Five Bearkat baseball players named preseason All-SLC
2/11/2008 1:00:00 AM | Baseball
With five players on the 2008 pre-season All-Southland Conference squad, Sam Houston State has been picked as the runner-up in the SLC West Division in a poll of the league's head coaches.
Lamar is the choice of the coaches to win the East Division while Texas-San Antonio has been tabbed as the likely winner in the West. In the West, the coaches foresee Sam Houston as number two, followed by Texas State-San Marcos, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and Texas-Arlington
In the East, Southeastern Louisiana is the choice for runner-up, followed by Northwestern State, McNeese State, Central Arkansas, and Nicholls State.
Bearkat outfielders Bobby Verbick and Keith Stein and pitcher Jacob Howard are first team pre-season All-SLC selections. Outfielder Todd Sebek was named to the second team and catcher Heath Pugh was an honorable mention pre-season selection.
Those five players helped the Bearkats turned things around last year to become the third most improved program in NCAA Division I, going from a 23-31 record in 2006 to a 40-24 mark last spring.
The 40 victories was the most by a Sam Houston team since 1987 and only the seventh time in the program's history to win 40 or more games. The Bearkats finished fourth in the Southland Conference regular season standings, SHSU's highest league finish since 1997.
Sam Houston swept unbeaten through the Southland post-season tournament to earn its fourth NCAA Division I Regional berth. In SHSU's four tournament games, the Bearkat pitching staff limited opponents to eight runs and a 2.00 earned run average over 36 innings. Included was a 2-0 shutout of Texas State-San Marcos on day one as the fourth-seeded Bearkats upset the No. 3 seed Bobcats to get things going. SHSU then beat No. 2 Lamar 7-3 and top-seeded Texas-San Antonio 5-4 to advance to Saturday's championship round. Texas State-San Marcos was the victim again as the Kats won 3-1.
In NCAA action at Oxford, MS, the Bearkats reached the Division I Regional finals for the first time. Three times on the tournament's final day, the Kats were down to their final out and, three times, Sam Houston State found some way to stave off elimination and beat Southern Mississippi 12-11 in 11 innings.
Sam Houston came from behind in the first elimination round to defeat Troy 5-4 to reach the final day. The Bearkats fell to host Mississippi in the finals.
The Bearkats set school records for highest team batting average (.321) and most runs batted in (416) as well.
Verbick produced a .370 batting average, playing in all 64 games, earning All-America honors. He led the team with 23 doubles, five triples, 14 home runs, and 81 runs batted in. Verbick had 30 multiple hit games and led the Bearkats with 21 multiple RBI contests.
Catcher Heath Pugh, Mann, Verbick, Stein, and Stephen Prihoda all were named to the All-Tournament team at the SLC post-season event with Prihoda receiving tournament MVP honors. Additionally, Stein, Verbick, and Krailo were selected All-Tournament at the NCAA Regional.
Verbick, Pugh, Stein, Sebek, and Howard return as part of a group 12 lettermen from last year's squad . To fill the gaps left by the departure of the 12 seniors, Coach Johnson and his staff have brought in a recruiting class full of talented freshmen and transfers.
Head Coach's Pre-Season Poll
| WEST DIVISION | EAST DIVISION | ||||
| 1 | Texas-San Antonio (8) | 63 | 1 | Lamar (7) | 62 |
| 2 | Sam Houston State (2) | 53 | 2 | Southeastern Louisiana (5) | 58 |
| 3 | Texas St-San Marcos (2) | 52 | 3 | Northwestern St. | 42 |
| 4 | Stephen F Austin | 30 | 4 | McNeese St. | 39 |
| 5 | Texas A&M-Corpus Christi | 24 | 5 | Central Arkansas | 30 |
| 6 | Texas-Arlington | 20 | 6 | Nicholls St. | 15 |
PRESEASON 2008 ALL-SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE
First Team: P - Jacob Howard, SHSU; Brian Sisk, Lamar; Erich Lehmann, SFA; C-Zach Etheredge, UTSA; 1B-Trent Lockwood, UTSA; 2B-James Keithley, UTSA; 3B-Ty Summerlin, SE LA; SS-Thomas Field, TX St-San Marcos; OF-Bobby Verbick, SHSU; Keith Stein, SHSU, Michael Rockett, UTSA; DH-Tim Palincsar, UTSA
Second Team: P-Lance Lange, SFA, Mike Hart, TX St-San Marcos; Wade Miley, SE LA; C-Kevin Croft, SFA; 1B-Danny Slinkman, UTA; 2B-Noel Trevino, SFA; 3B-Paul Goldschmidt, TX St-San Marocs; SS-Bryan Gerondale; OF-Todd Sebek, SHSU, Chase Williams, TAMUCC; Chris Houk, UCA; DH-Chris Winder, TAMUCC
Honorable Mention: P-Josh Black, SE LA; C-Heath Pugh, SHSU; 1B-Bryn Thompson, McNeese; 2B-Jordan Armstrong, SLU; 3B-Lance Brown, UTSA, SS-Shon Landry, McNeese; OF-Zach Gardner, SFA; Chase Wheaton, TAMUCC; Kevin Crabtree, SFA
