LA CROSSE — Both Eli Small and Savion Flowers are headed to different college programs than the ones they played for during the spring season.
They also both prepared for the changes in scenery and made a good impression on their new coaches by terrorizing Northwoods League pitching all summer for the La Crosse Loggers.
Small and Flowers showed consistency with their bats and abilities to get on base and bring runs to the plate as the Loggers played their way to the NWL postseason, which begins Sunday with the opener of a three-game series against Duluth.
If the Loggers (37-33 overall, 15-22 seconds half), who qualified by winning the first-half championship in the Great Plains East Division, beat the Huskies (45-26, 23-13), it will likely be with the help of their top run-producers.
Small, who is making the move from Kentucky to Florida Atlantic, has played in 54 games and posted a .313 batting average to go with 5 home runs, 54 RBIs, 14 doubles and 23 stolen bases.
Small takes a 5-game hitting streak into Saturday’s regular-season finale against Rochester and has driven in at least 1 run in 9 of his last 11 games.
He said early-season strikeouts pushed him to work extensively on his 2-strike approach and has been happy to see that pay off.
The lefty has 22 multi-hit games this season, and many of those came after the Loggers clinched their playoff spot with a first-half championship. The team’s ability to do that, Small said, gave the players a bit of freedom the rest of the summer.
“When we won (the first half), we could really try to focus on getting better on some specific things,” he said. “You could try some different things, and it was nice to have that kind of freedom while playing.
“You want to win every game you can, but wins weren’t everything for us in the second half.”
Defense was a focal point for Small, and he feels like he made progress and is prepared to contribute for Florida Atlantic after playing in just 12 games for Kentucky last spring.
“That’s the part of my game that I had to get to the next level,” Small said. “I’ve been able to play a ton of games in left field here, and I was able to get some work in at first base the last couple of weeks.
“Offensively, it’s about getting (at-bats) and seeing as many pitches as I can, and I could end up with close to 250 (at-bats). That’s a college season.”
Small, who was able to get to Florida and visit with coaches earlier this week, also credited some of his success to batting behind teammate Carson Ohland (.338, 13 doubles, 38 RBIs).
Field manager Josh Frye said Small’s improvement with each passing game has been apparent.
“I think early on, it was about getting him into a rhythm,” Frye said. “In doing that, he has found his swing and just gone off.
“He’s come up with a lot of big hits out of the middle of the lineup, and he’s been really consistent in the box whether there’s been a righty of lefty pitching. He’s getting quality at-bats and smashing the ball to all parts of the park.”
Flowers smacked 2 home runs in his first 4 games and had 9 hits in his first 5 as he tried to make an impression on coaches at the University of Kansas after a move from Cisco College in Cisco, Texas.
He batted .320 with 8 home runs and 44 RBIs for Cisco, and while the average dipped a bit in La Crosse (.265), Flowers has duplicated his ability to produce runs with 6 home runs and 44 RBIs.
Flowers has also drawn 37 walks and stolen 12 bases to go with 12 doubles.
“Savion was her at the beginning of the year kind of on a prove-it deal,” Frye said. “He did that and was probably the hottest hitter I’ve ever seen for abut a 2-week span.
“You can’t bat .700 forever and he dipped a little bit, but he’s had a couple games with multiple hits lately, and when things are going his way, he’s a force to be reckoned with on the bases and in the field.”
Flowers, who comes from a family steeped in baseball and softball success, said he started his summer on a 10-day contract before having it extended through the first half of the season and extended again for the remainder.
His power, ability to pick up key hits and continued improvement as an outfielder led to those extensions. Flowers used to catch and play middle infield before becoming an outfielder a couple of years ago.
“I wanted to come here and become the player I can be on both offense and defense,” Flowers said. “But I also came here to have fun.
“We all know baseball’s hard, but you have to find your fun in it, too.”
He said that has been accomplished with the first-half championship assuring the team of its postseason. Extra games are always the goal, and the Loggers have assured themselves a chance to be the last team standing.
“That’s very cool,” Flowers said as he looked at the scoreboard announcement hawking playoff tickets for Sunday. “I love it.”
