West Alabama returns to GSC baseball tourney
By By Will Bardwell / staff writer
May 5, 2004
LIVINGSTON, Ala. The good news is that West Alabama is back in the Gulf South Conference baseball tournament for the first time in nine years.
The bad news is that the Tigers open play in the double-elimination tournament against Delta State, the No. 3 team in all of Division II.
The Tigers earned a berth in the tournament, which begins Thursday at USA Baseball Stadium in Millington, Tenn., at the last possible moment. Needing just one win against West Georgia in the season's final weekend, West Alabama bounced back from a doubleheader sweep on Saturday with a 12-6 win on Sunday which secured the tournament appearance.
Now 31-20 overall and 10-9 in GSC play, the Tigers enter Thursday's 1 p.m. game against Delta State as the East Division's No. 4 seed. At 43-9 and 19-3 in the GSC, DSU is the top seed from the West Division.
The Tigers lost their top two pitchers early in the season, and another player was dismissed before the season began. Other minor injuries have nagged the team throughout the campaign, but West Alabama has not suffered a losing streak longer than two games and has reeled off several important victories including a 10-9 win over Delta State on Feb. 28.
But the Statesmen have also beaten the Tigers. Delta State took an 8-3 victory on Feb. 27.
Delta State is hitting .345 as a team, second-best in the conference. The Statesmen have also hit a league-leading 58 home runs and pounded out 580 hits, which is also best in the GSC.
Rundles said the Tigers will rely heavily on pitchers Shane Martin and Lee Boyd, one of whom Rundles said will start Thursday's game against Delta State.
Rafael Ferrell, who leads West Alabama with a .404 average, and Dustin Roberts, who has hit a team-high 12 home runs and 45 RBIs, will lead the Tigers' offensive charge against Delta State's pitching staff, which sports a 4.44 ERA.
Regardless of this weekend's outcome, Rundles said his long-term goal is to make sure West Alabama returns to the GSC tournament far more often than once every nine years.
