Point Loma Nazarene University’s baseball team swept its way through the NCAA Tournament’s West Regional and into the Super-Regional. They outscored their opponents 24-9, but that was not the most impressive part of the weekend.
Snapping a metal bat in half was.
In Friday’s game against Cal Poly-Pomona, starting pitcher Austyn Coleman was throwing a gem. He allowed two runs in 6.0 innings of work but really stood out for one particular pitch. In the 5th inning he chucked a fastball in on Broncos catcher Johnny Pappas, who had homered earlier in the game.
This was probably the best revenge Coleman could have possibly gotten. Pappas swung at the heater snapped his metal bat clean in half at the handle, sending the barrel hurtling towards the middle of the diamond (in fact, the bat fragment traveled farther than the baseball did). The consensus around the stadium was people have seen metal bats crack, dent, even split down the middle.
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But breaking into two pieces? That was a new one for pretty much everyone, the pitcher in cluded.
“That was pretty crazy. Just a fastball in and then seeing where the ball was going, but then seeing this orange barrel fly at me threw me off a little bit,” says Coleman. “I don’t really know where the bat landed. You’re expecting a ball then you have this orange barrel flying at you. That was probably the first time I’ve seen that happen.”
The Sea Lions host Cal State-Monterey Bay in a best-of-3 Super-Regional series this Friday and Saturday. The winner of that showdown earns a spot in the College World Series. Coleman will be back on the mound, likely for Game 2. The Otters might want to slide a few extra bats into the overhead compartment. Just to be safe.
