The Observer, April 6, 2007
Volume XXXIX, Issue 23
Spartans win slugfest against Baldwin-Wallace
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Overcoming adversity takes confidence and perseverance. After winning three of four games against Myers University last week, the Case baseball team was faced with five runs worth of adversity in the middle of the third inning on Tuesday afternoon against Baldwin-Wallace College.
But something clicked during the bottom of the fourth and suddenly the Spartans posted a six-spot on the scoreboard. According to coach Matt Englander, it wasn't because of anything he said.
"I wish I could say there was, but there was no cute speech," Englander said. "We had to be mentally tough and we fought back. We had a real good approach at the plate and put some hits together. I was pleased to see that we were able to not let an early deficit beat us. You never want to be in that position, but in college baseball, you're going to usually need at least five runs to win."
Collecting the win despite allowing nine runs (six earned), senior J.R. Doolos fought through a rough beginning of the game to settle down into a groove.
"When I started out, I couldn't get a first pitch strike to save my life," Doolos said. "Then I tried to throw more off speed stuff in there but that didn't work either. So finally I began just concentrating more on spotting my pitches and relied mainly on my fastball from there on out. It was hard at first because I really haven't been hit that hard so far this season, but as a pitcher facing that deficit, I had to just stay focused and trust in my defense to get outs."
Doolos appreciated Englander leaving him in the game despite being hit hard early.
"The fact that Coach Englander kept me in the game showed me that he really trusts me," Doolos said. "He could have pulled me, but he saw a spark and trusted we could come back."
And come back is what the Spartans did, starting with a six-run fourth inning to take the lead, and never looking back on the way to a 13-11 victory.
"I led off that [fourth] inning, and the wind was helping us," Doolos said. "Ben [Faber] and I hit home runs, and both Jamal [Mahmud] and Marshall [Hampton] had run scoring hits. We just began to see the ball well and waited for our pitches. We were patient and got some walks and made them make the mistakes."
Doolos said that the scoring outburst was a total team effort.
"No one felt like they had to be the hero when they went to the plate, and we just chipped away with hit after hit," he said. "I think this is the first Case game I have played in where we have scored six runs in one inning."
But when asked about the significance of the come-from-behind victory, coach Englander explained that it was just another win.
"It is just one of eight," he said. "We try not to get too high after a win or too low after a loss. And that is not to say we're not emotional, but it wasn't like this was Game Seven of the World Series. And that's the great thing about baseball; we play again the next day. We can't just put our hats on the field and expect to be given the win. We have a double header tomorrow, and then we're playing at Jacobs Field April 17. We are going to practice and try hard to win those games, too."
