Diamond Cutters
Baseball Team Puts Program on the Map
The baseball team boasted a long list of accomplishments, including a school best — 43 wins, the Big 12 Conference and Midwest Coach of the Year and an admission to the NCAA Championships for the first time in school history.
“I’m obviously very excited about the success that we had last season,” head coach Brad Hill said. “Both our players and our coaching staff did a tremendous job of staying committed to both themselves and the team.”
The Wildcats started the season unranked and on the road against the University of Houston Cougars in a three-game series. While in Houston, the team took two out of three, including a huge first game, running the Cougars out of the ballpark 16-2.
“We gained a lot of confidence from playing Houston,” sophomore infielder Jason King said. “We proved that we were able to play with and beat a high-caliber team. It was great to see all our hard work from the off-season translate over to the field.”
The team had one hiccup during the regular season by giving up 11 homeruns March 22, when the University of Oklahoma Sooners defeated them 4-29.
“We became a much better team after being embarrassed by Oklahoma,” Hill said. “We were at very low point, but we showed toughness and bounced back. I was very proud of the way we played from that point on.”
The Cats finished the regular season at 39-15-1, soaring all the way to No.10 in national team rankings.
To read the rest of this story, buy a 2010 Royal Purple Yearbook.