Reusse: Baseball blesses us again, with a record involving Amos Alonzo Stagg and horsehide, not pigskin

ST. PETER, MINN. – There was a mention of the improbability that surrounds baseball in a report Thursday night from Mankato, where the slugging Minnesota State Mavericks suffered an opening loss in the four-team Division II bracket they are hosting at ISG Field.

The Mavericks were 49-6 and averaging 10.2 runs per game but were shut down for seven innings by Arkansas-Monticello’s Connor Irvine — a righthander with OK statistics — and suffered a 5-3 defeat. On Friday, the NCAA on-site decisionmaker chose to postpone due to rain and howling wind, putting off MSU’s battle for survival.

Fifteen minutes up the road, a four-team Division III bracket held by Gustavus Adolphus was dealing with the same weather forecast, but the on-site person sent in by the NCAA decided to give it a go.

And those of us who admire the strangeness of baseball will remain forever grateful for that strategy. We were privileged to see a record broken that had been held by coach Amos Alonzo Stagg for 129 years.

The game featured the University of Chicago against Wisconsin-Oshkosh, two-time national champion. The teams had played a game March 16 at a neutral site, and Chicago romped to an 11-2 victory.

On Friday morning, Chicago scored one in the first, and Oshkosh answered … with a 10-spot. By the end of the sixth, Oshkosh had 30 and a Chicago sports information person made the press box occupants aware of this:

The most runs ever surrendered by a University of Chicago baseball team came in a 31-5 loss to Yale on May 27, 1896. And Stagg was Chicago’s baseball coach, as well as its famed football coach.

Oshkosh scored four more in the seventh. Final: 34-8. And by gosh, there went Stagg from the record book.

The NCAA official remained resolute, and on went the second game, Gustavus vs. Beloit. And it had a familiar look for the Gusties.

Last Saturday, Isaac Becker hit a three-run home run to spark Gustavus’ potent hitting attack, then they faced a Bethel rally in the ninth, hanging on for an 11-9 victory and the MIAC playoff title.

On Friday, Becker hit a two-run homer early, the Gusties took a 7-4 lead into the ninth, and Beloit opened with two baserunners. Nervous time, again.

Gusties coach Brad Baker went with Mitch Casperson, a fifth-year senior who spent most of this season rehabbing from a “scapula displacement,” which sounds treacherous.

“Mitch was Augustana’s top recruit and transferred to us for his second year,” Baker said. “He basically rehabbed all season. He‘s a great kid from nearby … Le Sueur. I’m so happy for him."

The Gusties won 7-5 and now face UW-Oshkosh in the winner’s bracket at noon Saturday. Baker and brother Jeff, a volunteer assistant, would retreat to their rented house they term “the Villa,” a small, jam-packed place on a quiet street.

The Bakers were tremendous athletes — football quarterbacks, baseball stars — for St. Peter High School. Brad played both sports very well at Gustavus; Jeff went to Oral Roberts when it was building athletics and was a standout second baseman.

Both successful in the business world. And then, back in the mid-2010s, Brad told the Gustavus AD, Tom Brown, he had the urge to coach baseball. Good timing, since Mike Carroll — also coach of a dynastic women’s hockey program — was ready to cede double duty.

Brad was hired, he talked Jeff into assisting, and they also became primary investors in a real ballpark that now houses the Gusties. Jeff was coming in from Michigan frequently, Brad was making the drive from Edina, and they decided to rent the small house.

“Started off at $600 a month, then $800, and this year — when Jeff came back as an assistant — it was $1,000," Brad said. “I think that’s because they put in a fireplace.”

Brad pointed at the video screen on a wall that shows a cozy fire. The TV is serviced by antenna.

“We get four TV stations,” Brad said. “But not when it rains. Last night it was Judge Judy or nothing.”

Marty Davis, another St. Peter product, was a few years younger than the Baker brothers — their batboy in baseball, a young student manager in football.

“They were star athletes, but they were also the guys that always checked to make sure you had a ride home,” Davis said.

What do you sense got into Brad to want to come back and coach?

“I know he loves St. Peter, and he loves his college, but also their dad, Willard, was a great baseball man,” Davis said. “He died early in the 2000s, and I think Brad — and Jeff, too — know how proud Willard would be for them to be doing something great for baseball in their town."