Throughout the 2018-19 academic year, the Great Lakes Valley Conference is celebrating 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 2014 Southern Indiana baseball squad.
40 TEAMS | 40 YEARS
WEEK 38: 2014 Southern Indiana Baseball
SEASON SUMMARY
The 2014 University of Southern Indiana baseball team used guts and grit to win their second national championship in four years. Under the tutelage of head coach Tracy Archuleta, the Screaming Eagles posted a 49-13 overall record and won the GLVC East Division and NCAA Division II Midwest Region titles before defeating the top four teams in the country at the NCAA Division II Championship Series. The Eagles faced top-ranked Tampa – a team that had won 21 straight games and sported a record of 51-2 – in the opener. USI snapped the Trojans win streak before defeating No. 3 Lander and No. 2 Minnesota State-Mankato to earn a spot in the winner-take-all national championship game against No. 4 Colorado Mesa. USI prevailed in an epic 12-inning marathon, besting the Mavericks 2-1 to capture the third team national championship in school history. Matt Chavarria was named Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Championship series after going 1-0 with two saves and a 0.00 ERA, while Kyle Kempf, Brent Weinzapfel and Ben Wright joined him on the All-Tournament Team.
Archuleta was named the 2014 NCAA Division II Diamond/American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Coach of the Year. He became the first USI head coach to be named national coach of the year twice, winning his first in 2010 after leading the Eagles to their first national title. Archuleta, who also was named the Midwest Region Coach of the Year by the ABCA and the GLVC Coach of the Year, guided USI to a school-record .790 winning percentage, highlighted by a near-perfect 28-3 record at USI Baseball Field. The Eagles went 4-1 on their home field in the Midwest Regional, beating Drury 4-2 to win the title. USI did not have the same success playing across town at Bosse Field, however, as it went 2-2 and was eliminated from the GLVC Championship Tournament. The Eagles entered the postseason as the GLVC’s No. 1 seed following a league-best 29-5 record, with all five setbacks suffered away from Evansville. In addition to earning the GLVC East Division title, USI surpassed the 40-win plateau for the third time during Archuleta’s tenure, while producing the eighth-straight winning season during the run to the national championship. The 2014 Eagles also had 10 All-Conference honorees and eight region award winners.
IMPRESSIVE INDIVIDUALS
Matt Chavarria
- NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team and Most Outstanding Player (2014)
- Daktronics/D2SIDA All-America Second Team (2015)
- ABCA All-Midwest Region Second Team (2015)
- Daktronics All-Midwest Region Second Team (2014)
- Co-GLVC Pitcher of the Year (2015)
- All-GLVC East Division First Team (2014-15)
Kyle Kempf
- NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team (2014)
- Golden Glove All-Midwest Region First Team (2014)
- Three-Time All-GLVC East Division First Team (2014-15-16)
Brent Weinzapfel
- NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team (2014)
- All-GLVC East Division First Team DH (2013)
- All-GLVC East Division Second Team OF (2014)
Ben Wright
- NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team (2014)
- All-GLVC East Division Second Team SP (2013-14)
Caleb Eickhoff
- Daktronics All-Midwest Region Second Team (2014)
- All-GLVC East Division First Team 2B (2014)
Jon Wandling
- Daktronics All-America Honorable Mention (2014)
- Daktronics All-Midwest Region First Team (2014)
- Golden Glove All-Midwest Region First Team (2014)
- ABCA All-Midwest Region Second Team (2014)
- All-GLVC East Division First Team SP (2014)
Matt Bowles
- Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team (2014)
- Daktronics All-Midwest Region Second Team (2014)
- All-GLVC East Division First Team UT (2013)
- All-GLVC East Division Second Team SP (2014)
David Toth
- ABCA All-Midwest Region Second Team (2014)
- Daktronics All-Midwest Region Second Team (2014)
- All-GLVC East Division Second Team SP (2014)
Andrew Cope
- Golden Glove All-Midwest Region Second Team (2014)
- All-GLVC East Division Second Team 1B (2014)
Ryan Bertram
- All-GLVC East Division Second Team C (2014)
Brad Wannemuehler
- NCAA Division II Elite 89 Award (2014)
Tracy Archuleta
- Two-Time Diamond/ABCA Division II Coach of the Year (2010-14)
- ABCA Midwest Region Coach of the Year (2010-14)
- NCBWA Midwest Region Coach of the Year (2010-14)
- Three-Time GLVC Coach of the Year (2004-11-14)
- Boasts Five NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Titles
- Guided Eagles to Six GLVC Division Crowns
LASTING LEGACY
USI earned both its and the GLVC’s second national championship in the sport in four years as the Screaming Eagles claimed their first in 2010. The victory also marked the 15th NCAA Championship in any sport for the GLVC, including the 11th overall on the men’s side. The win was the exclamation point to the most successful season in GLVC history as the league claimed three team national championships – the first time ever that the conference has had multiple national titles in the same academic season. In addition to USI baseball, the Drury men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams captured the national crowns in the conference’s first year of sponsorship in the sport. As for USI, the baseball program would continue its national prominence in the latter half of the decade, earning its fourth Midwest Regional title and a fifth-place finish at the NCAA II Baseball Championship in 2016. Two years later, Archuleta and the Eagles recorded their fifth regional crown and once again appeared in the NCAA II Baseball Championship. Over this span, Archuletta eclipsed 500 career wins and is the winningest coach in the history of USI’s program with 476 victories in 13 years. He has also mentored a handful of some of the GLVC’s best, including Matt Chavarria and Lucas Barnett, who were named GLVC Pitcher of the Year in 2015 and 2017, respectively, as well as 2018 GLVC Player of the Year Drake McNamara, and GLVC Freshman of the Year winners Bryce Krizan (2018) and Lucas McNew (2019).