South Carolina has now won a record 16 consecutive NCAA tournament games (2010-11), breaking the all-time record of 15 shared with Texas (1983-84).

In addition, the Gamecocks have won their last 11 College World Series games dating back to last season, an all-time record. South Carolina broke the mark of 10 consecutive CWS wins they shared with both Southern California (1972-74) and Louisiana State (1996-98). The Gamecocks’ last NCAA tournament loss was a 4-3 setback to Oklahoma in the opening round of the 2010 College World Series.

Tanner, who just completed his 15th season at South Carolina and 24th overall in NCAA Division I baseball, has led the Gamecocks to the College World Series five times including in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2010. Tanner owns a 689-296 record at South Carolina with a .699 winning percentage, second highest all-time among SEC coaches. His career record is 1,084-469-3 for a winning percentage of .698.

South Carolina finished the CWS with a microscopic 0.88 ERA in five games, the fourth lowest team ERA in the event’s history and the lowest since 1972 (Arizona State, 0.68). Only five teams have ever finished the CWS with a team ERA under 1.00. South Carolina’s team ERA is the lowest by a CWS champion since California in 1957 (0.60). In 10 NCAA tournament games this season, which includes Regional, Super Regional and CWS contests, South Carolina finished with a 1.31 ERA.

The team defense was just as impressive as the Gamecocks committed only four errors in five games and turned nine double plays. After losing two of three at the Southeastern Conference tournament, the Gamecocks never suffered another setback the rest of the season as they ran off 10 straight wins to close the season and posted an overall record of 55-14.

Tanner, who is in his 15th season at South Carolina and 24th overall as an NCAA Division I skipper, led the Gamecocks to College World Series berths in 2002, 2003 and 2004 with a runner-up finish in 2002.

Under Tanner’s leadership, South Carolina owns the longest current streak of NCAA Regional appearances among the 12 SEC teams with 11 straight trips dating back to the 2000 season. In that span, Carolina has nine NCAA Super Regional appearances (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, and 2011).

South Carolina is one of only six schools in the nation to make at least eight NCAA Super Regionals in the last 11 years and one of only eight institutions in the country to have reached the NCAA Regionals every season from 2000 to present.

Heading into the College World Series, Tanner’s winning percentage at Carolina was .692, the second highest all-time among SEC coaches. Tanner has coached 27 All-Americans at South Carolina and 48 All-SEC players. Incredibly, his average yearly win total win total at South Carolina has been 45.6 over 15 years.

Tanner has also been heavily involved in USA Baseball over the years. He has served five stints with the red, white and blue, including his latest in 2003 as head coach for the USA National Baseball Team. He led the Americans to a glistening 27-2 record, the best record for a U.S. National Team at the time and won a silver medal at the 2003 Pan American Games.

While Gillespie has achieved fame and success in coaching four sports, it is his record on the baseball diamond for which he will be remembered the most. He leaves the coaching ranks just seven wins shy of 1,900 victories (1,893-952; .665), the most ever by any coach at any level of college baseball. Augie Garrido of the University of Texas and Gene Stephenson of Wichita State University are currently second and third. Both are still active, but neither has yet to reach the 1,800-victory mark.

“When you get to be 85, the good Lord has a way of telling you that it is time to slow down,” said Gillespie. “I’m looking forward to spending more time at home and being with (my wife) Joan who has not been feeling 100 percent for a while now. There are times when you just have to recognize that family comes first. You reach a point when you just don’t have the time or the energy to do the job the way that you have always done it in the past and that time is now for me.”

Gillespie will remain a part of the USF family and will serve as a Special Advisor to the Athletic Department and baseball program. “I have loved every minute of what I have done in coaching for the past 59 years,” said Gillespie. “I love this school and all the great people that I have the opportunity to work with and the young people whom I have had the honor to coach.”

Gillespie began a run of 59 consecutive seasons as a college baseball head coach at then-Lewis College in 1953. He spent 24 years with the Flyers and posted no losing seasons after a 5-9 record in his first year. He directed Lewis to the NAIA World Series eight times and his teams won national titles in his last three years at Lewis in 1974, 1975 and 1976.

He then made the short move down Illinois Route 53 to Joliet and assumed the head coaching reins at St. Francis. He tutored the Saints’ baseball program for the next 19 years and took his clubs to the NAIA World Series eight more times. The Saints won the school’s first and only team national championship in 1993.

