Hokie Club
By Marc Mullen
BOX SCORE
It was quite an afternoon for Virginia Tech junior center fielder Brad Bauder.
Eighteen years ago today, Bauder put together a performance that has stood the test of time. And he still holds – or is tied for – the Hokies' single-game records for hits, runs, home runs, RBI and total bases.
The day was Sunday, April 21, 2002, and the Hokies were looking to complete a three-game BIG EAST series sweep at Georgetown. Bauder, who came into the contest batting .290, with six home runs and 29 RBI, was in a 3-for-22 slump, so then-head coach Chuck Hartman slid Bauder down to the No. 7 spot in the batting order for the third game against the Hoyas.
Bauder responded with a Virginia Tech record 8-for-8 effort, with seven runs scored, four home runs, 14 RBI and 23 total bases. He also hit for the cycle in Tech's 35-4 victory. If not for Florida State's Marshall McDougall's NCAA record-setting day on May 9, 1999 – six home runs, 16 RBI, 25 total bases – Bauder would have set a few NCAA records as well.
"I remember [McDougall]. That was my senior year in high school, and he was on SportsCenter," Bauder told Baseball America's John Manuel at the time. "That was amazing to watch. I had nothing like that in my mind.
"I hit three [home runs] in a game earlier this year against Western Michigan, but I didn't realize it until the third one. A couple of guys in the dugout kept telling me how I was doing, but I didn't want to know about it and pressure myself."
Bauder's afternoon against the Hoyas still ranks as the second-best day ever for a Division I baseball player. And 18 years later, what does Bauder remember about his effort at Georgetown? A lot, actually – and no one has come close to matching his totals over all this time.
"Looking back at this almost 20 years ago, I won't say that I didn't know what was going on because every baseball player would be lying to you if they said they didn't know what their stats were for a day," Bauder said. "It's such a statistical game. Overall, I don't think I even had a clue, but I do remember going up for my last at-bat and someone telling me, "Dude, you're 7-for-7, and if you hit a grand slam here, you'd do this.' So maybe I kind of knew it, but I don't think I believed it at the time.
"It's funny. I've got a couple of buddies that I hang out with quite a bit and every once and a while they'll bring it up. They weren't at Tech with me – just friends from around here. So it does come up a little, but I can honestly say that I don't think about it a lot unless it's brought to my attention. But when I do start to reflect back on it, sometimes I still can't believe the day we had as a team, completely, along with what I was able to do.
"I started following more college baseball probably right before Marshall McDougall had that day against Maryland for Florida State. I do think that, since the bats changed after I left, I do think that's helped me out, and no one will ever get close to those numbers anymore. My first year in college, they went through a bat change, too – they dropped down to a smaller barrel – but nothing like what they've experienced since."
After graduating from Tech in 2003, Bauder played minor league baseball for a couple of seasons before entering his current profession – the educational system. He has been working with Loudoun County Public Schools since 2005 and started out as physical education teacher, working for 11 years, while also coaching multiple sports – baseball, basketball and golf. He moved to Freedom High School in 2016 to be the school's assistant athletic director and has been the school's AD the past three years.
Bauder currently lives in Round Hill, Virginia (in Loudoun County) with his wife, Courtney of almost 10 years. They have an 8-year old daughter, Teagan, and twins, Tyler and Tatum, who are 5.
"I graduated with a teaching degree from Tech, and when I moved back home, I figured why not put it to use," the Ashburn, Virginia, native said. "I played in Loudoun County, so I did have a lot of support in getting a job, and I also coached. I started out at Freedom, where I am now, for one year and then moved over to Loudon Valley High School, where I coached for my first high school baseball coach, Wayne Todd, so I got to coach underneath him in his last season.
"From there. I went to Woodgrove High School and was their first head baseball coach, and I was there for four years. Then life happened, and I had a daughter, and then two years later had twins – a daughter and a son. It wasn't the smoothest first year – we had some medical issues that we dealt with, so I had to step away. I stayed involved in coaching, but I had to step away from head coaching. I didn't think I could do the job. I expect a lot from the kids, and I wasn't able to do the same for them, so family came first.
"I coached golf and basketball in those times as well. Then, I went the administrative route and got the assistant AD job at Freedom and did that for one year, and then kind of fell into the AD role. The athletic director left and the opportunity arose, and I never thought I'd be there already. It is what it is, and we're surviving. We work hard and try to do things the right way, just like I did when I was a player."
