve started pitching well.

“When you have one good outing it’s kind of the domino effect. I started pitching well and then you get the confidence from your teammates, coaches, staff, and just, I want the ball. That’s all, I want the ball. That’s how I was all year last year, and that’s how I am now. I want the ball.”

He certainly once again resembles the pitcher who posted a 2.90 ERA over 62 innings as a rookie last season – if not better.

Especially this postseason.

Holmes allowed only one hit over 3 2/3 scoreless innings to close out a Big South semifinals game with Longwood and then threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings with five strikeouts and just one hit allowed to earn another save in the Chants’ NCAA regional opener with St. Mary’s.

He then gave up two unearned runs over 2 1/3 innings in the regional-clinching win over NC State before really turning it up in the following rounds.

In the first super regional game in Baton Rouge, La., he came on in the fifth inning, inheriting runners on second and third with one out. Coastal Carolina was trailing LSU, 4-2, at that point, but Holmes prevented any more runs from scoring that inning and the Chants scored four in the top of the sixth to take control of the game.

He ended up giving up a run in the seventh before passing the ball to senior closer Mike Morrison, but he had done his job and would earn the win – as he also would the next night.

In the second game with LSU, Holmes came in during the eighth inning with two runners on and one out, and he eventually stranded the bases loaded to protect a one-run lead at the time. In the ninth after two errors allowed the tying run to score, he stranded the bases loaded again with a 3-2 strikeout and a harmless fly out to position the Chants for a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the inning.

And on Thursday night he entered in the seventh with the potential tying runs on first and second and two outs before striking out pinch-hitter Ryan Long and closing the game out from there.

So when the story of this last month is told over future years, Holmes will no doubt be central to the narrative of the greatest season in program history.

That’s not something he’s totally considered yet, he said.

“It means the world to me. It’s not something I’ve necessarily thought about a lot, but when you stop and think back about it you’re kind of engraved in Coastal history and that’s an absolute honor, especially with the history this program already has,” he said. “To know that your name’s going to be up there with the top of the list with this group of guys, it’s unbelievable.”

This story was originally published June 24, 2016 at 7:11 AM with the headline "Holmes handles more than ‘Rafiki’ for streaking Chants."