Baseball players Daniel Martin and Jordan Brower pack a powerful 3-4 punch in the Cougars’ lineup this season. They have put up almost permanent residence in the third and fourth spots in the lineup, which has provided explosive results.
The statistics show their success. Brower, a senior first baseman, leads the team in batting average at .402. He has 53 hits this season, only striking out 18 times in 132 at-bats.
Brower, who hits in the cleanup spot, said he likes to hit in hitter’s counts like 2-0, 3-1 and 1-0.
“Most of the time we’ll get fastballs, because our lineup is so deep,” he said. “Say they walk Dan, [then] they face me, and if they walk me, they face like six other batters who can do the same thing as us. We have a depth that they have to pitch to us. If they walk us, they have to face like Adrian Tovalin or Ryan Santana or Pablo [O’Connor], who can all produce crazy numbers. It’s definitely nice to have people behind us who are also run producers.”
Because of the strength of the overall lineup, Brower and Martin are getting more at-bats than if they were on a team with a weaker order. More people getting on base allows for more at-bats, which brings more hit and RBI opportunities.
“Both of them have been terrific teammates,” head coach Paul Svagdis said. “One of the things I think all of the guys on the team do is have real joy when their teammates perform well. That’s a very selfless attitude to have. I think Danny and Jordan have exhibited that with their teammates in a number of ways this year.”
With Martin in the third spot and Brower in the fourth spot, Svagdis said they have an advantage over other teams.
“One of the really nice things about the two of them is those guys make each other better in the lineup,” Svagdis said. “Because Danny is hitting in front of Jordan, it makes each one of them protect each other in the lineup offensively. … That puts pressure on opposing teams to decide what guy they want to pitch to in that moment.”
Brower is second on the team in slugging percentage (.636), second in on-base percentage (.452), third in runs scored (28), first in hits (53), second in runs batted in (37), first in doubles (17), tied for second in home runs (4) and first in total bases (84).
Martin, a junior second baseman, is second on the team in batting average at .388. Martin also leads in slugging percentage (.716), on-base percentage (.490), runs scored (37), runs batted in (42), home runs (10) and is second in total bases (83).
He said his strategy is to swing early — his favorite count is 0-0. Since there are usually runners on base, his goal is to bring them home.
“It’s a pretty good spot because I know that if I don’t get the job done, then [Brower’s] going to come in and get the job done,” Martin said.
Brower and Martin’s contributions have played a significant part in the team’s 24-8 record. As of March 30, Azusa Pacific led the PacWest conference in team batting average with .324. Brower is third in the league in batting average, while Martin is fifth on the list. Martin leads the league in slugging percentage, runs scored, runs batted in, home runs and bases for being hit by pitches. Brower leads the league in hits and doubles.
In the first game of the season, Martin provided the tying and go-ahead runs in a 6-2 victory over Cal State San Bernadino.
The team next played a doubleheader against Cal State Monterey Bay in which Martin went 1-for-3 and 2-for-4 in the games, respectively. The next day, APU played another doubleheader. In the first game, Martin went 4-for-4 with two home runs, seven RBIs and scored three runs. In the second game, he hit the game-winning two-run homer. These performances earned him the PacWest Player of the Week.
Brower earned the next Player of the Week honor in the third week of the season after many hits in a three-game series against Montana State-Billings. He went 4-for-7 with five RBIs as APU won 25-7 in the first game. In the second game, which the Cougars won 16-13, he went 8-for-17 with nine RBIs and four doubles.
“It’s definitely nice to have, to know that you were the best hitter that week, or the best hitter in the nation that week,” Brower said. “But we couldn’t do that without our teammates. The only reason we’re hitting 3-4 and driving in runs is because the people ahead of us got on base. And we have 1-2 hitters who are on base all the time.”
Brower earned Player of the Week honors again March 8 after hitting .688 in a four-game series against Point Loma. He went 11-for-16 with six doubles and six RBIs during the set. On March 11, Brower was named the NCAA Division II National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association National Hitter of the Week because of his performance against Point Loma.
Martin said he’s almost always hit in the third spot or leadoff.
“Leadoff, you try to get on base in whatever way possible, try to draw a lot of walks. Whereas, where I am at third, I can strike out much more and my coach won’t get as mad because I can actually take swings,” Martin said. “That’s the only difference, is that you get to swing a little bit more and be more free.”
Brower said he’s been working with coaches to be more patient at the plate.
“In the beginning of the year and a lot last year, I was very impatient, and I would swing at pitcher’s pitches that I couldn’t do much with,” Brower said. “But this year I’ve seen a lot more pitches that I’ve been able to do more with.”
With just over a month of regular-season games left, the men are looking forward to making a playoff run.
“A team goal is definitely to win the PacWest,” Brower said. “If we’re playing good baseball like we’re capable of as a team, then the sky’s the limit for the playoffs.”
As he finishes his last year of college baseball, Brower wants to pick up his home run numbers and be on the top list for RBIs and batting average within conference.
“I don’t think we quite know what we’re capable of yet, but I’ve never played on a team as deep or as stacked as we are,” Martin said.
For these two players, winning always trumps anything — but sometimes a little friendly competition might edge in.
“I’ll joke about the RBIs sometimes,” Brower said. “He’ll go up to bat, and there’s runners on second and third, and I’ll tell him, ‘Save me some RBIs.’ As long as we win, that’s all that really matters. He can go 4-for-4 one day with all the RBIs and I’ll go 0-for-4, and I’ll be completely happy if we get the win.”
Martin agrees.
“We’ll always end up picking each other up,” Martin said. “As long as we’re staying on the top, which we will, it doesn’t matter the order, it doesn’t matter who’s in first.”