Baseball Returns from National Tournament with Experience, Respect, and Pride

LAKELAND, Fla.-- The 2008 North Central Baseball team experienced a long and challenging season thrown off by weather cancellations and player turn over from the 2007 team that finished fifth at the national tournament. Despite those challenges the team earned a trip back to the NCCAA Division II National Tournament hosted by Southeastern University in Lakeland, Fla.

Though the Rams were defeated in all three games they played in the tournament, it was a great experience for the young team and first year coach Tim Beasley. NCU opened up play on Wednesday with a 24-3 loss to eventual national champion Southeastern. SEU has won the last four Championships. On Thursday the Rams battled hard but fell 9-0 to Manhattan Christian College (Manhattan, Kan.). In the consolation game NCU sucumbed to a more talented Atlanta Christian College (Atlanta, Ga.) 14-5.

Despite losing all their games in the the tournament the Rams hard ballers represented themselves and their university well. Coach Beasley was complimented by the umpires, coaches, and tournament directors on how hard his team played regardless of the scoreboard, "Umpires who've been doing this tournament for several years and calling games for 30 seasons complimented us on how we played the game the right way and how our guys were respectful of the opponents, umpires, and the game of baseball."

That sentiment was reinforced as NCU received the 2008 Team Sportsmanship Award which is voted on by the coaches of each team. Beasley was proud of the way his team handled itself, "We were maybe a bit over-matched talent-wise but we played hard and represented ourselves well as shown by us winning that award. I could not be more proud of our team and I'm excited for the future of this program with the type of guys we have coming back."

Senior Tom Beilke was also recognized for his stellar season by winning the Unlimited Potential Outstanding Christian Leadership Award. This honor is presented to the player who is recognized as having the best potential to minister in Christian Service through the game of baseball. Beilke was also named to the 2008 All-Tournament team for his play in the three games over the weekend.

After experiencing a season where the weather took 10 double headers off the schedule and created havoc for practice and travel the trip to Florida was also a great reward for the young Rams. Beasley and assistant coach Nick Solberg made sure to take advantage of all that Central Florida had to offer their team. Following their game on Friday NCU went to a Lakeland Tigers game. Lakeland is the minor league affiliate of the Detroit Tigers Major League club. Then on Saturday the team traveled to Clearwater Beach for some fun in the sun. After a day at the beach the team headed across the bay to Tampa to see the Tampa Bay Rays play the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Tropicana Field.

Their 2007 and 2008 appearances in the NCCAA DII National Tournament are the first in school history for NCU Baseball. With a solid base of players returning and some interesting recruits coming in, 2009 looks to be another opportunity to continue their success.