Tribune/Steve Hanks
Spring Arbor’s bench greets Jim Baker after his two-run homer in the seventh broke a 6-6 tie.
LATE-INNING HOMER GIVES CLUB FROM MICHIGAN ENOUGH
MO TO NOTCH RAUCOUS 11-10 WIN OVER AZUSA PACIFIC
By MATT BREACH
OF THE TRIBUNE
Jim Baker has endured his share of struggles. But never this extreme, and certainly not with so much at stake.
That’s why Monday’s late-inning home run was such a relief. But the slump-busting bomb was also well timed, giving a much-needed jolt to a club that was beginning to unravel.
Spring Arbor converted the boost of momentum into an 11-10 win over Azusa Pacific in Game 9 of the NAIA World Series. The elimination contest was played at Harris Field in front of 960 fans.
“When Jim Baker hit the home run,” Spring Arbor coach Sam Riggleman said, “I think that really got us back to understanding that we can get this done.”
The Cougars from Michigan squandered an early 5-0 lead and found themselves knotted in a 6-all tie with Azusa Pacific as Baker stepped to the plate in the seventh. The senior, a transfer from Creighton who led the NAIA with a .528 batting average this season, was just 1-for-9 in the Series prior to that at-bat. But he ripped a two-out, two-run homer to left-center field on a 1-0 count.
“I haven’t been through a stretch like that,” Baker said of his personal lull. “I don’t want to look like I’m choking for my team, so it’s nice to get a couple hits when we need it.”
Baker added a single to finish 2-for-4. He also scored a pair of runs, with one coming in a wild ninth inning.
Spring Arbor (39-8) took an 11-7 lead on RBI hits by Eric Vojtkofsky and Jonathan Herbig, only to see Azusa Pacific roar back in the home half of the frame. The California Cougars roughed up Spring Arbor closer Joseph Myers for three runs and managed to place the tying run on first.
Even though Myers labored, Riggleman stuck with the right-hander. And he struck out Carlos Maddox, APU’s No. 9 hitter, to end the game.
“You’ve got a fifth-year senior who is pretty special,” Riggleman said. “And at that point, if we’re going to go down we’re going down with him.
“But we still felt like with where we were in their order, his slider could beat them,” Riggleman added. “Sometimes you make decisions with your guts, and that was one of them.”
Myers (3-0) earned the win, striking out four and scattering six hits over 4 innings of relief.
“We knew he’d shut the door when we needed him to,” Baker said. “It’s big for him to come out and do that for us.”
Despite racking up 18 hits, Azusa Pacific ends its season with a 46-12 record. It’s the second year in a row the school has finished 1-2 at the Series.
APU may still be alive were it not for a rocky first inning, in which starter Matt Stone surrendered five runs on three hits and a pair of walks. Two passed balls and a wild pitch also contributed to the mess.
Stone was replaced in the second by Garrett Hodges, who pitched effectively until the seventh. Ironically, a debate on whether to start Hodges or Stone was waged by the APU coaching staff prior to the game.
Nevertheless, Azusa Pacific crept back into the game via the long ball. Chris Feicht and Drew Evans hit two-run homers in the second and fourth innings, respectively.
APU, which also got a solo home run from Kirk Nieuwenhuis, tied the game in the fifth on Spring Arbor’s eighth error of the Series, which is the most of any club in the field.
Spring Arbor, though, regained the lead for good two innings later when Baker busted out of his slump.
“It just reassures us that we belong here,” Baker said of the win, “and that we can play with anybody.”
