Back row (Left to Right): Assistant Coach Rod Baker, Assistant Coach Frank Barthel, Clae Baker, Critter Millay, Corey Mahar, Dylan Baker, Nano Jacobsen, Joe Kohan, Ryan Beason, Andrew Hall, Jamie Daniel, Dakotah Smith, and Assistant Coach Bill McCauley. Front Row: Assistant Coach Steve Bavard, Shawn Ibesate, Sean Bavard, Vinnie Isturis, Aaron Cohen, Keath Flint, and Shane Rud.Not pictured Head Coach Jim Ayers
State Tournament Juneau 5---Homer2 Juneau 10--North Pole 0 Juneau 2---Sitka 6
Clae Baker fires a pitch
The Bears secured their first state tournament berth in three years with a 5-1 win over two-time state defending champion, Sitka, and went on to win the region title with a 4-3 victory over the Wolves. The victories helped ease the unpleasant memories of near misses in 2005 and 2006. This year, however, the Bears showed great mental strength and discipline by closing out a number of close games on their way to being named conference champs..
The Bears escaped with a 5-2 victory over Homer in the first round of the state tournament, behind a five-run fifth inning rally and a gutsy pitching performance by starting pitcher Andrew Hall, to advance past the quarter final round. Hall, who had been sidelined for three weeks with a thumb injury, fired six strong innings, tallying 13 strikeouts and yielding just three hits, pitching the Bears past the Mariners on a snowy morning in Fairbanks. Shawn Ibesate provided the offensive spark for the Bears, going 3- for-3 in the game.
Clae Baker followed by firing a no-hitter in a 10-0 win over North Pole in the semi-finals, in a game that only lasted five innings due to the mercy rule. Baker was nearly perfect, issuing just one walk in the game. The win helped the Bears reach the state title game.
Hall came back to start the title game and ran into trouble early, giving up a leadoff single and two walks in just 1/3 of an inning. Baker came in to relieve but before he could get into his groove, gave up a three-run, bases clearing triple. After that, he settled down to retire the side. Baker pitched two more innings, yielding just one more run. Joe Kohan came into pitch in the fourth and finished out the game, notching eight strikeouts in three innings of work, while allowing two runs. The Crimson Bears’ bats were quieted by Sitka hurler Bryn Calhoun, as Sitka rolled 6-2 to take the state title from the Bears. Lack of timely hitting doomed JDHS, as they loaded the bases in the first, third, and fifth innings, but were only able to score one run in the third and one in the fifth.
Baker and Ibesate were both named to the All-State Tournament team.
Shawn Ibesate shares a laugh with Ryan Beason
Shawn Ibesate steals third base against Homer.
George Damian slides home safely against Sitka.
Sean Bavard, Joe Kohan, and Nano Jacobsen celebrate a
victory over the Wolves.
2007 Roster: Clae Baker (P/OF) Dylan Baker (OF/P) Sean Bavard (P/3B) Ryan Beason (1B/P) Aaron Cohen (OF/P) George Damian (OF) Jamie Daniel (OF/P) Keath Flint (Inf.) Andrew Hall (P/OF/1B) Shawn Ibesate (2B/SS) Vinnie Isturis (Inf) Nano Jacobsen (C/P) Joe Kohan (SS/P) Corey Mahar (OF) Critter Millay (P) Shane Rud (3B/P) Dakotah Smith (OF)
Coaches: Jim Ayers Head Coach Steve BavardAssis. Coach Bill McCauley Assis. Coach Rod Baker Assis. Coach Frank Barthel Assis.Coach
Assistant Coach Frank Barthel taking stats.
The team poses after their conference tournament clinching win over Sitka.
Shane Rud doubles against East Anchorage.
Ryan Beason fires to the plate against Ketchikan.
Joe Kohan celebrates after Shawn Ibesate tagged out a Sitka runner.
