Forget Mills’ huge stats: L-C rolls into this year’s Series hitting on all of its cylinders
By Jim Browitt
No one in his or her right baseball mind would ever suggest Lewis-Clark State is a one-dimensional team. There is too much talent, too much statistical balance to imply that the fate of any Warrior ballclub rests on the shoulders of a sole individual.
Even if he is Beau Mills.
Now Mills is an extraordinary talent. His numbers bear that out, as does his projected placement in the forthcoming major league draft. But there’s more to the 2007 version of Warrior baseball than the dynamic slugger who is widely expected to be a first-round pick.
That’s what makes this team so fearsome, perhaps more so than any squad Ed Cheff has fielded over the past decade, if not two.
“Beau’s had a great year, but a lot of that’s due to how the guys around him have played,” says Cheff, who has won 14 national championships in his 31 years at L-C.
And it’s not just how the batting-order individuals have performed. In addition to a healthy .335 average, L-C is a sound defensive team (.967 fielding percentage) and boasts a pitching staff with a 2.60 earned run average, easily the lowest among the NAIA World Series’ 10 competitors.
“There haven’t been many times when we’ve had go out just outscore someone,” Cheff says.
The season’s most notable exception surfaced last week in the West Coast Super Regional, a matchup pitting the top-ranked Warriors against No. 2 Azusa Pacific. L-C, which previously hadn’t allowed more than nine runs in a contest, surrendered 11, 16 and 11 to the Cougars, yet won the series two games to one.
“We learned something from that - we didn’t pitch particularly well, but we came through in other areas,” Cheff says.
That lapse nothwithstanding, the pitching has been impressive. The starting rotation, which features junior right-hander Chris Kissock and sophomore right-hander Matt Fitts, has ranged between solid and overpowering, while the bullpen - Brian Parker and Will Morgan, both junior right-handers, are the favored options - has provided steadfast relief.
Senior catcher Jessie Mier orchestrates a dependable defensive alignment that is especially strong up the middle.
And the offense, of course, centers on Mills, who leads the team in hitting (.463) and the nation in home runs (33) and RBI (112).
Again, though, he is by no means the only weapon. All but one of the Warriors’ regulars are hitting .320 or better.
“We’ve made it tough to avoid (Mills),” Cheff says. “Guys in front of him are getting on base, and the guys behind him are driving the ball. Nobody’s going to just (walk) him automatically.”
While the Warriors’ wins have come in the normal bunches, the losses have been particularly dispersed. They are guaranteed to match or better the school record for fewest defeats, since they at most can suffer only two more losses this season.
“We like the way we’re playing, but we’ve got to keep everyone involved,” Cheff says. “You don’t want things to come down to one pitch, or one swing.”