Gillespie left St. Francis after a World Series in 1995 and moved up to Ripon College, an NCAA Division III school in Wisconsin, where he replaced his oldest son Bob – who was also Ripon’s director of athletics – as the Red Hawks’ head coach. He posted a 239-130 record in 10 seasons and led Ripon to the NCAA Division III playoffs in six of his last seven years.

“More important than wins was Gordie’s approach to the game and the way he taught and loved the players he coaches,” said Charlie Saponara, who played under his wing for four seasons while attending Ripon College. “More than anything, Gordie put his trust in his players and stood behind them 100 percent, through slumps and hot streaks.”

“While winning was always the team goal,” said Saponara, “making sure all of his players performed in the classroom and grew as men was always his personal goal – a goal he achieved with brilliant frequency.”

In the spring of 2005, Gillespie’s long-time assistant and his successor at St. Francis – Tony Delgado – announced his retirement. It did not take Laketa long to find Delgado’s replacement. One drive up to Wisconsin and Laketa had his man as Gillespie accepted the Saints’ offer to bring him back to Joliet.

Gillespie coached the Saints for the past six seasons and won two Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference championships and one CCAC Tournament title. He directed the Saints to the Opening Round of the NAIA National Championship in each of the last two years. He earned over 1,000 of his 1,893 wins at St. Francis, eclipsing that magical number earlier this season. He did all that after he had turned 80 years of age.

Overall, in 110 sports seasons over the course of 59 years, Gillespie compiled a record of 2,402-1170-6 (.672). In all, Gillespie’s teams failed to record at least a .500 mark on only 10 occasions. In five of those years, he fell just one win short of the break-even point. “In all the games I ever coached, I never thought we were going to lose,” Gillespie said.

When asked to recall highlights of his career, Gillespie did not mention a single one of his nearly 1,900 baseball wins or any of his more than 2,400 coaching victories. “My highlights have been working with all the wonderful people at these great institutions over the past 60 years,” said Gillespie. “They have been so many people whose company and talents I have treasured over all these years.”

By moving to third when Kenai Peninsula (Alaska) Oilers pitcher Jordan Mills struggled to field a bunt up the first-base line, Vertigan put himself into position to score the only run of the game. In a game that turned into a pitcher’s duel, Santa Barbara beat Kenai 1-0 to win the NBC title. “I really expected to see a higher-scoring game, after scoring in the first,” Vertigan said. “With all that action in the first, I expected it to be a different game. It’s all a blur now. It feels great.”

Santa Barbara manager Bill Pintard agreed. “We took advantage of some small ball at the beginning of the game and got it done. It’s really sweet.” Neither team managed much offense; each had four hits.” With tears in his eyes, Pintard, shown here with his team, hoisted the championship trophy for the third time. The Foresters also won NBC titles in 2006 and 2008.

Santa Barbara pitcher Mitch Mormann, pictured below, who redshirted at Wichita State in the spring, got the win. He threw 7 innings, giving up four hits, one walk and striking out four in the shutout. Spenser Messmore relieved him in the eighth and struck out the game’s final two batters looking.

“My fastball is my best pitch and I was able to locate it on both sides of the plate,” said Mormann, who was named Player of the Game. “Late in the game I was able to throw my changeup and slider for strikes, so that obviously helped out.”

Kenai would have needed to beat Santa Barbara twice because the Foresters came into the title game of the double-elimination tournament undefeated. That meant the Oilers could have played four games in three days, a tough proposition for any pitching staff this late in the tournament. Santa Barbara didn’t play on Friday.

Kenai coach Dennis Machado decided after the semifinal Friday night that he would go with an all-staff pitching plan – no Kenai pitcher threw more than one inning Saturday. “Our approach to today’s game was kind of out of necessity,” Machado said. “We didn’t have a starter to go in any of these games today, so we have a lot of guys in the bullpen who are very capable.”

“What we decided to do was run one guy out for three outs at a time. Their whole focus was three outs. They did a great job holding the Foresters down to four hits.” Kenai threw eight pitchers and only Mills, the starter, faced more than four batters.

Vertigan led off the bottom of the first inning with a single up the middle. Then Mills dove to field McNeil’s fast-moving bunt up the first baseline and tried to shovel it to first baseman Troy Channing. But McNeil was safe and Vertigan advanced to third. On Jeff McVaney’s high bouncer to second base, Vertigan scored from third.

