(#130)
I’m hanging out in the lobby of the Doubletree in Hattiesburg, living the life, reminiscing about post-season JUCO baseball. Game time for the second round game is 3:30.
We’re off to a great start in the Region 23 Tournament in Poplarville with a big 4-3 opening win over 7-time and defending national champion LSU-Eunice.
It’s a tough tournament with 6 really good JUCO teams, five from the Magnolia State and the other from southwest Louisiana.
The winner of this regional has won the national tournament, the Division II World Series, 8 times, with a couple of runner-up finishes to boot.
Six team tournaments are not easy to win. It will take four wins even if you get through it undefeated. So finding a way to win one game a day is the best route.
In the opener, our starting pitcher pitched out of jams in the first and sixth innings and was otherwise flawless, pounding the zone with great command of a pretty electric fastball.
The bullpen finished strong to secure the win and both right-handers were effective.
The other team didn’t seem to handle the fastballs very well. They hit the breaking balls pretty well but hit a lot of “at-em” balls.
All three pitchers had a great presence on the mound… great body language. They were not scared to compete. That’s always a good thing. The mission is to find a way to subtract 27 outs as quickly and with as few pitches, as possible.
Their team was loaded with left-handed hitters, standing right on top of the plate.
What’s the answer to all the big, hulk-like hitters standing on top of the plate and diving into the pitches with no fear, especially in the little band box parks everybody plays in these days? One answer is to score early and often. Softball scores tend to be the trend.
I wondered how we held scores down back in the old days with the original aluminum weapons the hitters had before the leagues took some of their pop away in later years. Can you even imagine 1-0 or 2-1 games? That 4-3 win was actually fairly rare in these crazy, juiced up, offensive times.
I saw one team put 16 runs on the board in one inning last night. Barrel after barrel after barrel. I was reminded when East Central and the great Jamie Clark, scored 20 runs in one inning against us during the 1999 season; 25 runs in a very long, but short game. We came back to win the second game of the doubleheader… and eventually got on a run and finished 4th in the Division II World Series in Millington, Tennessee; a long rain delay away from a chance to win a national championship. Baseball.
Enjoyed a visit with Mark Carson, the long-time head coach at Northwest Mississippi. His assistant, Bill Selby, was watching this game from his hotel room, courtesy of an ejection/suspension in last week’s Sunday battle at Meridian. Umpires are so sensitive. We talked about great Hinds-NWMCC battles from 20 plus years ago, including some great stories about their former head coaches, the great Jim Miles and Donny Castle. Mark said he does all he can for his players to know who they were and what they did for JUCO baseball at Northwest and Mississippi.
Also had a great visit with Tom Gladney, former MC head coach and retiring athletic director at Biloxi High. There’s not a better ambassador for baseball than Tom. What to do after retirement is the question we all have to ask and answer. He and Cindy are moving to Texas to be closer to their only grandchild. Family first.
Going to have a steak dinner with my good friend and coaching buddy George McQuitter before I leave Hattiesburg. Everybody who plays JUCO baseball in Mississippi should know that the 1989 Hinds team did things that had never been done before in Mississippi Junior College baseball and paved the way for what is happening now. The ’89 Hinds Eagles proved that a Mississippi team playing in the JUCO World Series was a possibility. A Mississippi team has played in a World Series 23 times since Hinds first did it in 1989.
Game two today against Pearl River, the current state champion, the tournament host and the number 1 team in the D2 polls. What a great day for baseball!
Rick Clarke's Diary of a Mad Baseball Coach 