Price’s return highlights special weekend for FIU
Saturday was one of the best days in FIU baseball history.
The Panthers scored a total of 20 runs on 21 hits, including five homers, in sweeping Notre Dame
10-8 and 10-5.
Even better, Danny Price — the coach with the most wins in FIU history with a record of 1,033 victories and 604 losses — returned to campus for the first time since being fired in 2007.
Price, who threw out the first pitch for the second game of the doubleheader, was invited by athletic director Scott Carr and baseball coach Rich Witten to return to campus as FIU celebrated the Panthers squad that won the regional hosted by Notre Dame in 2001 in South Bend, Indiana.
“There were a lot of memories flying through me,” said Price, who walked around the field in between games. “I reminisced a little bit.
“But I didn’t come back for Danny Price. I came back because they were honoring our 2001 team.”
Notre Dame apparently brings out the best in FIU. That was the case this past weekend as the Panthers (5-3) split a four-game set.
And it was certainly the case in 2001 — the only time in FIU history that the Panthers advanced past the regional round.
In that four-team regional, third-seeded FIU upset second-seeded UC Santa Barbara, 17-4. FIU then knocked off Notre Dame, 7-6. In the double-elimination format, Notre Dame then beat FIU, 5-2, before the Panthers eliminated the Irish 5-4 in the championship game.
FIU then traveled to Los Angeles, losing two straight games to host Southern Cal, 5-1 and 6-0, in a super-regional that featured Trojans pitching standout Mark Prior, who went on to become an MLB All-Star and World Series champ.
But despite that humbling end against the Trojans — and the fact that hated rival Miami won the College World Series that year — 2001 is still looked on fondly by FIU fans.
Third baseman Gus Alfonso, who was FIU’s captain that year, turned 45 on Saturday, making the Panthers 2001 reunion even sweeter.
“I’m biased because I lived it, but the chemistry we had in 2001 was incredible,” Alfonso said. “We were a bunch of overachievers or let’s say a group that was counted out, underdogs.”
One of those “underdogs” was Willie Collazo, a Puerto Rico native who came to FIU after earning 22 wins in two years at Kirkwood (Iowa) Community College.
“When Willie showed up, we were like, ‘Who’s this guy?’ ” Alfonso said. “He was a 5-foot-9 lefty who looked like a second baseman but turned out to be our ace.”
Collazo went 13-1 that season, and he was the MVP of the South Bend regional. He pitched nine innings to defeat Santa Barbara, and he came back on just two days’ rest to get the save in the regional finale.
“The guts on that guy,” Alfonso said of Collazo. “He was amazing.”
That team featured a rotation of Collazo, Jerry Courtney and Josh Banks, with Luis Gazitua as the closer. Collazo and Banks both pitched in the majors, and Courtney played pro ball.
FIU’s infield featured catcher Tommy Duenas, first baseman Daniel Bustamente, second baseman Florentino Burgos (now Florida Memorial University’s coach), shortstop Mickey Torello and third baseman Alfonso.
Filling out the starting lineup, FIU had DH Brad Eldred, left fielder Matt Huntingford, center fielder Barry Paulk and right fielder Mike Quintana.
Eldred made the majors, and Huntingford, Paulk and Quintana played pro ball.
FIU’s staff that season included pitching coach Mark Calvi and the late Rolando Casanova, who directed the hitters. Calvi is now the head coach at South Alabama.
“We had a great staff, but the coaches can only do so much,” Collazo said. “We had a rule among the players that nobody could leave the locker room until 45 minutes after the game ended.
“These days, players are out the door in five minutes. But in 2001, we stayed and had playersonly conversations. It got heated sometimes, but it was constructive criticism. We talked about how we could get better.
“That team was run by the players, and our coaches built us for that.”
Which brings us back to Price.
Alfonso said past reunions of the 2001 team didn’t feel right without their head coach.
“For years, we tried to get Coach Price to return to campus,” Alfonso said. “Saturday was about
Coach Price coming back on his terms.”
FIU coach Witten said he was happy with the way Saturday turned out, including his players getting the chance to learn more about their program by talking to the alumni.
“During the doubleheader, I was busy trying to get my team prepared to win,” Witten said. “But on my drive home, it started to sink in that this was a special day.
“Having Coach Price coming back was electric, and we also beat a great Notre Dame team.”