UT Tyler Baseball Team Denied NCAA Bid
By CLINT BUCKLEY
Staff Writer
The UT Tyler baseball team’s season officially came to an end early Monday morning when the NCAA failed to include the Patriots in the 54-team, Division III national tournament.
Staff Writer
The UT Tyler baseball team’s season officially came to an end early Monday morning when the NCAA failed to include the Patriots in the 54-team, Division III national tournament.
UT Tyler (36-9), which was hopeful of securing one of 14 at-large bids, missed out on extending the first postseason in school history despite being ranked seventh nationally in one poll and ninth in another.
“(Every sport) has a national poll and they all mean something,” said UT Tyler coach James Vilade. “But apparently in Division III baseball, I’m getting the word that it doesn’t mean anything.”
Vilade said he learned of the selection committee’s decision at around 1:30 a.m. Monday with a voicemail message from McMurry head coach Lee Driggers, who is the West Regional chairman on the selection committee.
“It’s devastating for our kids,” Vilade said. “I don’t know how you can be No. 2 in the country in wins and not get invited. I’ve had some talks with coaches today and they are kind of flabbergasted.”
The Patriots were eyeing a return trip to Abilene, the site of this weekend’s six-team West Regional and the championship round of the American Southwest Conference tournament earlier this month.
UT Tyler dropped out of the West’s regional rankings last Thursday after bowing out in the ASC tournament semifinals. But, the NCAA revised the rankings a day later and the Patriots were back in at No. 5.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever seen the rankings revised within 20 hours of their release,” Vilade said. “I think the main problem is that you have Division III coaches that have a personal stake in the rankings. I know that there were a lot of coaches on the (regional rankings) committee.”
The field of 54 consists of 34 conference champions (Pool A bids), six independents (Pool B) and 14 at-large bids from the 34 conferences (Pool C).
McMurry (29-17), which won the ASC tournament, along with Trinity (32-13) and La Verne (25-14-1) represent the three Pool A teams in the regional. George Fox (28-12), ranked second regionally, is the only Pool C squad.
Top-ranked Chapman (35-3) and Cal State East Bay (26-14) enter the regional as Pool B teams.
The inclusion of Cal State East Bay likely cost UT Tyler and fellow ASC foe Concordia-Texas, which are both ranked ahead of Cal State East Bay in the region, a spot in the national tournament.
“I think the one thing that has to sound alarms is that we have 15 schools in our conference and a regional tournament in our state, but the NCAA only sent one school from the conference,” Vilade said. “To me, that’s frightening; it sends a message that no matter what you do, you have no shot.”
Cal State East Bay played 12 games against tournament teams, posting a 7-5 record that included series wins over George Fox and La Verne. UT Tyler lost in its only meeting against a national tourney participant – a 9-8 loss to McMurry.
Vilade said, however, there’s only so much he can do when scheduling non-conference opponents.
“First, we want the kids staying in class as much as possible,” he said. “Secondly, we’re not in a position with our budget where we can leave for California or Hawaii. I think we’ve lost the entire spirit of Division III sports.”
UT Tyler, which won its third ASC East Division title in four years this season, loses eight seniors including starters Clay Baker, Kyle Braden, Ryan Campbell, Andrew Damewood, Corey Farra and Chris Goss.
“These guys came in off the heels of a team that went 37-1,” Vilade said. “The expectations were high and I think they lived up to those expectations.
“We led the league in pitching, hitting and defense. We had two pitchers break our conference’s record for wins and had eight position players make first-team all-conference. Falling short, it’s hard to take.”
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