The Baker University baseball team ended its season Tuesday on a high note after winning its last five of six games of the 2009 campaign.
This extra end-of-the-season effort put the ‘Cats in the best possible situation to enter the Heart of America Athletic Conference playoffs, however, in a tiebreaking situation BU fell short by default from a lower winning percentage, head coach Phil Hannon said.
“The guys set a mini goal,” Hannon said. “They knew we weren’t out of the HAAC race just yet and made a conscious effort to play with extra energy and play good baseball.”
With the exception of just falling short in the playoff race, the season ended on a high note for Baker. The team was able to impress the Sauder Field crowd in a doubleheader sweep over rival Avila University to wrap up five wins in the following six contests.
“We wanted to be in the playoffs,” sophomore Josh Reed said. “We were playing for our seniors who have never been there before.”
BU tallied seven runs in the first three innings of game one, giving the Eagles no chance to catch up, especially with solid pitching from the Wildcat staff. Senior Andy Hannon led Baker with two hits and runs scored, followed by freshman Steven Stewart, who collected a pair of RBIs.
“We came out hitting well in the beginning, and we knew we had to win and got the job done,” Stewart said.
Junior Dustin Moomau was strong on the hill and in the box for the ‘Cats in game two, grabbing four strikeouts and holding the Eagles to just one earned run in four innings. Moomau also went three-for-three at the plate with an RBI. BU snagged a close 4-3 victory after leading the entire game. Zandy Woodruff-Hall also was perfect in the box, collecting three hits, and Andy Hannon added a pair again.
Coach Hannon said the game was exciting for the team to pull through in a close game, something that has not gone BU’s way other times in the season.
“I knew they had it in them,” he said. “They just needed it for themselves to close out a game like that.”
The Wildcats finished the season 21-28 overall and sat at 18-22 in the HAAC. Though the team will be losing a core of seniors in Andy Hannon, Vidal Nuno, Joe Kaup and student assistant Grant Lambert, the ‘Cats return several young and experienced players in 2010.
