FAYETTEVILLE — Josh Alberius is Arkansas' longest tenured player.
The right-handed pitcher is the rare fifth-year senior in college baseball. He began his career with the Razorbacks in 2013 and has outlasted many on the roster, including a couple of assistant coaches.
"We did the math the other day," Alberius said. "I've been here longer than everyone except Coach (Dave) Van Horn, (trainer) Corey Wood, (strength coach) Mike Strouhal and (director of operations) Clay Goodwin."
With that experience comes maturity and some know-how. Alberius showed off both Thursday in the finale of the Razorbacks' fall series, a 21-4 win by the Gray team to sweep the best-of-five set. The scrimmage was called after eight innings due to time constraints.
On a blustery day at Baum Stadium, Alberius was kept in the dugout for long periods of time as his offense scored seemingly at will. The Gray scored 16 runs over the first four innings, capped by Luke Bonfield's grand slam to left field. Bonfield led all players with 7 RBI.
The Cardinal team committed six errors.
The offensive success created long delays for Alberius. He came out for the fifth inning 2 hours, 45 minutes after the scrimmage began.
Despite the delays, Alberius was steady. He finished the scrimmage allowing four runs on eight hits. He struck out six batters and walked two.
"The wind was pretty cold, so I went down in the tunnel and it was probably 30 degrees warmer," Alberius said. "I sat there with a towel around my arm and could only see the pitcher, so I actually had somebody come tell me when the inning was over. Then I went back out and got warmed up again."
The outing provided some insight to why Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn thinks Alberius could have an expanded role in 2017, both as a midweek starter and a long reliever.
"He's learned a lot of lessons from previous seasons and all those games are pretty important, even those midweek games where we gave up a lot of runs," Van Horn said. "We're going to try to shut that down some this year with some more experience. He might be a good candidate for that."
Alberius developed a cutter over the summer. He worked on the pitch with former MLB pitcher Dustin Moseley, who threw with Alberius in Little Rock.
Moseley learned the cutter from perhaps the greatest pitcher to ever throw the pitch - Yankees great Mariano Rivera. Moseley and Rivera were teammates in New York in 2010.
"It's the same grip and same throwing style," Alberius said. "I'm just working on throwing it harder with more velocity. My control is there, so I'm going to keep working on it in the offseason."
He threw 46 cutters in his 76-pitch outing Thursday. The cutter, which was clocked at 84 mph, induced several ground balls and balls hit off the end of the bat.
Alberius also had a four-seam fastball clocked at 90-91 mph and threw change-ups to left-handed batters.
"I thought he pitched extremely well," Van Horn said. "He pounded the zone and kept the ball down for the most part. It was a tough day to pitch with the wind howling out 20 to 25 mph to right field. He did a good job for us."
Alberius began his career as an infielder, but converted to the mound during Arkansas' College World Series season in 2015. He had a 3.90 ERA in 25 appearances last season, but like many pitchers, wore down by the end of the season.
He has gained 15 pounds since May and said he has benefitted from working out with new pitching coach Wes Johnson, who emphasizes lower-body strength to improve endurance.
"I can tell a difference in the way my arm is holding up," Alberius said. "I feel like I'm stronger this year. I feel like I'm more mature. I know this offseason I worked hard from the time we ended last season up until the point we came back to school.
"This fall has been way more competitive and I think that is going to better us. It's not easy - even for me having been here five years - to sit back and take it easy, and expect to have a spot. We've had 20-something pitchers here who want to take my spot, so it's been hard work every day just to pitch here."
Even though the series has ended, the Razorbacks will have one more fall practice Friday at 2:30 p.m. Van Horn said it will provide an opportunity for coaches to get one last look at some pitchers before the 35-man roster is set.
"We need some of the freshmen to come on," Van Horn said. "We feel like we've got some guys that can do it, but we need some of those younger guys to come on."
NOTES:
--Catcher Grant Koch continued an impressive fall with a solo home run in the fifth inning. Koch hit two home runs, a double and had 5 RBI in the three-game series.
--Van Horn said shortstop Jax Biggers suffered a pulled muscle in his lower body, which caused him to leave Thursday's scrimmage in the first inning. Biggers is expected to be the team's starter next season. "He's going to see the doctor to make sure nothing is severely wrong in there; I don't think it is. If we were in season, he'd be out for a while."
--Austin Catron, a designated hitter and outfielder, has left the team. Catron batted .261 in 27 games last season and finished the year with two home runs and 16 RBI.
--Blake Wiggins, an infielder and designated hitter, is doubtful to make the spring roster after suffering a wrist injury that required surgery during the fall. Wiggins was in his second stint with the Razorbacks after spending last season in junior college. He was the 2014 Arkansas high school player of the year.
--Arkansas will extend the protective netting behind home plate to the outer edge of both dugouts prior to next season. The netting currently ends at the inner edge of the dugouts, providing an unobstructed view for most sections at the ballpark.