Pilots land four on NAIA World Series All-Tournament Team 05/31/03

Tyson Arishenkoff, shortstop for the LSUS Pilots, won the Gold Glove Award for the 2003 NAIA World Series and, along with three teammates, was named to the All-Tournament Team. The Gold Glove Award goes to the most valuable defensive player in the tournament.

Pilots’ ace Gene Stevens was the No. 1 pitcher on the All-Tournament Team. His battery mate, catcher Aaron McRae, and outfielder Cole Reynolds were also named to the elite squad.

McRae and second baseman Wesley Gray both received honorable mention recognition in NAIA All-American balloting.

Six of the 10 teams in the World Series had All-Tournament players. National Champion Lewis-Clark State College placed five players on the team. LSUS and Oklahoma City University, which was ranked No. 1 all season but lost two straight games to Lewis-Clark to finish second, placed four players each to the team. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Daytona Beach, Fla.), Indiana Tech University (Ft. Wayne) and Bellevue (Neb.) University each had one player named to the team.

Two Lewis-Clark players joined Arishenkoff as winners of individual awards. First baseman Emerson Frostad received the Charles Berry Hustle Award, and pitcher Mark Kaiser was name the tournament’s most valuable player.

The Pilots, who made their first-ever appearance in the World Series, triumphantly returned to Shreveport Friday evening after finishing the tournament in Third Place. LSUS defeated Indiana Tech, Embry-Riddle and Spalding University (Louisville, Ky.) by combined scores of 33-9, but lost twice in the double-elimination competition to Oklahoma City.

For the Stars, it was Yogi Berra’s “déjà vu all over again.” Two years in a row, the Oklahoma City squad sailed into the championship game undefeated. And, for the second straight year lost twice to Lewis-Clark to finish runner-up. Lewis-Clark hosted the tournament in Lewiston, Idaho, for the third consecutive year.

The Pilots earned their way to the World Series by winning the Region XIII tournament and the Atlantic South Super Regional.

Gulf Coast Athletic Conference rival William Carey College, playing host to the Region XIII tournament in Hattiesburg, Miss., defeated the Pilots 10-2 in the undefeated semi-final game. LSUS then won three in a row to win the regional championship. The final two games against William Carey were both one-run thrillers, the first 2-1 and the second 10-9 in 11 innings.

McRae and Gray were also named to the All-Region XIII Team, and head coach Rocke Musgraves was named Region XIII Coach of the Year.

The Pilots then played host to Embry-Riddle, then the No. 4-ranked team in the nation, in the Super Regional. LSUS took the first game 8-5, then dropped the second game 9-3. A coin toss made the Pilots the visiting team on their own field. They used the opportunity to jump on the Eagles for seven runs in the top of the first inning and never look back. The Pilots won the weather-shortened third game, 13-2, at the end of the sixth inning.

Musgraves loses six seniors from the record-setting 52-24 team: Arishenkoff, McRae, outfielder Ramsey Branch, infielder Miles Fletcher, pitcher Dustin Walden and catcher/infielder Miguel Hernandez.