Baseball Season Wrapup

[NickKBTV]

Despite going into the 2010 Southland Conference Baseball Championships as the No. 7 seed in the eight-team field, Lamar University’s Cardinals made Corpus Christi’s 3,500-seat Whataburger Field their own little pleasurable playground.



Beginning with a 4-3 victory over second-seeded Northwestern State in the first round, the Cardinals swept through the four-day tournament to win it in stunning fashion to earn Lamar’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 2004 and its’ 13th overall.



Coach Jim Gilligan’s gallant club followed the win over Northwestern State with back-to-back triumphs of 10-7 and 9-3 over No. 6-seed McNeese State, which had defeated them four times during the regular season. The Cards then overwhelmed regular-season champion Texas State 17-7 in the championship game.



The Cardinals were assigned a No. 4 seed in the Fort Worth Regional where they went up against the nation’s fifth-ranked TCU Horned Frogs on their home field in the first round. Playing before a partisan crowd of 3,135 in Lupton Stadium, the Frogs pulled away to a 16-3 win.



The Cardinals bowed to Baylor 6-4 in an elimination game the next day but not before Joey Latulippe slugged a three-run home run in the ninth inning or before Jonathan Dziedzic rose to the top of the SLC’s strikeout chart.



The dramatic home run was the sixth of the season for Latulippe, a junior catcher from League City who finished the season with a .302 batting average. Dziedzic, a freshman left-hander from Humble Atascocita, struck out eight Baylor batters to improve his season total to 114 in 94 innings, moving him one ahead of the 113 strikeouts accumulated by Texas-Arlington’s Jason Mitchell in 112 innings.



With his eight K’s in the season finale, Dziedzic zoomed past former Cardinal pitchers Mike Pasqualichio, Craig Fisch and Rick Nesloney into second place on Lamar’s one-season strikeout list. With 127 in 2002, only Clay Hensley, who now pitches for the Florida Marlins, has had more one-season strikeouts than Dziedzic.



Before Latulippe and Dziedzic came to the forefront during the Fort Worth Regional, the center stage at Whataburger Field belonged to outfielder Anthony Moore.

After collecting 10 hits in 16 at-bats for a sizzling .625 average, the senior from Cedar Hill was voted the SLC Tournament’s Most Valuable Player and he was named the CB360 National Primetime Player of the Week. He hit three home runs in tournament play, drove in six and scored six.



Latulippe, who hit safely in all four games, and Dziedzic, who had a win and a save during tournament play, joined Moore on the 11-player, all-tournament team.



The Cardinals finished the season with a 35-26 record, marking the 21st time in Gilligan’s 33 years at the helm for them to reach that plateau. Their five-game winning streak to open the season included a 13-7 victory at ninth-ranked Rice University, and they also won two of three games over No. 21 Southeastern Louisiana.



With junior shortstop Aaron Buchanan and junior second baseman Andy Mena leading the way with respective averages of .349 and .347, the Cardinals batted a stout .301 for the season. Senior outfielder Quentin Luquette led them in runs batted in with 52 and in stolen bases with 18, and Moore was the home run leader with 10.



Senior right-hander Matison Smith topped the pitching staff with a 10-4 record and a 4.68 earned run average, and his 117.1 innings pitched rank third on the Cardinals’ all-time, one-season list.



Mena was voted to the All-SLC third team, while Luquette, Smith and junior pitcher Eric Harrington (8-3, 5.02 ERA) made the honorable mention list. Other Cardinals batting over .300 were junior first baseman Wade Mathis (.328), junior third baseman Pablo Salinas (.323), Luquette (.310) and Moore (.309).

[time2time]

Looking at what's coming in, here's what I found:

1.  OF Damon Loewen - Clarendon JC - He had monster freshman year with .404 ave, 14 hrs, 58 rbis; his sophomore year was not quite as strong with a .324 ave, 6 hrs, 22 dbls, 50 rbis
 Here is some youtube video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvF1FJ3sD5Q
2.   P Shane Hamaker - Alvin JC - He threw 51.1 innings, struck out 60, walked 30, with a 4.21 ERA
3.   P Trae Hester - Vidor
4.   3B-P Kane Beniot - PNG
5.   P-1B  Chase Angelle - Orangefield
6.   P John Gilligan - Alvin JC - He threw 28.2 innings, struck out 24, walked 7, with a 4.08 ERA - yes he is related to Coach Gilligan.  See http://www.victoriagenerals.com/team/2010roster/index.html?player_id=72
7.   P Stephen Tromblee - Transfer from Centenary (LHP) - see http://www.texastomcats.com/team/roster/index.html?player_id=1

I'm sure there will be more, but that is what I found so far.  Got the bats already, looking for the arms now.

[time2time]

Add Chris Laird, Nederland - LHP

[ForeverADog]

You mean Cody. Chris is his older cousin.