When it comes to talking about dynasties in college sports, it’s hard to look past the Bethune-Cookman baseball team. For the third straight season and 11th time in the past 13 years, the Wildcats are champions of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
Head coach Mervyl Melendez’ squad earned another title with a 13-2 victory over Norfolk State in the conference tournament championship game in Norfolk, Va. The win earned Bethune-Cookman an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. A three-run fifth inning broke open a close game and the Wildcats coasted to the win over the Spartans.
Jose Torres and Jose Lozado had the big bats for the Wildcats with three RBIs apiece. The winning pitcher was junior Eric Thomas, who improved his record to 9-0 for the season. In the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament, it was Texas Southern University notching title with a win over Prairie View in the conference title game. After struggling during the regular season, the Tigers turned it on when it mattered in the post-season. The victory earned Texas Southern an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
After winning just 12 regular season games, Texas Southern turned it on in the conference tournament, winning four straight games. The title game win over Prairie View, ended the Panthers string of two-straight conference titles. As was the case in the regular season, Texas Southern came from behind to get the job done.
They trailed 11-6 in the seventh inning, but scored six unanswered runs to win the title. “I just had a gut feeling that we could come from behind,” Texas Southern head coach Candy Robinson said. “We just kept plugging away.” Texas Southern rallied against Prairie View starting pitcher Wendell Taylor. Tournament Most Valuable Player, Adam Seller, drilled a two-run single to cap a five-run eighth inning.
The win gave the Tigers their second NCAA tournament trip in school history. In 2004, they reached the tournament before losing to Rice in the first round. In other Black college sports news: Long time Alcorn State women’s basketball coach Shirley Walker has been fired by the school. Walker has been the Lady Braves’ head coach for the past 30 seasons. “We thought it was the right time to make a change,” said Alcorn athletic director Darren Hamilton.
Walker’s firing comes in the wake of numerous sanctions for NCAA violations imposed on the school two years ago, including lack of institutional control. The program was placed on three years probation and their appearance in the 2006 NCAA Tournament was taken off the record books. Jason Cable is replacing Walker on an interim basis. In her 30 years as the women’s coach at Alcorn State, Walker won 11 regular season SWAC titles and seven conference post-season titles.
Her overall record was 492-392. “We thank coach Walker for her service and Alcorn State University will continue it’s fine tradition in women’s basketball by continuing to recruit, retain and graduate its student -athletes,” Hamilton added.
The athletic director said he expects to name a permanent replacement for Walker by July 7. … Grambling State University has announced the naming of new coaches for their men’s and women’s basketball programs. Rick Duckett has been named as the new men’s coach while Donnita Drain was chosen as the new women’s coach Duckett comes to Grambling from Fayetteville State in North Carolina.
“Coach Duckett is a proven tactician who has worked with some of the best coaches in the business,” said Grambling athletic director Troy Mathieu. “He has a unique ability to motivate and connect with student-athletes and will bring tremendous enthusiasm to our men’s basketball program. Under his leadership, Grambling fans can look forward to seeing an aggressive defensive team that plays an up-tempo style of offense that will be fun to watch.”
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