San Francisco ? The 3 1â2-year-old son of San Francisco manager Dusty Baker got so excited while retrieving a bat in Game 5 of the World Series that he nearly got run over at the plate.

When J.T. Snow scored for the Giants in the seventh inning of San Francisco’s 16-4 win Thursday, Darren Baker ran out of the dugout to pick up the bat of Kenny Lofton, who had hit a two-run triple. The problem was, David Bell was running full-speed behind Snow.

Snow made sure Darren was safe at home. He scooped him up by his oversized black jacket and asked, “You OK, buddy?”

Darren, whose helmet had fallen off, nodded yes and patted San Francisco’s first baseman on the back.

Baker looked a little sheepish and a tad shaken, too, by his son’s enthusiasm.

As for Darren, he was fine in the dugout a moment later, sticking his finger in his nose for a national TV audience.

Baker had barely made it back into his office after the game when his phone started ringing. It was his mother, Christina Baker, calling from Sacramento to find out if her grandson was all right, and why he was running onto the field.

“He flew out there so quick,” Baker said. “He was in a hurry to get Kenny Lofton’s bat. I’ve just got to watch him a little closer.”

The bat boy said he learned a lesson and was grateful to Snow.

“I told him thank you,” he said. “It didn’t scare me at all. (My dad) told me, ‘J.T. saved you.”‘

Darren and several other little boys were standing at the top of the steps leading from the field to the clubhouse when Snow came up. Snow rubbed his hands through the boy’s black curly hair and they walked into the clubhouse together.

Snow said he has a 41â2-year-old son at home, so he knew how to react to grab Darren.

“He’s our good-luck charm,” Snow said. “We can’t have him going down.”

Baker said his son would accompany the team to Anaheim.

“A couple of the guys said if he didn’t go, they wouldn’t go,” the manager said.

Darren, who is shorter than the bats he struggles to carry, is one of the most popular attractions at Pacific Bell Park.

He missed Game 3 on Tuesday night because of an earache and sinus infection, but his dad couldn’t keep him away for Games 4 and 5. He woke up early Wednesday, eager to get to the ballpark and make up for missed time.