A year after tough championship-game defeat, Cumberland looks retooled and ready (but not as beefy) for another run
By Matt Baney
Last season’s NAIA World Series was climaxed by perhaps the most tense, most thrilling championship game among the 50 that have been held.
And Cumberland - which had the winning run stationed 90 feet from home plate at one taut moment - was the unfortunate runner-up.
“It’s really been a painful thing since we left there, for the whole team - and especially the guys on that team,” Bulldogs coach Woody Hunt said. “We left our hearts out there.”
But in the same breath, the 23rd-year coach said it’s also a proud moment. The Tennessee club went toe-to-toe with Lewis-Clark State, the NAIA’s ultimate superpower, before sustaining a 5-4 loss in 11 innings.
Following the setback, the Bulldogs had to retool what had been a senior-heavy roster. Just six players who were in Lewiston last year are with the program now.
Yet Cumberland is back in the Series for the fourth consecutive season. The Bulldogs will try to extend their run of consistency, which has seen them finish first in 2004, fourth in ‘05 and second last year.
But this Cumberland club can’t match the prodigious offensive statistics posted by its predecessors. The Bulldogs (48-18-1) are hitting .317 and have 71 homers - solid numbers, but lower than they’ve been in awhile.
Plus, they don’t seem to have a slugger in the mold of Donnie Burkhalter, Angel Mercado or Alberto Cruz. The biggest bat is swung by Eric Mull, a transfer from California who leads the team in homers (19) and RBI (84).
The Bulldogs also get some pop from Luis Martinez (12 homers), Clint Alexander (11) and Courtney Propst (nine).
“I don’t want to discredit this team at all (but) it’s not a typical Cumberland hitting team,” Hunt said. “You can see that our average is not as high as it usually is. We do have some good hitters, but it’s not one of our typical big offensive teams.”
For a change, the pitching staff has carried more of the load. Back from last season are Zach Whitmer, Karl Mejlholm and Aaron Tant, as well as versatile reliever Adam Tomlinson. But the top starter is Robert Clayton, a newcomer from a Florida junior college who is 12-2.
Tomlinson was stellar in last year’s title game, allowing just one hit in 51/3 innings. But he gave up a bases-loaded walk to Jose Castenon in the 11th that pushed across the deciding run.
This season, the right-handed senior has put together a team-best 2.22 ERA while going 7-2 with six saves. So Tomlinson has apparently recovered for the championship disappointment.
“I don’t think it’s affected him one bit,” Hunt said. “I think it’s made him more hungry, maybe, in the long run to get back out there.”
The Bulldogs have one injury concern: Mejlholm, who missed six weeks with an elbow injury. The senior, who beat British Columbia in last year’s Series, has pitched some lately, but isn’t 100 percent recovered, Hunt said.
Early in the season, as the new cast was finding its footing, Cumberland stumbled to a 20-13-1 start. But the Bulldogs have won 28 of their last 33 games.
Fans might take Cumberland’s presence for granted, but Hunt said making the tournament is a big achievement for this club, “because nobody gave us a chance in March.”
“I feel good about our team,” he added. “However, I know it’s going to be tough. We’ll have to overachieve, probably. But at the same time, we feel like if we get good pitching, we’ll have a chance to do some things.”
