Bethune-Cookman eliminates Grambling State at SWAC Tourney

ATLANTA – Colton Olasin was 3-for-4 with four RBIs, while Santiago Gomez went five strong innings on the bump for Bethune-Cookman on Saturday afternoon in helping the Wildcats secure a 14-4 victory over Grambling State and advance to the title game of the 2023 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Tournament at Russ Chandler Stadium on the campus of Georgia Tech. Sunday’s title game will be between BCU and Florida A&M at 1 p.m., with the game being shown on ESPN3.

 

Timely hits. Strong starting pitching. And good fielding all played a part for the Wildcats – seeded No. 2 in the Eastern Division, on Saturday at Mac Nease Baseball Park.

 

Grambling State (25-25) led early-on by plating a pair of runs in the home-half of the first inning.

 

Kyle Walker smacked a double to left field while first baseman Cameron Bufford walked, with both eventually coming around to score on a triple off the wall in left from Trevor Hatton. That allowed the top-seeded Tigers from the Western Division a 2-0 lead after an inning played.

 

Bethune-Cookman (33-26) would tie things up in the top of the second inning with two runs of their own.

 

Boris Peña and Robert Moya each led off the Wildcats at-bat with back-to-back singles. A Colton Olasin single to centerfield allowed Peña to score. Jeremy Garcia followed with an infield second to second base, pushing in Moya to even the ballgame.

 

The Wildcats took the lead 3-2 after Garret Chun took an RBI base on balls with four-straight pitches and the bases loaded. The lead would grow to 6-2 off the end of a two-out bases-clearing double off the centerfield wall by Hylan Hall that scored Chun, Garcia and Luis Tuero, respectively.

 

BCU added three runs in the top of the third inning to widen the lead at 9-2.

 

Moya singled and Manny Souffrain doubled to left, and the lead stretched to 7-2 at that point in favor of the Wildcats. Irvin Escobar tallied an RBI single in his at-bat to put runners on the corners. That set the stage for Olasin to pick up a run-scoring double down the line in left bringing in Souffrain. A Garcia sacrifice fly to right field was deep enough for Escobar to score and make it 9-2.

 

The Cats would produce another big inning in the top of the fourth with five runs.

 

Escobar doubled following a Souffrain walk to put runners on the corners. Olasin immediately followed with a two-run single up the middle to make it 11-2. Chun delivered an RBI single with a hot shot through the left side, bringing in Olasin from third. A Hall single to right center crossed Garcia. And a Peña sacrifice fly allowed Tuero to come in from third and advance the BCU lead to 14-2.

 

That inning for the Maroon and Gold was good enough to put the run-rule into effect.

 

Grambling produced the final score line of 14-4 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh, using an RBI base on balls drawn by Walker with the bases loaded to score reserve third baseman Daylon Ardoin. The final run was scored courtesy a Bufford single that plated Julian Murphy.

 

It would be Yoansell Diaz toeing the rubber in relief to get the final three batters with strikeouts.

 

The win went to BCU starter Santiago Gomez as he upped his record to 2-3 for the season. The right-hander worked five innings, giving up just two runs on three hits, three walks and picking up three strikeouts. The loss went to Grambling starter Lorenzo Petersen, with the Tigers ace throwing just 1.2 innings, allowing six runs on five hits, two walks and adding one strikeout.

 

The BCU bats were charged by Olasin’s 3-for-4 effort as he added our RBIs and two runs scored of his own. Hall added two hits and four RBIs, while Escobar also supplied two hits for the Cats. Chin punched in two RBIs on one hit, going on to score one run.

 

The Wildcats now face in-state opponent Florida A&M in the SWAC Championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m.

 

 

We have all heard stories of fortune favoring the unsuspecting. You know, those tales of serendipity when a heartbroken individual seems to randomly cross paths with the one who will become the love of their life. Or when a homeowner purchases a property that needs a little TLC only to discover a hidden treasure in the backyard. In the case of Bethune-Cookman and its vacant head football coaching position, that hidden blessing could very well be Raymond Woodie.

To cut straight to the point, BETHUNE-COOKMAN NEEDS TO HIRE RAYMOND WOODIE. Yes we used all caps and yes the decision is that simple in my mind. BCU should offer Woodie the job and bug him until they get an answer.

It makes too much sense. It’s almost a no-brainer in fact. Raymond Woodie feels like the right hire for a multitude of reasons.

I am fully aware that there are several capable and highly qualified coaches who are still interested in the job but Coach Woodie checks many boxes others just simply do not.

First, he is a Wildcat. Check that…he is a Wildcat legend.

Woodie was a two time All-American at both safety and linebacker. If you ever remind Coach Woodie about his All-American honors, he will quickly remind you that he was also an Academic All-American and at the time of his departure, BCU’s single season sack leader with 14.5 in 1994.

I never advocate for hiring an alum just for the sake of hiring an alum, but when considering all of the uproar around the program as well as the dissonance and almost post-traumatic reflexes many alumni seem to suffer from currently, Coach Woodie could serve as an emotional healing balm for the school’s supporters. That might be an over-exaggeration of things but Cookman people need something to feel excited about and Woodie provides that. BCU folks need to be able to celebrate BCU folks right now.

In fact, before the Ed Reed fallout, before the Roland Martin hyperattention and before the dozens of editorials on the status of Bethune-Cookman, HailWildcats.com polled the fans on who should replace Terry Sims as head coach. Our November 2022 poll received over 1,800 votes and Raymond Woodie was the overwhelming fan favorite. Woodie received nearly half of the votes while interestingly enough, Ed Reed who was also mentioned in that poll, received the lowest vote total (around 7%).

Second, he is a heck of a recruiter and he is proven.

Just how good of a recruiter is Coach Woodie, check out the guys he signed while at Oregon, Florida State, Florida Atlantic and Western Kentucky: Tyler Higbee, Asante Samuels Jr, Forest Lamp, Dede Lattimore are just some of the names Coach Woodie landed.

Woodie was ranked as the No. 2 recruiter in the ACC by 247Sports in 2018 despite having less than two months to recruit for the Seminoles after he was hired. Rivals named him as the top recruiter in the Sun Belt in 2012, top recruiter in the AAC in 2014 and top recruiter in the PAC-12 in 2017.

Good teams are loaded with good players and Woodie signs great players.

Woodie’s defenses posted pretty good stats while at Florida State and Oregon too. At FSU where he coached linebackers in 2018, opponents were held to 3.5 yards rushing per carry. That number was second in the ACC. He served as linebacker coach and special teams coordinator for the Ducks in 2017. Oregon finished in the Top 25 nationally in turnovers forced and rushing defense under Woodie.

He is a fundraiser.

Raymond Woodie led Palmetto High School to the District Championship in 2008. He also designed and raised $1.2 million for a new field house for the Palmetto football program that year.

It just makes sense.

It’s hard to imagine a better candidate for the BCU job considering Woodie is Cookman-Man, with a proven record as a recruiter, coach and fundraiser. It. Just. Makes. Sense.