The coaches mystify me at times also. On just the one point of throwing 87-89 at a showcase, that doesn't mean that a pitcher throws 87-89. It means he's capable of throwing 87-89. I realize I'm stretching a bit here but the coach may have looked at him and said to himself, here's a kid who's topping out at 87-89 who'll work at 85-86 facing aluminum bats in college throwing several innings, although if he really was throwing that hard for 7 innings I'd have to believe that was pretty darn close to his working velocity.
Mine threw 85-87 consistently at one college camp with most of the pitches at 86-87. Generally speaking if he works 84-85 in a game we feel he's got some zip on the ball that day.