Back to that afternoon. In his first at-bat, Bauder tripled and scored the fifth run of a five-run top of the first that got the Hokies rolling in the game and notching, what many consider, the hardest hit to get in the quest for the cycle. He followed that up with a three-run home run in the second inning in his second at-bat, one that gave Tech a commanding 9-1 lead.
"The triple is the funny one because I can't say I was the hottest hitter going into the weekend," he said. "I did feel like I was hitting the ball well, but with baseball, you could hit well, but it doesn't mean there's not a guy standing right there to catch it. I remember Saturday. I didn't have a good statistical day and so I was moved back in the lineup a little bit, and to be honest, I wasn't too upset with that because I thought I'd see a couple more fastballs.
"So with the triple, I kind of hit a little blooper that went over the shortstop's head and into short left-center field and both the left fielder and center fielder came in on it, and I'm not sure if someone dove, or they both just looked at each other, but the ball hit and scooted all the way to the fence.
"I was like 'Oh my gosh, I got one to fall' and ran as fast as I could and ended up at third. It was a little bit of a reliever that I got that hit and maybe that would start me going. It definitely made me a little more relaxed at the plate to catch a break in the first."
Bauder blasted another three-run home run in the third, hit an RBI double and scored in the fourth and homered again in the fifth, a two-run shot that made it 24-1. In the sixth, Bauder completed the cycle with an RBI single.
"I remember the single – I just beat it out," Bauder said. "It was a hard ball down the line, and the third baseman dove and it took him into foul territory. I thought 'Oh, he got me.' And I just got down the line and beat the throw, and I kind of remember that being for the cycle.
"Another story from that day – I think it was after the home run in the third – I had a friend that I played up in Alaska with over the summer, and he was the first baseman for Georgetown. I remember passing him, and he's just like 'You've got to be kidding me.' And I probably looked at that one a little longer than maybe a hitter should, and one of my best friends who hit behind me that day, Spencer Harris, I think he saw the next one hit him."
In the eighth, Bauder singled to lead off the inning and would come to the plate again in the frame with two outs and the bases loaded, having already gone 7-for-7, with three homers and 10 RBI. He hit the 1-0 fastball over the center field wall, and with it, wrote his name into the record books.
"I remember someone joking with me before I went up to the plate (in the eighth), 'Go and hit another one,'" Bauder said. "And I thought maybe I should just go try and hit another one. I did have a lot of success hitting home runs later in my career at Tech, and then I hit some in pro ball, but I wouldn't consider myself a power hitter. But I thought, if I get a good pitch here and the way the ball was jumping off my bat, I had a chance – and sure enough it worked out."
Bauder did not get an at-bat in the seventh and would not come to the plate in the ninth either – the final Tech out was made by the No. 5 batter. That robbed him of a chance to match the NCAA record for hits in a game. Only one player in Division I baseball history has ever gone 9-for-9 in a game – Air Force's John McBroom versus Colorado College on May 10, 1967, while just two others have recorded eight hits in eight at-bats (Henry Rochelle, Campbell, March 30, 1985; and Cory Smith, New Mexico, May 3, 1997).
"On the way home that day from Georgetown, we stopped at George Mason to shower," Bauder said. "I remember getting on the bus, and our SID (sports information director) back then (Dave Smith) comes and tells me, 'You have phone calls you've got to take.' It was Baseball America, The Washington Post, USA Today, and I was told that I did get a blurb on SportsCenter that night, but I've never seen it to this day. And I know that Sports Illustrated picked it up, too, and my mom kept track of all that stuff. I could tell you I never did.
"Then, I remember the next game we played. It was against East Tennessee State at the minor league park in Johnson City, and I remember news cameras following me around during warmups. I was the last guy in our lineup that game to get a hit, so that's baseball."
Entering the 2020 season (according to the NCAA record book), seven players have posted perfect 7-for-7 games since Bauder's effort, but not one reached eight. Only McDougall and Rochelle (5) have hit more than four home runs in a game, and no Division I baseball player has totaled 20 bases or more or had more than 11 RBI in a single game either. So Bauder is still second all time in the NCAA in hits, total bases and RBI in a game, and tied for third in runs and home runs.
As Bauder pointed out at the time to Manuel, his effort overshadowed freshman catcher Wyatt Toregas' 7-for-9 game, with five runs scored. He told Manuel, "He kind of gets left out. I felt a little bad for him … but he'll get his during his career."