Kenai’s best opportunity to even the score came in the seventh after Patrick Wisdom led off with a single and Channing was hit by a Mormann pitch. With runners on first and third, Stephen Branca hit a sharp liner. But Branca’s hit was right at Foresters first baseman James Wharton, who made the catch and stepped on first for the double play.

I still have many memories of Holland Dutchmen semi-pro baseball. It is my hope that the book I wrote will record many of these stories for our children, grandchildren, and other future generations to enjoy. The period from the late 1940s through the early 1960s was probably the most popular era of semi-pro baseball in the Dubois County area. Pictured here is a Jasper Reds baseball game at Alvin C. Ruxer Field in Jasper, Indiana. Leagues were in full bloom, yet there were many teams also playing independently, especially between 1946 and 1955.

Most small towns had a team, some even had two. It was also a time when baseball was considered the standard form of entertainment on Sundays, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day. Some teams were formed just to play on the holidays, such as the Bosler’s of Mariah Hill and the Buse’s of Holland.

Young children spent most of their time outside in the summer, and boys spent much of that time playing baseball. Games were organized by the kids themselves, not by adults. A single player could toss a ball off of steps or a wall. Two players could play catch or throwing each other ground balls or fly balls. Three players could play “Hot Box”, and four or more players could be found playing “Name your Field” or “Pitchers Hand.”

This type of play is seldom seen today. This was also an era when a boy played whatever sport was in season. Playing only one sport all year was unheard of. When a boy of this era was asked what his favorite sport was, the answer depended on what time of year the question was asked. It was baseball in the summer and basketball in the winter. For others, it was football in the fall.

My earliest memories of Holland baseball date back to 1959. My Dad took me to the games and we sat on the hill behind third base. If I was lucky, I would get to hang the number of runs scored on the scoreboard, at the top of the hill, after each half inning. It wasn’t long before I made the trip down the hill and started hanging around the dugout, hoping to acquire the broken bats or hoping to be asked to keep the scorebook. The broken bats could be repaired by Dad and used at home.

When I began playing in 1969, the memories changed to such things as pre-game warm up, including burn out, knuckle balls, and pepper, the pattern of pre game batting practice, pre-game infield, the loud thump of the catcher’s glove when warming up the pitcher, and one of the greatest sounds in sports – the sound of a wooden bat making solid contact with a fastball.

Becoming a manager in 1973 led to selling advertisements to local businesses, dragging the infield and lining the diamond on Sunday morning before heading to church, and icing down drinks for the post game.

Almost all of the Holland players grew up in small communities and took advantage of the unique educational, religious, cultural, and athletic opportunities that helped them determine who they would become.

For many years, it was considered normal behavior to go to church on Sunday morning and to the baseball diamond on Sunday afternoon. It was a great atmosphere for both spectators and players. For all of those who lived and loved those days, my book is dedicated to them.

After the 1975 baseball season, Holland folded their team and has not fielded a team since then. The Jasper Reds, however, have continued to play every season.

The history of the Jasper Reds semi-pro team, as pictured here, goes back 100 years to the Acmes in 1906. In 1974 when the Reds were about to fold, Bob Alles took over as manager. He is still with the team as general manager.

Semi-pro baseball has had two short lived bursts of interest in Dubois County since the Lincoln Land League folded in 1976. The Double-I League continued to play and Jasper joined the league in 1977 and played in the league until it folded following the 1981 season.

The glory days of semi-pro baseball, when almost every small town had a team, are regretfully a thing of the past. Semi-pro baseball in the Dubois County area had been in a slow, but steady, decline since the early 1960s. From 1955 through 1967, there were three leagues in the local area; this dropped to two leagues from 1963 through 1968; and finally to only one league from 1969 through 1976.

What caused this decline? Slow pitch softball usually gets most of the blame. Slow pitch softball had its major increase in popularity occur in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Softball players could play numerous nights during the week in leagues, and then play more games on weekends in tournaments.

Baseball players were playing once a week, on Sundays, and the number of Sundays were declining, as the number of teams declined. Softball became a much more attractive alternative to those wanting more opportunities to play, especially on weekends.

Finance may have played a small role in the decline of semi-pro baseball, but the Holland club did not have this problem. The Holland club continued to be supported very generously by local businesses all the way to the end and never suffered for lack of money.