By Jim Browitt
For all the success that envelops Warrior baseball, all the distinctions that outline its storied tradition, there have been instances of stunning disappointment. The higher the aspirations, the greater the risk of letdown.
In that sense, it has been an angst-ridden spring at Lewis-Clark State.
From the earliest workouts, expectations bordering on unrealistic surrounded this group. It was a potentially special team, even by L-C standards.
But what sounded like hyperbole in January is reality now. Riding record-setting momentum generated by Beau Mills, the Warriors capped an extraordinary season, quite possibly the finest in program history, with their 15th national championship, won Thursday evening in the finale of the 2007 NAIA World Series.
Behind Mills’ three home runs and eight RBI, L-C buffeted Spring Arbor 9-2 before a crowd of 5,435, the second largest to congregate at Harris Field in the Series’ 16 years at the Normal Hill ballpark.
Mike Miller provided eight sturdy innings on the mound, and the Warriors played flawless defense, one night after they endured a four-error adventure.
“One of our better all-around games of the year,” said L-C coach Ed Cheff, whose team finishes 58-5, the best mark percentagewise in his 31 years with the Warriors. “Everyone stepped up and did what they needed to this week.
“But it really was the Beau Mills show tonight.”
The junior third baseman, who will almost certainly be among the first names called in next week’s major league draft, smashed a line-drive three-run homer in the first inning, a grand slam in the fourth and a solo shot to open off the sixth. Each drive outdistanced the previous one, with the sixth-inning homer landing on the roof of the L-C Tennis Center, a high-walled facility located beyond the right-field fence.
The left-handed slugger finishes his one-year Warrior career with 38 home runs, an NAIA record two better than the previous mark, established by Mike Meggers in 1992.
“I was trying not to think about it,” Mills said of the breaking the record. I was a little anxious at the plate. So I just settled down and tried to absorb what was going on.”
Mills, who ended the season with 123 RBI, was named the Series MVP. Earlier in the day has was announced as the NAIA Player of the Year, becoming just the second Warrior to win that award (see accompanying story).
“Beau had just a phenomenal season,” Cheff said. “He’s got to be the best college hitter in America.”
Miller (6-0) stormed through the first seven innings, encountering almost not trouble after a lineout-throwout double play ended the first.
SPRING ARBOR LEWIS-CLARK ST.
ab r h bi a r h bi
Schaible cf 4 1 3 0 Thompsn ss 2 2 2 1
Bachman 2b 4 0 1 2 Wyatt cf 5 2 2 0
Baker ss 4 0 0 0 Mills 3b 4 3 3 8
Vojtkofsky c 4 0 1 0 Lester 1b 3 0 2 0
Marken cr 0 0 0 0 Mier c 4 0 0 0
Hollister 3b 4 0 1 0 Ecker cr 0 0 0 0
Tebeau 1b 4 0 1 0 Martin lf 4 0 1 0
Herbig lf 4 0 0 0 Wholey lf 1 0 0 0
Rider dh 3 1 1 0 Greene dh 4 1 1 0
Coulter rf 3 0 0 0 Georgius dh 1 0 0 0
Evanglho 2b 4 1 4 0
Roehl rf 4 0 0 0
Totals 34 2 8 2 Totals 36 9 15 9
Spring Arbor 000 000 020-2 8 0
Lewis-Clark State 300 411 00x-9 15 0
Spring Arbor ip h r er bb so
O’Donnell (L, 6-1) 4 10 7 7 1 1
Goike 2 4 2 2 1 1
Paulun 2 1 0 0 3 1
Lewis-Clark ip h r er bb so
Miller (W, 6-0) 8 7 2 2 0 6
Parker 1 1 0 0 0 2
