"Everybody loves an underdog," said James Cooper, an interim coach who's been told privately he will be retained as Grambling's skipper next season. "We noticed how they were rooting us on and how they changed the Pig Sooie chant into a Grambling chant."FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The baseball puzzle for Kansas State was seemingly completed Saturday when its leading hitter broke out of an NCAA Regional funk. Nick Martini, extra dry after an 0-for-6 start to begin the regional, got going in a big way. The co-Big 12 player of the year ripped a three-run double to the left-center-field gap to give the Wildcats an eight-run lead in the fifth inning. "I was struggling a little bit at the beginning of this," said the sophomore outfielder, "and that double helped us get ahead. From there on, we just had to stay focused."
Easier said than done.
Grambling, making its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 25 years as one of two teams in the field with a losing record, rallied within a run before Kansas State held on 9-8 in Baum Stadium. K-State will play at 2:05 p.m. Sunday in an elimination game against the loser of Saturday night's game between Arkansas and Washington State.
But momentum shifted in the top of the sixth when the Cats' Kent Urban was thrown out at the plate by Tigers left fielder Mychal Roby. After scoring in each of the first five innings, K-State did not score again. And Grambling caught fire. "The first five innings was the way we were hoping to draw it up," K-State coach Brad Hill said. "It didn't end up the way we wanted it to end up, but I give them a lot of credit. Sufficiently pumped, the Tigers displayed the same offensive clout as in a 19-7 loss against Arkansas the day before.
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It's Over! Grambling State University Tigers had a successful baseball season-- 2010 SWAC Champions, and found a permanent head coach in James Cooper.
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