By James Davis
Going into Game 3 of the BYU baseball team”s weekend Blue and White World Series, the White team must have known how good its hitters were. The Grey team, however, never quite knew what hit them.
Hoping to get a picture of how their team looked, BYU head coach Vance Law and his coaching staff gave managerial duties to two seniors and then sat back in the stands to watch the three-game intra-club World Series.
Senior hurler Jesse Craig made the calls for the Grey team, while across the field in the other dugout, senior slugger Apana Nakayama was giving the signs for the White side.
In the end, the series played out in dramatic fashion. After winning a close Game 1, the Grey team looked poised to sweep when it lead 7-3 late in Game 2. But the White sluggers had a comeback in the works as they pounded out seven runs late in the game. In Monday”s rubber-match, the White team crushedtheir competition 12-4.
“[It”s] a chance to put them in a competitive situation,” coach Law said. “It”s really a learning experience for some of these guys.”
He said putting his players in game-time situations helps to pound out some of the mistakes young players make. For the most part, however, he was pleased with what he saw. He said the pitching on both sides was great and some of the hitters even surprised him.
“For me it was just a good experience to see kind of more of what Law goes through,” Craig said.
Through watching his team lose the series, Craig said came to understand a little better where his coaches are coming from after a loss in a real game.
Things were different for opposing player and manager Nakayama who saw his team come up with timely hit after timely hit.
“I think the key was we executed when runners were in scoring position,” he said. “We had guys that picked up each other and did their jobs, moved the guy over, brought the guy in.”
In the deciding game of the series, the White team came out scoring early and often as they took a commanding 7-2 lead into the bottom of the fifth. The team didn”t give up the lead as it coasted to the 12-4 win.
Both teams saw glimpses of brilliant pitching and flashes of fancy leatherwork but the real highlight was the hitting. In the bottom of the eighth with his team already leading 9-4, recent transfer and first baseman Mike McKeever connected on a solo home run to left for the White team.
“McKeever swung it really well,” Nakayama said. “That”s what I expect out of him because he”s a good hitter, he”s got good power.”