Aaron Cohen slides home safely against Sitka
The Bears batted .311 as a team with 22 home runs on the season. Joe Kohan led the Bears in Batting Average (.429), Home Runs (12), and in RBIs (29).Kohan also had 8 stolen bases. Freshman, Aaron Cohen hit .397 with 2 home runs and 20 runs batted in, and Ryan Beason batted .318 with 18 RBI. The Bears pitching staff posted a team ERA of 1.81 Clae Baker led the Bears hadwith a 6-1 record, to go with a 1.24 ERA, and 55 strikeouts in 39 2/3 innings pitched. Andrew Hall posted a 4-1 record with a 1.95 ERA and 55 Ks in 29 innings of work, and Joe Kohan went 4-0 with a 2.52 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 25 innings.
Nano Jacobsen pitches against Sitka
Team and Individual Statistics
NOTE: Individual batting statistics listed below are based on players with at least 33 at bats (AB
The 2007 SE Regional Championship and State Runner-UP Crimson Bears' Baseball season records are:
Batting Average = H / AB (H=Hits) / (divided by) (AB= At Bats)
TEAM Batting Average = 201 / 647 = .311
Leaders: Joe Kohan .449 Aaron Cohen .397
Five other Crimson Bears hit over .300
The better hitters have batting average of .300 or higher. However some hitters may hit lower than .300 but hit more timely hits than hitters with higher batting averages, for example hit when runners are on base or in scoring position (a runner on 2nd or 3rd) or hit to keep a rally going.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Base % = (H+BB+HP) / (AB+BB+HP+SF)(BB=Base on Balls) (HP=Hit by a pitch) (SF= Sacrifice Fly Out).
TEAM On Base % = 201+87+26 / 647+87+26+13 = .406
Leaders: Andrew Hall .554 Joe Kohan .538 Aaron Cohen .537 Shane Rud .512
Four other Crimson Bears had an On Base % over .400
(The career highest OB% belongs to Ted Williams at .482). -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Slugging % =(1B+2x2B+3x3B+4xHR) / AB (1B=singles) (2B=doubles) (3B=triples) (HR=Home Runs).
TEAM Slugging % = 141+70+6+88 / 647 = .471 Leaders: Joe Kohan .974
Two other Crimson Bears had slugging percentages in the .500 to .700 range.
(At the major league level the slugging % is in the .500 to .700 range. The career highest Slugging % is held by Babe Ruth at .690).
TEAM Contact Rate = 647-110 / 647 = .830 Leaders: Shawn Ibesate .945 Joe Kohan .910
(The major league contact rate level is at 80%. However batters who are hitting .300 or better are in the 90% range) (source: Ron Shandler USA Today 4/17/2008).
NOTE: all the individual pitching stats listed below are based on pitchers who pitched at least 20 innings with the exception of the relief pitcher Ryan Beason, who pitched 16.3 innings.
Pitching Statistics: Won-Lost ERA WHIP Ratio K/BB Opp. BA Pitches per inning
TEAM 19 6 1.81 1.339 2 .161 17
Clae Baker 6 1 1.24 1.262 2.1 .167 17
Andrew Hall 4 1 1.95 1.713 1.4 .098 19
Joe Kohan 4 0 2.52 1.080 5.1 .197 13
Ryan Beason 1 1 0.859 0.7976 2.86 .119 15
ERA=(ER x 7) / IP (Earned Runs x 7 innings (in high school baseball) divided ( / ) by innings pitched. A good ERA is 4.00 and under.
WHIP= ( BB + H) / IP WHIP is another way to measure the effectiveness of a pitcher. Two pitchers could have identical ERAs but one of those pitchers could have a lower WHIP incating that he is a more effective pitcher. For example, Pitcher A could give up no runs 1 hit and issue 2 walks. His ERa is 0.00 and his WHIP is ( 2BB + 1hit / 6 innings pitched)= .600. Pitcher B also did not give up any runs but allowed 7 hits and issued 3 walks. Pitcher B's ERA is 0.00 but his WHIP is (3 + 7 / 6)=1.66. A good WHIP is around 1.000, below that is excellant. A poor WHIP is 1.750 or higher. In our example Pitcher B is allowing nearly 2 runners per inning.Runners on base usually means runs scored