Springfield Cardinals All-Star 1B/DH Luke Voit earned his way to professional baseball by bashing the long ball at Hammons Field, and on Tuesday night he used the home field advantage to capture the Bass Pro Shops Home Run Derby as part of the Texas League All-Star Game.
PICTURES: Bass Pro Home Run Derby
"I can't explain how cool that was," said Voit, who finished second in last year's Florida State League home run derby. "I wanted to win it. I got second last year and I got first this year and I'm happier than a clown."
Springfield manager Dann Bilardello was pitching to Voit, something the slugger pointed to as a key to his victory."
"We worked on it a little bit the last week," said Voit. "He found my spot and it worked out pretty well."
"It was hard. It's tiring, but once you're in a groove you feel like you can't leave that swing because you can crank out four or five in a row."
Voit also credits the home crowd of better than 7,800 screaming Cardinal fans.
"That was inspiring. They helped me out a lot. They've been great all year and they were great today."
The former Missouri State Bear led from wire-to-wire with 14 home runs in the first round, then blasted 16 more to edge Midland's Max Chapman 30-28.
Voit, one of six Springfield Cardinals representatives for the North Division squad, won a $400 Bass Pro Gift Card and a custom made hunting knife from Johnny Morris.
Voit hit .275 with 10 home runs and 35 RBIs in the unofficial first half of the season.
The South Division squad won the All-Star Game 8-5.