Toregas would get his, as he was one of four Hokies on that team who was later picked during the Major League Baseball draft (2004) and one of two to play in the Major Leagues. The other was starting pitcher Joe Saunders, who benefitted from all those runs, striking out seven in six innings of work, and he would be a first-round draft choice – 12th overall pick by the Angels – later that year.
The other drafted Hokies included Marc Tugwell (2003) and Chris Stanton (2005), while Harris, who holds six school records, and John West (three school records) were also on the team. No wonder that squad went on to win a share of the BIG EAST regular-season crown – Tech's last – but unfortunately did not make the NCAA postseason tournament after losing in the BIG EAST Championship.Bauder's step father, Bill Fleming, walked around the fence and collected every one of those home run balls
"Everybody was on fire in that game. We had Joe on the mound, who was my roommate for a couple of years at college," Bauder said. "Joe was unbelievable to play behind. I never had more fun watching someone pitch. And then to have the career that he had is incredible.
"We were a very close-knit group at school, and we had Jed English and Marc Tugwell and all those guys. Then Wyatt came in as a freshman, and we all know what Wyatt was able to do in his career with playing a little bit in the bigs. I played a lot of baseball and never saw a guy with quicker hands at the plate than Wyatt.
"We were a fun group. We went out and played and competed, and Chuck Hartman was always keeping us fired up, yelling at us when he needed to and sometimes when he didn't need to. It was a great four years! And now that I'm talking about it. I wish we would all get back together and just see how everyone's doing, but I know that we all went our separate ways."
During the game, Bauder's step father, Bill Fleming, walked around the fence and collected every one of those home run balls and built a frame for them with the scorecard. He currently has it hanging in his basement along with his framed jersey from Tech and will always have a reminder of that historic day.
EXTRA BASES
Here are a couple more excerpts from the interview with Brad BauderQ: How often to you get back to Tech?
BB: "It's been a couple years since I've been back. The timing just doesn't work out. I've been back to a couple of football games. I talk to a couple guys still. I do see one of my former coaches, Jon Hartness, all the time. He's also an athletic director (Roanoke County), and when we have our meetings and conferences, we always reach out to each other and talk. For baseball, I was down there in 2013 when the team hosted the regional, and I was down there shortly after as well because my team from Woodgrove played in the state semifinal game at Pulaski – Calfee Park – so I remember taking the team there and showing it off and all the bleachers were still up. There's no reason I haven't [been back] It's just springs are tough with what I do now and it's hard to get away. I always tell my wife, I'm going to take the kids down, but it's on the list."
Q: As an AD for a high school, how have you been coping with the current situation?
BB: "We've been trying to do some things to help recognize our senior spring athletes through social media. The other night, my assistant and I went up to the stadium and turned the lights on for 20 minutes and took pictures and sent out a social media blast just to honor our Class of 2020. We let the school glow for about 20 minutes like a normal spring night. And now, we have to figure out the plan for the fall and next year, and we still have to plan knowing that there is still a lot of unknowns and not to even mention the financial side of things. It's going to be an interesting year, to say the least. My wife is teacher, and I feel bad for her because coaching, teaching, it's all about the relationships and that's been taken away – even the teachers are struggling with it as much as the kids are. You just have to be mentally strong for not only the social aspect of it, but the physical aspect as well because, before you know it, you could be in your PJs for three days.
Q: What made you guys so successful that season, winning the Hokies' last conference title in baseball?
BB: "Well, switching up to the ACC has made that a little bit tougher (winning a league title). But when we came in as freshmen, that team was coming off a very successful season, with Larry Bowles, who was a leader and an All-American the year before. We had the arms, Jason Bush and Chip Runyan and those guys, and we had a lot of leadership on that team. I think that year, at one time, we were starting seven freshmen, depending on who was on the mound. We came in right away. We were really impactful and had a really good year in the A-10. I think we should have won a couple more ballgames throughout the year than we did, but we were playing more of the freshmen and mixing it up. Then we went up to Boyertown (in Pennsylvania) to play for the championship, and Joe, who became our No. 1 even as a freshman, came down with mono and actually tried to pitch through it. We still won some games, and before you knew it, we were in Southern California playing USC and Cal State Fullerton. For Virginia Tech, that was a great experience."