Lehigh University Athletics
AP: Lehigh eagerly anticipates first NCAA appearance
5/19/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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by Dennis Waszak
Associated Press baseball writer
Sean Leary has been on the telephone a lot more than usual lately, fielding calls from former teammates, alumni and fans who are giddy about Lehigh's first NCAA tournament berth.
"As a program, we haven't been here before,'' the Mountain Hawks coach said. "That might be the most exciting part of this, just to see how many people are excited about this opportunity for our program.''
Lehigh, located in
"We've challenged the last few years against some pretty good competition, so there won't be the awe factor of, `Wow ... we're here,''' said Leary, a former Lehigh shortstop who's in his 11th season as coach. "For them, and 25 years from now for their memories, I think they prefer to play a team like Texas and get an opportunity to see where we stand against one of the storied programs in college baseball, whomever that may be.''
Leary, a 1993 Lehigh graduate who played four years for the Mountain Hawks, never made it this deep into a season as a player. Still, he knows exactly what he needs to do to prepare his team for this next step.
"We're not changing anything,'' Leary said. "We're just going to go ahead and keep having fun and we'll see where that takes us. No one really expected us to be here, so there's no pressure on us at this point. But there's enough talent here that if we play well, we're going to give whoever we match up with a pretty good battle.''
To avoid a potential three-week layoff before they play in the regionals, the Mountain Hawks scheduled a home-and-home series against Ivy League-champion
"That'll be perfect,'' Leary said. "We'll have two games in right before we leave Wednesday or Thursday for regionals.''
Playing this late in the season seemed a long shot when the Mountain Hawks were 14-21 on April 11.
"We did something I would say was a little unconventional,'' Leary said. "They were pressing and we pulled them in one day and I just said to them, `You're all playing tomorrow; you're all playing the rest of the year. This is the group we're going to win or lose with.' We felt pretty confident with that.''
The strategy apparently worked. The Mountain Hawks won 13 of their last 17 games, starting with a four-game sweep at Navy.
"That catapulted us into first place and was really the turning point of our year,'' Leary said. "At that point, it was just: Let them go out and play. And the last month was pretty much what we had hoped for the whole season.''
With hard-hitting catcher Matt McBride, the Mountain Hawks have a big bat anchoring a lineup that has proven it's capable of scoring runs. Lehigh has scored at least eight runs 14 times, and is 13-1 in those games.
McBride, a junior, is considered one of the best all-around catchers in the nation and could be a high draft pick in June. He's hitting .421 with 10 home runs, 53 RBIs, 21 stolen bases and 50 runs scored.
"He's a pretty special kid,'' Leary said. "He's very, very high on people's radar screens and he'll most likely be the highest-drafted player we've had in our history. He's the best defensive catcher I've had the pleasure to work with, and if you look at the offensive numbers he's putting up, from power to average to speed - all around the board, he's pretty much been fantastic all season.''
Third baseman Matt Geiger (.314, 1, 22), second baseman Mike Sandonato (.309, 2, 21), first baseman Andrew Smith (.250, 3, 38) and outfielders Joe Ercolano (.333, 3, 19) and Nick Bet (.313, 2, 36) solidify a lineup that has hit .296 and outscored opponents 314-292.
The pitching staff is led by right-hander Kyle Collina (6-5, 3.91), a senior who won last Saturday's opener against Bucknell despite having two teeth pulled the previous day. Sophomore righty Joe Matteo (7-3, 3.93) threw a five-hitter in a 5-0 championship-clinching win last Sunday.
"There certainly could've been a change-the-lineup type of attitude or we could've shaken things up when we were struggling, but I'm glad we stuck with what we believed in,'' Leary said. "I think I would've felt just as good with this group if they had fallen short because they were all the right guys. They really put the time in and worked hard to get here.''
