World Series Dreamin': Gators Have a Sparkling Season on the Diamond
Seasons, as is their wont, come and go. Summer slips into fall, fall fades into winter, winter thaws into spring, and on the cycle goes. Not so for UHD's 2024 baseball season, though. That season will stay, if only in the minds of the players, parents, and coaches who participated, along with the minds of every Gator who was rooting for them during their run to the National Collegiate Baseball Association (NCBA) Division II World Series.
Coming into the season, Head Coach Scipio Spinks (former Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher) expected a challenge, as his team was inexperienced, with Marcus Gomez (3B/C), Nathan Martinez, Jonathan Ruiz (2B/SS), and Chance Thurston (OF/UT) being the only familiar faces.
"My last team, I had coached them for two and a half, three years," he said. This year? "It didn't look good." Spinks noted, however, that this wasn't due to a lack of talent or desire, but rather an issue of chemistry, as much of the team didn't know each other, and didn't know him.
After practices and some exhibition games in the fall, things came together, as the team started the spring with a 6-0 record. By the time Texas Christian University (TCU) came to town (a tough test by any measure), Spinks thought the team had found its way.
Still, he wasn't sure.
After winning the series two games to one, though, he knew he had something.
"When I first came here, I wanted my teams to be like a family. I said 'We have to act like a wolf pack: we hunt together, run together, fight together, stay together. After we beat TCU, I saw how the guys were, even after the game, and I knew. We had a team."
Kyle Capulong, an Accounting major and pitcher on last year's team (he helped coach this year as he had exhausted his NCBA eligibility by the start of the spring), said that he was confident in their ability to exceed last year's regional playoff appearance once they committed to each other and the team.
Regional Playoffs
After the TCU win, the team entered the regional playoffs on a high, a high they didn't come down from: They started with a high-scoring, 10-6 victory against Arkansas, a game that Capulong said, upon looking back, was his favorite of the season, as the Razorbacks were highly ranked. That win, he said, gave the team an emotional high and a huge confidence boost heading into their next game, a tilt with Arlington Baptist (ABU). The ABU contest was a blowout, a 7-0 shutout in which the Gators only gave up four hits versus the 15 produced by the offense.
After that strong showing, Coach Spinks' vision for the season was a reality: They were headed to Alton, IL, the site of the NCBA World Series.
Awaiting them was one of the toughest teams they had encountered: Ohio State University (OSU).
The World Series
OSU, with its enrollment of roughly 65,000 students and superior depth, was one thing. Combine that with a rowdy stadium atmosphere they hadn't yet experienced, and the environment was almost enough to overwhelm. "The music was so loud we had to scream at each other to hear," said Capulong. "It was a lot different than a typical regular season game, or even a playoff game."
Coach Spinks said that, even though he knew some guys were nervous, he wasn't worried: "A few of the guys were a little jittery, I could see it. I always put my hand on their chest to feel their heartbeat, and I tell the guys whose hearts are really thumping, 'If it wasn't beating there'd be something wrong.'" Drawing on his MLB experience, Spinks said this kind of mental work is prevalent in the big leagues, the kind that helps players control their thoughts and their anxieties.
His tactics worked, as UHD immediately gained a three-run lead on the Buckeyes in the top of the first inning, thanks to a Leon Walker triple, a Chance Thurston walk, and a Colton Jones double. After OSU put up two runs in the third, the game went scoreless for two more innings, until the Gators broke through in the top of the sixth.
After being plunked, Leon Walker got to second due to a balk. Then, with two outs, Colton Jones came to the plate and put the ball in play to the shortstop. Thanks to an error, Walker scored, bringing the run count to 4-2.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Buckeyes relied on their depth, making a timely substitution that would ultimately decide the game. With fresh legs, they loaded the bases, but not before UHD recorded two outs.
"They had 30 guys," said Coach Spinks. "We walked in there with 12, and by the end our team was just dead tired." The fatigue showed and, unfortunately, the Gators couldn't protect their 4-2 lead. After a single brought the score even, a stolen base and a few more hits plated the winning run.
Despite the loss, Capulong said it showed him and the rest of the team they could compete with any ball club, anywhere. For Coach Spinks, the loss, though tough to take, showed him the team's resilience, as many of the players, fought through injuries during the game, refusing to come out.
Gator Grit
That resilience would be on display the next day when the Gators took on State University of New York (SUNY)-Cortland (the tournament was double-elimination). This time, the game was a stalemate from the first pitch until the fifth inning, when Dylan Suarez scored thanks to a Hunter Hillegeist hit. UHD tacked on two more that inning and never looked back, winning 3-2.
On Sunday, May 19, the team played their final game of the year, an 8-3 loss to West Chester University (WCU) that eliminated them from NCBA Division II World Series competition.
While the elimination was disappointing, the season was not, said Spinks: "I'm proud to work with these kids at UHD. We could have won that World Series, and yeah, we're upset we didn't, but we ought to be glad...given how many guys we had and having to deal with injuries." He added that the team's development on the field wasn't the only thing that brought him satisfaction, as many of the players matured as students and young men, learning skills like resilience, decision-making, time management, emotional intelligence, and teamwork.
And just as their season had unfolded, full of surprises and unexpected joys, it ended much the same.
After the final game, Coach Spinks called one of his connections with the St. Louis Cardinals (he pitched there in 1972 and 1973) to let them know he and the Gator club were in the area, and to ask if there was any way they could get the team into Busch Stadium for a ballgame. "Not only did they get [the team] into the game," Spinks said, "they took our boys down to the field to watch the team take batting practice, then sat them in box seats right behind first base."
Mark Emmert, a Senior Content Writer for Cardinals Publications, said the team was "delighted to invite Scipio and his UHD team to enjoy a game at Busch Stadium as our guests. [Spinks] was one of the most popular Cardinals players of his era, on an All-Star path until injury derailed his career. It is no surprise that he has continued to be an ambassador for the sport that he played with such obvious joy."
Typical of the competitive spirit, the team began to look ahead to next year, upon returning to Houston, excited about the challenges and opportunities ahead. Spinks said that while the team has grit and talent, they need depth, and they need a field to practice on, a place to call home, as opposed to bouncing from city park to city park, then turning around and trying to find another field that isn't torn up when it's time to play a home game.
These two challenges go hand in hand, said Spinks: the itinerant nature of the team's practices and home games make recruiting all the more difficult.
Of course, next season will be here soon, as will new players, while the current ones will move on to internships, graduation, and careers, families and lives. For his part, Capulong said the season will stay with every member of the team, and added that it was one of the best teams he's ever been on. "No one had an ego, and we all understood that well had a part, that we all contributed [to the team's success]. It's amazing that, after a few short months, I've made lifelong friends."
Photo Credit: Taka Yanagimoto, Director of Photography & Digital Assets