By T.J. Turrisi
March 14, 2010 — HERSHEY — Forty wins and a state medal.
It may not have been the gold, but General McLane junior heavyweight Caleb Baker was able to win his final match for fifth.
Baker’s run for a state title came to a crushing halt Saturday morning at the hands Wrestling USA Magazine No. 5 nationally-ranked 285-pounder and defending PIAA champ Evan Craig from Abington Heights.
Baker was able to wrestle an even match on his feet in the opening period and chose the down position in the second. Craig pinned Baker’s arm behind his back and ran him over to his back for the fall.
It was Craig’s third win by fall in three matches leading up to the championship.
“My first match I knew I was going into a really tough match,” Baker said. “I didn’t really wrestle as good a match as I would have liked, but it was the returning state champ and I gave him all I had. There’s nothing I can change.”
Baker wrestled Craig when he was younger and lost at greco-roman states.
He then dropped to the consolation semifinals to take on Norristown’s Marcus Robbins, the southeast region No. 3-seed.
Baker escaped 27 seconds into the second period for the early lead in the consy semi. But Robbins reversed Baker in the third with just 18 seconds left in the match for a 4-2 decision.
Robbins used a head-and-arm to get the two near the edge after Baker had escaped with 1:25 on the clock.
In the fifth-place consolation he took on Averee Robinson of Susquehanna Township and grabbed the early lead with a second-period reversal.
Robinson chose neutral in the third and knotted things up with a pancake trip with 28 seconds left.
“When he tied it up it gave me motivation to win,” Baker said. “I didn’t come this far to lose my last match.”
Baker escaped for a 3-2 led and almost made a fatal mistake five seconds before the final buzzer.
“I started to think ahead but I had to head out of bounds once I got in bad position,” Baker said. “But you’ve got to do whatever it takes to win.”
Baker barely avoided a match-changing takedown.
He finished the season with a 40-8 record with one year left to try to win a title.
“This whole weekend has helped me realize how much I can do at my age now and what I need to improve to get higher on the podium,” Baker said.
Other District 10 placewinners were: McDowell’s Steve Spearman (1st, 130), Cathedral Prep’s Jermaine Easter (7th, 171) and Corry’s Michael Pollard (5th, 189).
