By Rick Teverbaugh
May 04, 2008 12:28 am
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ANDERSON — Right now is not a good time to get Anderson University catcher Brad Lantz to talk about himself.
The Ravens are in a stretch drive to grab a spot in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament. They needed three wins this weekend against Bluffton and then for Rose-Hulman to defeat Transylvania at least two of three games to get in.
“We’ve got our backs against the ball,” said Lantz. “We’ve got to go out and produce, get big hits and play good ball.”
Anderson did just that in the opening game of a Saturday home doubleheader against the Beavers, winning 13-0 behind the four-hit pitching of Pendleton Heights graduate Brad Schnepp.
Doing “whatever it takes” to help a team win is a term almost threadbare in its overuse. But in Saturday’s opener, Lantz turned the words into action.
In the opening inning, Lantz allowed himself to be plunked by an inside breaking ball from Bluffton starter Timothy Kay. But the umpire refused to let him take first base.
“He said I leaned into it,” said Lantz. “I don’t know why he didn’t let me take my base.”
Lantz worked Kay for a walk and scored in a three-run first inning.
Lantz was undaunted. As the second hitter in what would be a seven-run third inning, he was again hit by a Kay breaking pitch. This time he made it convincing enough to get first.
“It wasn’t a fastball,” laughed Lantz, who leads the team in being by a pitch with 10. “Those aren’t going to hurt too much when they hit.”
Twice in the opening innings, Lantz showed some surprising speed on the bases. He went from first to third on a single by Daniel Hiatt and scored from second on another Hiatt single to right field.
“Yeah, I got a chance to run a little bit,” said Lantz. “They get on me on a team about being a catcher and being slow.” Apparently the AU coaches are in agreement, as he hasn’t attempted a stolen base yet this season.
His real value to the team is three-fold. He can hit. He plays his position well and his is durable, having started all 36 of AU’s games.
“It is difficult to take him out of the lineup,” said AU coach Don Brandon “He’s a strong leader as a junior. You want that out of a catcher. When he goes on the field, he’s in charge. He handles the pitching staff really well.” Lantz has just four errors and 11 passed balls on the season.
His hitting has been as good as anyone on the team. He took a .345 batting average into Saturday’s games with seven doubles, two triples and six home runs. He’s driven home 31 runs and scored 33 himself.
“He’s gotten bigger and better each season,” said Brandon. “He’s stepped up every year to a different level. We talk a lot about a positive approach at the plate and he has that.”
In his first year, Lantz played just 14 games and hit .226. Last year, he hit .342 with 22 RBIs, but he still hadn’t hit his first round-tripper.
“This has been a better year,” said Lantz. “I worked hard to get ready. I wanted to play well to help the team win.”
Yet again, the conversation drifted away from him and to the rest of the team.
“We have a lot of guys on this team who can hit,” said Lantz. “I think we’ve already tied the school record for most triples as a team (32).”
True to his sentiments, in Saturday’s opening game, the team had no triples but collected 15 hits, three of them home runs. Anderson High School graduate Stephen Jones had one, Hagerstown’s Chris Jarrett had another and Schnepp helped his own cause by going yard against a stiff wind to cap the scoring.
The big early lead caused the players to relax and enjoy the game.
At one point, when Bluffton changed pitchers, several players got out folding chairs in front of the dugout, sat in them and watched the warmups. Another time, about eight of them collected as a group and mimicked the third-base coach’s hand signals and all did it in unison.
“That’s something we picked up during the year,” said Lantz. “We like to have fun. If it keeps the guys on the bench paying attention to what’s going on then that’s good.”
The Ravens completed a sweep of Bluffton on Saturday with a 6-3 come-from-behind victory.
At Transylvania, Rose-Hulman won the opening game of that twinbill 16-2, but lost the nightcap 4-3. AU needs the Engineers to win today’s game at Terre Haute for a Raven win today to be meaningful.
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