OMAHA — The Citadel? The Citadel? What happened to The Fullerton?
Wichita State failed to qualify for the College World Series this season, but there was a shocker at Rosenblatt Stadium nonetheless. The Citadel 8, Cal State Fullerton 7. The Titan team that won the Big West and swept through Austin with aluminum bats blazing is headed home, oh-for-Omaha. Those Titans milked the underdog angle for all it was worth--We have no money, please pitch us down the middle--but in the end, they were undone by an opponent who looks at Fullerton's bare-bones budget and sees nothing but a feast.
The Citadel recruits officers, not outfielders. It's a school where you can major in Major and play baseball on a weekend pass. The Citadel has all of two players on full baseball scholarship. It survives on football players and walk-ons and baseball players who Clemson and South Carolina don't want. "We get great people," Coach Chal Port says, "not great ballplayers."
So this is how Port makes do.
When his starting shortstop, Phillip Tobin, dislocates a shoulder during The Citadel's World Series opener against Louisiana State, Port substitutes with Scott Elvington. This is The Citadel equivalent of breaking glass in case of emergency. Before Monday, Elvington had three at-bats this season and had never started a college game.
When Elvington's nerves overwhelm him--he commits two errors and loses his glove chasing another grounder--Port dials another shortstop. Chris Coker, Port's regular first baseman, answers and moves across the infield, which brings Billy Baker, Port's regular right fielder, in to play first.
Eventually, Port also needs a relief pitcher. More patching, more juggling. Catcher Gettys Glaze takes off his gear, picks up a resin bag and walks to the mound. Glaze needs someone to throw to, so Port has to use his backup catcher, Larry Hutto.
Hutto has a stress fracture in his right leg.
Port knows he can't stay with this alignment for long. Glaze lasts about as long as Hutto does--3 1/3 innings--before Port has to move again. In to pitch comes Hank Kraft. Back to catcher goes Glaze. And onto the trainer's table goes Hutto.
The Citadel. The proud. The few. The overworked.
"What we did today is not unusual," Port said. "We are limited in personnel. We move them around and hope for the best."
More often, Port takes what he can get. Monday, his Bulldogs committed seven errors, yielded 15 hits, walked six Titans. . . . and still won in 12 innings.
