Cougars take improbable path to top seed
Whitting forced to do mixing and matching to produce a winner
Todd Whitting can smile now, maybe even marvel, at how it has come together.
How a roster full of new faces, and just the right mix of old ones, became conference champions.
How 15 freshmen and transfers came together quickly in a few months and contributed significantly for an improbable NCAA baseball regional host bid.
“Right now, it feels good,” said Whitting, whose top-seeded Cougars face fourth-seeded Iowa in the Houston Regional at 7 p.m. Friday at Schroeder Park. What about in February? “Going into the season, it didn’t (feel good),” Whitting said.
That was before junior college transfer Jake Scheiner hit a team-best .347 with 17 home runs on the way to American Athletic Conference co-Player of the Year.
That was before freshman Jared Triolo became one of only three players to play all 59 games.
Months before transfer shortstop Cooper Coldiron would become academically eligible and people could pronounce left fielder Tyler Bielamowicz’s name.
Before, bad knee and all, Grayson Padgett’s pinch-hit, threerun homer to spark a comeback win over Memphis in the AAC tournament, and reliever Joey Pulido’s most important pitch of the season to escape a basesloaded jam a few days later in the title game.
Or before freshman pitcher Brayson Hurdsman picked up two wins (over Wake Forest and Illinois) in relief during the first week of the season, and Nolan Bond a huge RPI win at McNeese State down the stretch.
“Just dive in headfirst and see what happens,” Whitting said of the approach to the season.
Cumbie ably fills role as ace
Somehow, as Whitting describes it, the Cougars regularly “mixed and matched” lineups and searched in every crevice in the dugout and bullpen for the right answer at the right moment. Others, like All-American lefthander Trey Cumbie, it did not matter what day he went to the mound. In a breakout season the Cougars desperately needed an ace, Cumbie went 10-1 with a 1.88 ERA and four complete games.
“Every guy on our bench has done something to win a game,” Whitting said. “That’s rare.”
The Cougars won 40 games, a share of the AAC regular-season title and then went on a fourgame run at the conference tournament to seize one of the final regional host spots.
It all happened with only one senior, lefthander John King, and without Seth Romero, a professional baseball pitching prospect, who was kicked off the team for multiple rules violations.
“How everyone came into the program and immediately started producing was huge for us,” Padgett said. “All these freshmen, we can put any in the game and I’m confident in all of them.”
King joked that the line to his locker seeking advice has not been as long as expected, not with a strong core of returners in dangerous leadoff hitter Connor Wong (.297, 11 home runs); versatile infielder Connor Hollis; outfielder Corey Julks, who raised his average 51 points in the last month; first baseman Joe Davis (.301/7 HRs/44 RBIs); and the successful comeback of closer Aaron Fletcher (2-1 with a 2.19 ERA and eight saves) from Tommy John surgery.
“We’ve overcome a lot,” King said. “A lot of people didn’t pick us to be in the spot we are in now.”
Winners in 12 of last 15
There was a stretch when the Cougars lost 11 of 20 games, including five straight midweek games. They have lost three times in the last 15 games.
With so many players stepping up, Whitting said that’s the exact reason he does not name team captains.
“Leaders are people that go out and do things by example and hold themselves accountable,” Whitting said. “That gives them the ability to hold the rest of the team accountable. Based on our club right now, we have 27 really good leaders.”
After missing the postseason last year and getting knocked out, despite being a regional host, two years ago, the Cougars plan to impart just a little more wisdom to the not-so-young anymore group.
“I think we need to relay to the younger guys that it’s just another baseball game,” Davis said of this weekend. “Nothing is different except the environment you are playing in.”