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Trevecca
Baseball 2002 Season Recap
TranSouth Tournament Coverage
http://www.leeuniversity.edu/athletics/
http://www.transouth.org/
The 2002 Trojan Baseball Team completed another successful season in 2002 under the leadership of Head Coach Jeff Forehand. In only his second year of coaching at Trevecca, Forehand brought the Trojans from a 15-40 record last season to a record of 28-29 this season, breaking several team and individual records in the meantime. From the very beginning the Trojans showed themselves ready for a successful season and expectant of great things to come.
In the season home opener, the Trojans came out ready to start the year off with a blast, defeating Chrichton College in both games of a double-header—10-4 and 11-2. Senior shortstop Chris Collins began an offensive explosion when he crushed two home runs, two doubles, and two singles on the day. Collins’ powerful display was only a preview of things to come; he went on to shatter home run records and leader boards in the conference, region, and at Trevecca. Defensively, sophomore pitcher Keith Black began his pitching dominance, picking up his first win of the season in relief in the second game. Black also went on to break records and dominate on the mound.
As the season continued the Trojans proved to be very successful, winning against the NCAA division 1 Belmont Bruins. Leading the Trojans in that win was senior centerfielder Terrence McClain who launched two home runs in the game, batting 3-4 with 5 RBIs. Keith Black, once again, made the win for the Trojans and improved to 2-0 on the season when Trevecca won the game for Coach Forehand, a former player for Belmont.
The Trojans continued to play good baseball as they approached the TranSouth Conference schedule with a 6-6 record. In conference play Trevecca jumped off to a big start, winning 3 out of 4 from conference opponent Freed-Hardeman. With the 3-1 conference start the Trojans led the TranSouth Conference after the first week of play. The Trojans’ great start was led defensively by Trevecca ace Keith Black. Black was ranked 2nd in ERA (1.88), 5th in complete games (2), 6th in saves, and 7th in wins (3). Junior Eddy Sanchez also dominated from the mound with 27 strikeouts in the first week of conference play. Offensively, seniors Terrence McClain and Chris Collins lead the charge. After the first week of conference play McClain was tied for 6th in home runs (3), 8th in triples, and 9th in steals (5 for 6). Juniors Jordan Baker and Randall Harbert also contributed to the team’s success with 3 home runs each. Collins ranked 3rd in home runs (4), 7th in doubles (5), and 10th in batting (.384). Collins continued his offensive power into the weeks to come and obtained conference and region recognition as a result. Collins, a senior shortstop from Flowing Wells High School in Tucson, Arizona, was named player of the week for both the TranSouth Conference and Region XI midway through the season. During the week Collins posted a .550 batting average (11 for 20) with a double, 4 home runs, 11 RBIs, and 5 runs scored in 6 games.
As Collins led the Trojan bats, Keith Black also earned conference recognition, receiving TranSouth pitcher of the week honors midway through the season. During the week, Black lowered his TranSouth leading ERA to 1.94 with a shutout victory over Berry College, allowing only 3 hits, no earned runs, 8 strike outs, and 2 walks picking up his 7th win of the season. Black only allowed one earned run in conference play.
As the second half of the season got underway the Trojans looked at a tough TranSouth schedule. In the final conference series of the season Trevecca traveled to Lee University for two double headers. In the first game junior pitcher Eddy Sanchez threw a complete game win, striking out 8 batters to pick up his 5th win of the season. Terrence McClain went 2-4 in the game with an RBI as the Trojans completed the conference schedule. With the win the Trojans had 11 conference wins making them the winningest TNU team in conference play since the 1994 season.
With post season play nearing the Trojans secured the #3 seed in the TranSouth Athletics Conference Tournament. In the tournament the Trojans fell to a tough Berry team 5-8 dropping them into the losers’ bracket; however, Trevecca came back strong, defeating Freed-Hardeman in a 15-1 romp. Senior first baseman Michael Henry blasted a grand slam in the winning effort, and pitchers Eddy Sanchez and Fidel Armor shut down the Freed-Hardeman bats to advance to the next round. After the win the Trojans were eliminated from contention in a 7-2 loss to Martin Methodist College, wrapping up the season for the Trojans. Despite the loss Trevecca finished with a 28-29 record on the year and placed several players on the all-conference and all-region teams.
Three Trevecca Trojans—Chris Collins, Terrence McClain, and Keith Black— were named to the First Team All-TranSouth Athletic Conference. Also, Collins and McClain were named to the 2002 All-Region XI Team. Collins led the TranSouth with 20 home runs for the season. He finished 3rd in batting (.412), 2nd in RBIs (51), and 9th in doubles and runs scored. McClain finished 4th in home runs (12), RBIs (47), runs scored (50), and triples (3). He also placed 9th in stolen bases (13 of 15) and doubles (13).
Overall, the Trevecca Trojans finished the season with a 28-29 record and 11-12 record in the TranSouth Conference. The Trojans have made huge improvements in comparison to last season’s 15-40 overall and 3-18 conference record finish. The 28 wins are the most wins by a Trevecca team since 1990, and the 11 conference wins are the most for a Trevecca team since 1994. Coach Forehand and his team are pleased with the improvements and plan to continue to bring success to the Trevecca baseball program.
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