Grambling eyes SWAC title repeat

Shreveport, LA - Grambling baseball coach James Cooper knows first-hand just how good Shreveport has been to his school. After all, it was less than a year ago when Cooper's Tigers stormed through the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament to secure an NCAA regional berth.

The Tigers' chance at an encore begins today at 9 a.m. when they face Mississippi Valley State at Fair Grounds Field in the first game of the 2011 SWAC Tournament.

"Shreveport has been good to the university," Cooper said. "We had the Port City Classic when the football team came and played (Louisiana) Tech last fall and we were able to win a championship here last year. We feel it's going to be a home game since we're right down the road." The Tigers (22-23) enter this year's tournament in a much different frame of mind than in 2010.

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Young Grambling enjoys SWAC success

Coach James Cooper

Grambling head baseball coach James Cooper had a lot of holes to fill heading into this season as his team began the defense of its 2010 SWAC Tournament championship.

 The Tigers had to replace their entire outfield, both corner infielders, a second baseman and a catcher. Only three of the top players from the championship run — shortstop Chris Wolfe and starting pitchers Adrian Turner and Richie Bautista — were back in 2011.

Yet the Tigers are playing better now than they were at this point last season, holding on to second place in the SWAC Western Division standings. GSU is 10-5 (17-17 overall) in league play, and has the same number of losses as first-place Southern (13-5).


Videographer: weareintime

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Grambling opens campaign with high hopes

Grambling's 2010 season will be a tough one to follow. After finishing the regular season with an 18-30 overall record, the Tigers became scorching hot in the postseason.

They swept through the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament, outscoring the opposition 47-10 over four games to capture the program's first conference title in 25 years.

The Tigers have had a lot of turnover in their roster since then, but they still enter the 2011 season with ...

Grambling State looks to build on end of 2010

Grambling State baseball coach James Cooper can be forgiven for looking back a little bit.

Nine months ago, Cooper and his Tigers authored one of the greatest weekends in recent GSU baseball history — sweeping through the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament at Shreveport's Fair Grounds Field to earn an NCAA regional berth.

"We've actually tried to pick up where we left off," said Cooper, whose team opens the season against...

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Grambling State University claims SWAC baseball tournament title

Grambling State University Tigers first year coach James Cooper wins first SWAC championship.

SHREVEPORT, LA — As the Southwestern Athletic Conference baseball tournament crawled along, the regular-season powerhouses quietly tiptoed out of Fairgrounds Field. Eventually, Grambling and Alcorn State found themselves in the championship game. Sunday afternoon, with an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament on the line, Grambling was quiet no more. The long-suffering Tigers — playing against Alcorn State University and their former coach, Barret Rey — unloaded on the Braves pitching staff and got a sterling effort from left-hander Adrian Turner in a convincing 15-2 victory.

It is the ninth SWAC championship for Grambling, but its first in 25 seasons. The Tigers hadn’t won a baseball title since 1985, when then-coach Wilbur Ellis led them to their third consecutive crown. This time, their coach is James Cooper, who, at 29 years old, took over the Grambling program last summer when Rey left after three years for the same job at Alcorn.

The Braves (28-27), who finished third in the SWAC Eastern Division, were 3-0 in the tournament heading into Sunday’s championship game, with two wins over Southern and one more against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Grambling (22-30), which finished third in the SWAC West, went undefeated in four games at Fairgrounds Field. Jackson State lost its first two games. Southern and Texas Southern flamed out Friday.

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No-quit Grambling streaks into Monroe‎

First year Coach James Cooper has the Grambling State Tigers on a early season win streak.

The Grambling State baseball team was the coldest team in the Southwestern Athletic Conference at the beginning of the season. Now the Tigers may very well be the hottest After starting the season 0-9 Grambling has won eight of its last 12 games. The hot streak began in early March with two-game sweeps of Jarvis Christian and Alabama State, and continued with 2-1 series victories over a pair of SWAC foes. Grambling took two out of three games against Texas Southern, and followed by taking two out of three against Prairie View A&M this past weekend.

Grambling (8-13 overall, 4-2 SWAC) visits ULM tonight for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch, and hosts Arkansas Pine-Bluff for a three-game conference series this weekend.

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Grambling State Baseball to Start Cooper Era

James Cooper is about to begin his first season as a Division I baseball coach, but he'll have plenty of experience within the Grambling Tigers to draw from. The Tigers return nine of the 12 players who started at least 20 games last season. Despite a 17-37 record last season, Grambling did come within one win of playing for the SWAC Tournament title. Cooper, a native of Cullen (La.) and Grambling graduate, replaced former coach Barret Rey. Although he'll have plenty of help in the lineup, including 2009 leading hitter Steve Kletke, Cooper will look for some new help on the mound as the season begins at Stephen F. Austin on Friday.

Coach Cooper started season at 0-2, dropping games on the road at Stephen F. Austin, 4-0 and 9-4. The Tigers play this afternoon to end the series.

Gone are starting pitchers Baron Hinton and Manny Kumar, who combined for eight of the Tigers' 17 victories last season and finished 1-2 in innings pitched. Hinton led the team (players who pitched more than 10 innings) with a 4.59 ERA. The Tigers lose 30 starts from five departing pitchers, but retain Adrian Turner. The Kenosha, Wis., product tied for the team lead with seven starts as a sophomore in 2009.

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