Pierce Named Rising Head Coach
12/17/2012 4:35:00 PM | Baseball
Kendall Rogers of PerfectGame.org named Sam Houston baseball coach David Pierce one of ten rising stars in the college baseball coaching ranks.
During Pierce's first season as head coach of the Bearkats, the 2012 baseball team hoisted the Southland Conference regular-season championship trophy for the first time in 23 years. Sam Houston earned the title by a margin of four games.
The 24 Southland Conference victories tied the league record for most conference wins in a season. For the first time in their 12 trips to the Southland post-season tournament, the Kats were the No. 1 seed.
Sam Houston State rolled up a 40-22 overall record, only the third time in the Bearkats' 26 seasons at the NCAA Division I level for the squad to compile 40 or more victories.
"The Bearkats made a slam-dunk hire last year when they went with former Rice pitching coach David Pierce as head coach," wrote Rogers. "Pierce spent several seasons in charge of Rice's pitching staff, learning under coach Wayne Graham, one of college baseball's coaching legends."
Sam Houston received its first at-large selection to the NCAA tournament as a Southland Conference member. The Kats punched their tickets to the NCAA Baseball Championships in 1996, 2007, 2008 and 2009 as winners of the Southland tournament.
SHSU's spot in the 2012 NCAA Houston Regional marked the program's seventh NCAA Division I tournament appearance overall.
At the NCAA tournament in Houston, the Bearkats equaled their best NCAA Regional performance ever. After falling in the first round, the baseball team battled back to reach the regional finals against Arkansas. Along the way they upset No. 1 regional seed Rice.
With a special group of athletes back in '13, the Bearkats again should experience success.
Fellow Southland Conference head coach Jay Artigues of Southeastern Louisiana was also on the list.
