By T. Scott Boatright
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The Grambling State baseball team made some school history last weekend by winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament, and earned the chance to make some more this weekend.
The Tigers begin play at noon today in the College Station Regional of the NCAA Baseball Championship, facing the host Texas A&M Aggies, the No. 3 national seed in the 64-team tournament bracket at 16 regional sites.
A couple months ago GSU’s basketball teams made history when the men’s and women’s squads both earned postseason tourney berths.
The Tigers won the SWAC regular-season hoops crown, defending their 2023 title, but then notched Grambling’s first-ever SWAC Tournament championship to advance to March Madness. There, they won an opening round game in the First Four before bowing to eventual national finalist Purdue.
The Lady Tigers missed the Big Dance but were invited to the Women’s National Invitational Tournament and won a first-round game at Tulsa.
And now, for the first time since 2010, Grambling baseball will be playing in an NCAA Regional.
GSU stands at 26-26 (18-8 in regular-season SWAC play) while Texas A&M enters the regional with a record of 44-13.
“We faced a tough (Southwestern Athletic Conference) tournament that threw everything imaginable just to get here,” said Tigers coach Davin Pierre. “But here we are making history. Players like Cameron Bufford, Trevor Hatton and Julian Murphy, who have been a big part of this program for a long time, are now part of history. And this entire team has established their own legacy in the history of Grambling athletics.
“Now it’s about going out there and trying to continue making history.”
Speaking of history, the last time the Tigers appeared in an NCAA Regional was in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 2010, when then coach James Cooper’s GSU team fell 19-7 to Arkansas in its opener before rallying back against Kansas State in its second game, scoring four runs in the seventh inning to tighten things up only to lose 9-8.
Grambling first made NCAA hardball history in 1985 when the Tigers played in the Austin, Texas, Regional where they took the University of Texas to 12 innings before falling 4-3. Grambling fell 5-2 to Oklahoma a day later.
“I’ll never forget that Texas game —- that was historic,” said College Baseball Hall of Fame coach Wilbert Ellis, who was the Tigers’ bench boss. “Texas had a great team, including pitcher Greg Swindell. Gary Eave pitched the whole game for us.
“It was a game we lost on a controversial call, but we showed we could take a team that went on to the College World Series championship game to extra innings. I’m just praying we can see this year’s team do that (today) against Texas A&M.”
That won’t be easy. The Texas A&M pitching staff has the seventh best ERA in the nation (3.97) and ranks first in shutouts (10), first in 1-1 strike percentage (69.0), fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.31), fourth in WHIP (1.24), seventh in ERA (3.97), ninth in strikeouts per nine innings (10.8), 10th in 0-0 strike percentage (62.0), 11th in hits allowed per nine (7.94) and 11th in walks allowed per nine (3.26).
And that pitching corps’ 10 shutouts are tied with the 1976 Aggies for second in program history.
Offensively, Texas A&M ranks fourth in home runs per game (2.18), fifth in homers (124), sixth in slugging percentage (.567), sixth in walks (355), 13th in runs (500), 16th in scoring (8.8) and 19th in on-base percentage (.419).
They’ll be facing a Grambling batting lineup with a .317 batting average that ranks 10th nationally.
Junior second baseman Kyle Walker leads the charge, batting .394 with 11 home runs, 10 doubles, and one triple.
GSU’s projected starting pitcher, Mason Martinez, stands 12-2 on the season with a 4.33 ERA.
“I’m hoping the momentum that came from the way we won the SWAC Tournament carries over and gives us a spark against Texas A&M,” Pierre said. “Baseball is a crazy game and sometimes the underdogs do shock the world.
“That’s what we’re going to try to do. Represent Grambling and shock the world.”
The other two teams in the regional, Texas and Louisiana-Lafayette, will play in today’s evening contest. Winners collide Saturday after an elimination game between today’s losers.
