NAU Club baseball sweeps series against ASU

in Sports by Staff — October 25, 2012 at 11:02 am | no comments

By Tyler Childers

The Northern Arizona University (NAU) Lumberjacks club baseball team started the season off with a bang, sweeping ASU in a three-game series at Flagstaff High School.

Oct. 20 featured a doubleheader against ASU’s A-team, with close scores to reflect the level of competition.

NAU’s Zack Odom took the mound in the first game of the double-header, leading his team to a close 4–3 victory. Odom threw 95 pitches in the game.

The second game was not as close. Kris Ashbee, who moved NAU to 2–0 on opening day, was throwing for the Jacks. The final score of game two was 16–6.

At one point during the game, when bases were loaded with the Jacks up to bat, ASU’s pitcher threw four consecutive wild pitches. This allowed three base runners to steal home and also advanced the batter to first. The offense was there for NAU, so giving up six runs did not hurt in the long run.

Oct. 21 was game three, where the Jacks faced off against ASU’s B-team. Chris Romero was on the mound for the Jacks and had a good outing. The Jacks won 19–7.

“We had a fantastic series,” said head coach Beau Milner. “It’s a huge deal for these guys.”

The Jacks offense was on-point all weekend and already surpassed the team’s home-run number from this past year.

During the 2011-12 season, the Jacks hit two home runs; on Saturday, they hit six. This is largely due to first baseman Tyler Brumit’s contribution; he hit three home runs over the weekend.

“We were smoking,” Odom said. “We tripled our (home run) total all of last year in two games.”

This is the second season the Lumberjacks have had a club baseball team, but the first year they have a coach. This past year, the students were in charge of coaching themselves, and felt like there was a shortage of structure. Beau Milner has stepped up to lead the Jacks this year and is off to a great start.

Milner was pleased with what he saw from the Jacks on opening weekend, but will be looking to improve before California State University-Fullerton comes to Flagstaff.