In McClelland's win, a 7-5 win over San Francisco State, another Don pitcher, George Kanto picked up the save in the late innings. "I would love to use George as our Goose Gossage type of guy out of the bullpen every game, but I have to use him as a starter right now until Early (Mitch) pitches himself into shape," Bowman states. He feels that Early, who transferred from Laney College, thus missing the Dons pre-season workouts, will be an asset to the team once he gets into the necessary shape. "Mitch is the guy that I am looking to start so I can let Kanto be our main guy out of the bullpen," Bowman says.
Bowman believes his Dons are better than last year's record indicates. "Last year, we had to be the toughest 15-46 team around," the fifth year coach states. "We had one of the best hitting teams ever at USF. It was our pitching and defense that killed us. If we can improve on those two aspects, 1985 will be a great year." With ten less games on the Dons 1985 schedule, Bowman thinks his pitching staff will be less pressured and much stronger towards the end of the season. "We have ten pitchers on the staff who will all contribute this season," Bowman says. "I'm counting on Pat McClelland and George Kanto to be the mainstays of the staff, but we are also going to get considerable help from two experienced sophomores, Mike Supple and Paul Bartke, and Mitch Early, a transfer from Laney College." Bowman also plans to break up the mound time this season. "I'm only counting on our starters to give us five good innings, and then I can use our bullpen. This will take the pressure off the starters and it should make them pitchers," he says (TheFoghorn).
