After waiting two days to learn the fate of their season, the Biola baseball team received word that they had obtained an at-large bid to the opening round of the NAIA National Championship Tournament, sending them to Daytona Beach, Fla. where they face Auburn University Montgomery Thursday, May 10th.
Following last Thursday’s loss to Azusa Pacific University, it remained unclear whether the team would get a bid from the NAIA, but head coach John Verhoeven’s confidence did not waver.
“I thought all along we’d get a bid,” Verhoeven said. “The national champion was Concordia [University] last year and they finished fourth place in the conference so I thought the number three seed from our conference would get a bid.”
Final record led to uncertain playoff future
Biola finished third in the Golden State Athletic Conference behind Concordia and Azusa Pacific, and after a 1-2 record in the conference tournament, some players weren’t as certain their season would continue.
“With our record being so low I figured we had to win or finish second in the GSAC tournament,” senior catcher Mike Lopez said. “So after we were eliminated, I was scared our season was over.”
“It was a stressful Sunday just sitting around waiting and praying for one more week of baseball. I was on the computer refreshing the page every couple of seconds just waiting for the qualifiers to be announced,” he said.
Turner gets nod for first game
Verhoeven will go with junior right-hander Nick Turner today, who has been the cornerstone of the pitching staff as of late. His last four starts have produced three wins, including an eight-inning, eight-strikeout performance last Wednesday against Westmont College to give the Eagles their only GSAC tournament victory.
Turner has a 3-1 record with a 2.37 ERA in his last four outings, averaging just less than a strikeout per inning over that span.
“He's a great pitcher who makes my job easier behind the plate calling the game,” Lopez said. “He hits his spots well and uses his offspeed [pitches] to help set up his fastball.
“The team is very confident in him,” he said.
Verhoeven couldn’t overstate the importance of pitching and defense heading into Thursday’s opening round matchup with Auburn, especially with the coin-flip possibility of facing senior right-hander Cody Hall.
“They’ve got one pitcher who looks to be lights out,” Verhoeven said of Hall, whose gaudy numbers in the Southern States Athletic Conference earned him All-Conference honors.
He finished the regular season with an 8-2 record, striking out 111 batters in 97 innings with a
1.30 ERA. Opposing players hit just .183 off Hall in 2012.
The Warhawks could opt to save Hall for a later game — likely a matchup with site host Embry-Riddle University — in which case they would likely throw senior southpaw Michael Carden against Biola.
“These are good clubs, and we’re used to good clubs. We feel like our whole conference is pretty darn good,” Verhoeven said. “If we pitch and play defense, we have a great chance to win.”
GSAC has strong history in NAIA playoffs
The GSAC has proved to be one of the elite baseball conferences in the NAIA, sending four teams to the national championship last year with Concordia being crowned champion in June. Both Concordia and Azusa Pacific will join Biola this year. In addition, nine GSAC players were selected in last year’s MLB draft, the most of any NAIA conference.
This trip will mark some of the final collegiate baseball games for the seniors, but their veteran leadership guides the younger players and echoes the philosophy of the coaching staff.
“They’ve been telling us to just play our game and to play like we’ve been playing our whole lives,” freshman outfielder Paul Slater said. “It’s the same game, we’re just going to go play it in Florida.”
“Words can’t describe how excited I am,” Turner said. “God has blessed this team beyond belief.”
