Sunday’s loss to LSU might have stung the Northwestern State baseball team, but the sweetness of Saturday’s win over San Diego State will be remembered for a long time. By a lot of people, especially some special ones.
By DOUG IRELAND/Designated Contributor
CORVALLIS, Oregon — Cracker Brown. Herbie Smith. Johnnie Emmons. Jim Wells. Dave Van Horn. John Cohen. Mitch Gaspard. Lane Burroughs.
None of those former coaches called a pitch or flashed a sign Saturday as Northwestern State overwhelmed San Diego State 9-0 and advanced in the NCAA Baseball Championship’s Corvallis Regional. But those Demon dugout icons, and their players, had an almost palpable presence in the NSU dugout and in the stands at venerable Goss Stadium, the oldest active baseball venue in the country, dating to 1907.
Demon baseball alumni are in the hearts of the 2018 club, which holds a deep allegiance to NSU tradition even though most of the squad only arrived last fall.
That was evident from the opening statement in NSU’s postgame press conference, from head coach (and former Academic All-America player) Bobby Barbier.
“What a win. I just took a picture with seven alumni who made the trip,” he said. “How special for this program.”
Those supremely-proud seven run the gamut from two who were recruited by and played for Brown, Ed Dranguet and Terry Alario Sr., to William Townsend, whose Demon days in 2016 came under Burroughs, with Barbier as an assistant coach. Alario Jr. was teammates with 1994 All-America pitcher Reggie Gatewood, and they spent considerable time swapping stories about Wells, who is recuperating from heart bypass surgery in his Tuscaloosa, Ala., home and is soon to be the recipient of a 2018 Demons’ autographed No. 17 jersey (his number as the Demon coach at his alma mater from 1990-94).
There was beaming Buddy Proctor, a sweet-swinging first baseman for Cohen’s 1999 and 2000 clubs. Another Academic All-American, Mike Jawoerski, played for Gaspard from 2005-08, with Barbier as a teammate on NSU’s last regional team in ’05, then watched him start his coaching career in 2007-08.
They took a group shot in the stands after NSU snagged an early 1-0 edge, but resolved to take another with Barbier after a win. They cashed in the chance before the head coach stepped into the postgame press conference.
Barbier has imbued his gritty team with a sense of responsibility to their predecessors. Case in point: in the moments after snagging NSU’s first-ever Southland Conference Tournament Championship last Saturday, the 33-year-old head coach reiterated a core value of his team.
“This is for all those former Demons, coaches and players, who worked so hard to reach this milestone,” he said.
So was Saturday. NCAA Regional wins are precious. This was the third in school history, standing alongside a 1994 8-2 victory over Illinois State in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and a 2005 4-3 triumph over Marist in Baton Rouge.
It was undeniably the most remarkable.
Every team wants to play its best in the biggest games. The Demons did exactly that Saturday, sending home an opponent with 39 wins, the Mountain West Conference Tournament championship, and a proud tradition including major leaguers like Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn and Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black. SDSU was in its fifth regional in six seasons.
They did so with the biggest victory margin in NCAA Tournament history by a Southland Conference team, dating back five decades.
It set off a tsunami of texts, Tweets and messages in various forms from NSU fans and alumni all over, soaking in satisfaction and looking forward to Sunday afternoon’s next chance to advance.
Proud SDSU alumnus Black, stinging from losing a $50 wager Friday to one of his players, former LSU slugger DJ LeMahieu, Saturday morning sought out the Rockies’ bullpen catcher, former Demon Aaron Munoz.
“We went $20, based off the pay scale of LeMahieu to Munoz,” Black told Rockies’ beat reporters before their game. “Batting champ payroll to bullpen catcher payroll.”
Munoz will enjoy the feel of that Andrew Jackson.
He’s one of countless Demons everywhere, bursting with pride, and anticipation, on the first Saturday evening in June. Especially the 2018 Demons, who are mindful of the past as they carve their own niche in NSU history.
“The alumni, and the seniors, is really who you play for,” said Maddox.
“All the alumni before us (inspire us),” said Smith, “so we’re getting out there and getting after it like they did.”
They were as good as it gets Saturday, silencing San Diego State.
