Throughout the 2018-19 academic year, the Great Lakes Valley Conference will celebrate its 40th anniversary by recognizing 40 teams that made a significant impact both on campus and at the Conference level. Our next featured team is the 2010 Southern Indiana baseball squad.
40 TEAMS | 40 YEARS
WEEK 29: 2010 Southern Indiana Baseball
SEASON SUMMARY
Three years after winning the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Region title and making its first trip to the NCAA DII Championship Series, the 2010 Southern Indiana baseball team captured the GLVC title, the NCAA DII Midwest Regional crown, and its first NCAA DII National Championship. The Screaming Eagles finished the GLVC campaign 23-5 to earn the top seed in the GLVC Tournament, which began their postseason road to Cary, North Carolina. USI swept its way through the GLVC Tournament with a 4-0 mark, but had to battle back through the elimination bracket of the Midwest Regional to defeat Grand Valley State twice on championship day in front of its home crowd. Once in Cary, USI topped Minnesota State-Mankato in the opener, which ended at 3 a.m. due to rain, and then knocked off Kutztown to advance in the national championship series. After suffering a 3-0 setback to Georgia College, the Screaming Eagles returned to beat Georgia College 3-2 in an elimination game to earn a spot in the winner-take-all title game against the UC-San Diego. Tracy Archuleta’s ninth-ranked ballclub knocked off the top-ranked Tritons 6-4 to earn the national crown and finish the season with a program-best 52-14 record. USI won 42 of its last 49 games on its way to the title and went 13-2 in the postseason (GLVC and NCAA DII Tournaments). The Screaming Eagles relied on strong pitching, aggressive base running and a powerful offensive lineup throughout the season. Three Eagles were named first-team All-GLVC, including outfielder Michael Huling, pitcher Trevor Leach, and catcher Dylan Mooney. An additional four USI standouts were named to second team in outfielders Justin Blinn and Caleb Ehmke, utility player Randy Rosario, and pitcher Taylor Dennis.
IMPRESSIVE INDIVIDUALS
Dylan Mooney
- NCAA II Midwest Region All-Tournament Team (2010)
- NCBWA All-Midwest Region First Team (2010)
- Daktronics All-Midwest Region First Team (2010)
- All-GLVC First Team (2010)
Trevor Leach
- NCAA II Midwest Region All-Tournament Team (2010)
- NCBWA All-Midwest Region First Team (2010)
- Daktronics All-Midwest Region First Team (2010)
- Three-Time All-GLVC First Team (2009-10-11)
Michael Huling
- NCAA II Midwest Region All-Tournament Team (2010)
- NCBWA All-Midwest Region Second Team (2010)
- Daktronics All-Midwest Region Second Team (2010)
- All-GLVC First Team (2010)
Brad Vance
- NCAA II Midwest Regional Most Outstanding Player (2010)
- All-GLVC First Team (2011, 2012)
Taylor Dennis
- NCAA II Championship Series Most Outstanding Player (2010)
- All-GLVC Second Team (2010)
Wes Fink
- Hit .396 with a double, two home runs and 14 RBIs during the postseason
Tracy Archuleta
- Diamond/ABCA DII Coach of the Year (2010)
- ABCA Midwest Region Coach of the Year (2010)
- NCBWA Midwest Region Coach of the Year (2010)
- Finished the 2010 season with a four-year record of 170-76 (.691) at USI
LASTING LEGACY
The 2010 USI baseball team captured the school’s second national title as the men’s basketball program earned the first in 1995. The Screaming Eagles became the first team from the Midwest Region to capture a national title in baseball and the third-most northern school in NCAA DII history. Head coach Tracy Archuleta was named the Diamond/ABCA DII Coach of the Year, making him only the second USI head coach to be named Coach of the Year nationally, as Bruce Pearl won the award from the National Basketball Coaches Association in 1995. Archuleta led the Screaming Eagles to a berth in the NCAA DII National Championship Series for the second time in four years, while also picking up the school’s first GLVC Championship for the first time in 17 years. In the Eagles next four-year span, Archuleta guided them back to another national title in 2014.