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06/07/2008 12:27 AM ET
Baum blasts Wizards past Lugnuts
Third baseman homers twice, drives in career-high seven runs in 11-5 win
By John Torenli / Special to MLB.com
Third baseman Justin Baum had 10 homers in 238 Minor League at-bats last season. (Patrick Ostrander/MLB.com)

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Fort Wayne's Justin Baum may finally be rediscovering the stroke that made him a power hitter in college.

The 22-year-old third baseman went 4-for-5 with two homers, a career-high seven RBIs and three runs scored Friday as the Wizards rallied past the Lansing Lugnuts, 11-5, at Oldsmobile Park.

Baum, the Padres' seventh-round pick out of Pacific University last year, amassed 37 homers and 134 RBIs in 165 games in college but had been limited to 14 roundtrippers in his first 117 professional games.

The native of La Mesa, Calif., belted a leadoff homer, his fifth of the year, in the second inning before ripping a single in the fourth and striking out in the sixth.

The Wizards trailed, 4-2, in the seventh before Robert Perry delivered a run-scoring single and Lance Zawadzki drew a bases-loaded walk to plate the tying run.

Baum, in search of his first career multi-homer game, blasted an offering from reliever Joe Wice over the center-field fence to give Lansing an 8-4 lead. He also sparked a three-run ninth with a two-run triple as the Wizards (33-28) pulled away for their third straight win and moved within one game of the first-place Lugnuts (34-27) in the Midwest League's Eastern Division.

Luis Durango was the only other Fort Wayne player with more than one hit, going 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored.

Reliever Brandon Gomes (4-1) picked up the win after yielding an unearned run on one hit and two walks with four strikeouts over 2 1/3 frames. Geoff Vandel allowed four runs on three hits over four innings, walking three and striking out two.

Lansing reliever Chi-Hung Cheng (3-2) took the loss, surrendering four unearned runs on one hit and a walk with four strikeouts over 2 2/3 frames.

Matthew Liuzza and Moises Sierra homered for the Lugnuts, who have dropped two in a row to the Wizards following a six-game winning streak.

John Torenli is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.