“I saw him dive when I rounded first, and I thought, ‘I probably can get three here,’” the redshirt sophomore short stop said. “But when I was coming around to third, I saw coach Metz giving me the we’re-going-home sign.”
Third-base coach Nate Metzger was waving frantically and motioning toward the plate.
“I thought, ‘Holy cow, you don’t see this very often. I’d better give it my all,’” Arnold said.
The Lebanon product, batting seventh in the lineup, reached home easily for a three-run, inside-the-park homer Sunday, sending the Raiders to a 9-5 win at Nischwitz Stadium.
They clinched their fifth straight Horizon League regular-season title, going five for five under coach Alex Sogard.
They’ve won nine straight games and 18 of their last 20 to improve to 34-18 overall and 21-6 in the league.
They finish the season with a three-game series at Youngstown State, and they’ll host the HL tourney May 24-27.
“I’m really proud of the guys with the way they’ve played the last month or so — the pitching staff especially,” Sogard said.
Junior Luke Stofel took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before running into trouble.
Senior Tristan Haught closed out the senior-day win with three scoreless innings.
“We expected this (success) early, and we struggled. But they’re starting to get that belief, and they have a lot of confidence right now,” Sogard said.
The Raiders won their seventh league title in the last nine full seasons (they finished second the other two years), and they did it with their usual formula of bold, aggressive baseball and contributions from up and down the lineup.
But it was a bumpy ride. After getting swept at Milwaukee in early April and dropping a mid-week home game to Xavier, they were 16-16 and searching for answers.
“It’s crazy to say we won the regular-season because it’s been a challenge this year — in a good way,” Sogard said.
“You want the challenge. You don’t want to just cruise through. Going through tight games helps in the postseason. Our guys just competed and kept showing up.”
Sogard didn’t want to point to injuries as a factor in the slow start, but the Raiders lost star short stop Justin Riemer after 12 games because of a knee issue, while power-hitting second-baseman Gehrig Anglin also missed about a month because of a knee ailment.
But sophomore center-fielder Andrew Patrick has turned into a league player of the year candidate, setting the single-season program record for homers with 17.
He took Riemer’s place at the lead-off spot and has stolen a league-high 25 bases in 27 attempts.
The Raiders’ surge has put them at 70th in the NCAA RPI ratings, ahead of all but four Big Ten teams.
They have two wins over Ohio State, which is ranked 85th.
“After losing at Milwaukee — the first time we’ve been swept by a team in the league in 10 years — there was some doubt.” Sogard said.
“There were a lot of moving parts, and there definitely were some growing pains. But we knew the guys just had to continue to be positive and trust in their abilities, and they did.”
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