Pettigrew leads Muleriders to brink of CWS

Submitted photo: Southern Arkansas head baseball coach Justin Pettigrew. Photo by Brenna Johnson, courtesy of Southern Arkansas Athletics Communications.
Submitted photo: Southern Arkansas head baseball coach Justin Pettigrew. Photo by Brenna Johnson, courtesy of Southern Arkansas Athletics Communications.

MAGNOLIA -- Southern Arkansas coach Justin Pettigrew and the Muleriders finished the season just one game away from the 2018 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship as the program continues to maintain lofty expectations.

Pettigrew said the program's success speaks for itself.

"The good thing is we are not a roller coaster program," Pettigrew said. "We have not had up years and a couple of down years. We have won 30 or more games for 18 consecutive seasons now. That shows you we are on a steady climb. I feel like our guys have done an outstanding job to not only keep us at that level, but take us to another level. Hopefully, next year, we will be able to get over that hump."

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Submitted photo MAGNOLIA FINAL: Coach Justin Pettigrew, left, led the Southern Arkansas Muleriders to the final of the Magnolia Regional on May 21 against Augustana at Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field. Photo by Brenna Johnson, courtesy of Southern Arkansas Athletics Communications.

The Muleriders (41-19) were ranked No. 1 in the Division II Central region after winning the 2018 Great American Conference Baseball Championship in Enid, Okla., earlier this month. The ranking allowed Southern Arkansas to be chosen as one of eight regional hosts.

The team started the Magnolia Regional in similar fashion as the GAC Tournament. The Muleriders lose their first game in both tournaments to lower seeded teams.

"(Pettigrew) just always said, after we lost the first one at the GAC, when an animal is backed into a corner, he's either going to come out fighting or he is going to back down," said redshirt sophomore catcher Zach Muldoon, a graduate of Lake Hamilton.

Southern Arkansas followed a loss to Arkansas Tech (29-23) in Enid with four wins in three days to take the conference title. The Muleriders put up 13 runs in the bottom sixth inning of the final game to leave no doubt in a 16-3 championship victory against Oklahoma Baptist (31-19).

"We got the reaction out of our team that we wanted," Muldoon said. "We were not going to go down without a fight."

The team faced a similar test in the Magnolia Regional after losing, 8-6, to bottom seed Emporia State (34-24). The Muleriders then won five games in four days, playing their way through the loser's bracket and taking the first game of a doubleheader on May 21 against Augustana (50-9).

"As far as heart and fight, it ranks up there as the top team I have ever been a part of here at Southern Arkansas," Pettigrew said. "Talent-wise, to be honest, we have had better teams. That's just the way it works sometimes.

"The most talented teams don't get as far as the guys that play for each other, fight and continue to fight every single pitch, every single out and every single inning. It was fun to watch what those guys did, not only this tournament but also in the conference tournament and really for the last month."

The Vikings outlasted the hosts, 6-3, in the final game of the season at Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field. Augustana won its first two games of the Division II College World Series in North Carolina and plays again tonight at 6 p.m.

"I like where our program is going," Pettigrew said. "We reached the regional championship game, one game away from reaching the College World Series for the second time in program history. It has been since 2010 since we got that far. We won more games in the NCAA Regional than any previous team in program history. I feel like we are headed in the right direction. We've got some big shoes we need to replace. We will reload and we will be back."

Pettigrew said longtime coach Steve Goodheart laid the foundations for the program's success. Goodheart was 22-57 in his first two years in Magnolia and 5-37 in his fourth season.

Goodheart's tenure as head coach ended in 2003 after 23 seasons. Despite the team's struggles in his first several seasons, Goodheart finished with a record of 764-416-5, a winning percentage of .647.

Mike Godfrey was 79-40, .664, in the next two seasons before Allen Gum took over for five seasons. Gum has the highest winning percentage in program history at .769, going 226-68 in five years.

Steve Brown was the coach for the next five years, recruiting Muldoon to Magnolia. Brown was 224-107, for a winning percentage of .677.

Pettigrew, also a product of Lake Hamilton, became the head coach in 2016. He played baseball in junior college after high school at Bossier Parish Community College in Louisiana and Connors State College in Oklahoma before he finished his playing career with Arkansas Tech in 2000.

His coaching career also begin in Russellville, where he was the pitching coach for the Wonder Boys for five seasons. Pettigrew was the pitching coach for the Muleriders for 10 seasons before he took the head coach position.

Southern Arkansas boasted a first round Major League Baseball draft pick, National Pitcher of the Year and runner-up for the Tino Martinez Award for the nation's top Division II player in 2010 with Pettigrew as the pitching coach. Former Mulerider Hayden Simpson was drafted No. 16 overall by the Chicago Cubs.

Simpson was 13-1 with a 1.81 ERA, 131 strikeouts to just 35 walks during his final season in Magnolia. The Muleriders had two other pitchers and a catcher selected in that year's draft.

Southern Arkansas was 39-16 in Pettigrew's first season. The Muleriders were led by All-American Trevor Rucker, who batted .393 and hit 20 home runs.

"Everybody always asks me, 'How are you going to replace that guy?' Well, we are not going to replace him with one player," Pettigrew said. "We are going to replace him with multiple players and guys who were here are going to have to step up and continue to be better.

"It's the same thing in replacing our seniors this year. I don't know that we are going to replace them with one guy. We do have some really good pieces coming back that were in the lineup for the regional tournament. We have a couple of guys that were injured this year that we are looking forward to getting back in our lineup. I like where we are headed. We just need a couple more pieces of the puzzle. That's all we really need."

Southern Arkansas graduates 10 seniors, including the GAC Player of the Year, third baseman Jacob Richardson, and GAC Pitcher of the Year, Hunter Vasquez. Pettigrew said he is excited to see how his returning players perform next season.

"It is going to be good to watch those guys grow," Pettigrew said. "They all had good years. I expect them to have even better years next year and fall into those leadership roles a little bit more and replace what those seniors did for us."

Muldoon finished hitting .275 with four home runs, 23 runs and 25 RBIs. His 28 walks led the team and helped him earn a .403 on-base percentage, third-best on the team.

Leadoff sophomore second baseman Austin Baker hit .340 and led the team in runs scored with 63. Junior center fielder Dakota Wright hit .308 and tied Richardson and senior first baseman Cortland McPherson for the team lead in home runs with 13.

The Muleriders will be joined this fall by recent Lakeside graduate Remy Bilodeau, who was 6-3 with a 2.57 ERA this season for the Rams (22-8). He had 46 strikeouts and 15 walks in 32 2/3 innings.

"I really respect the head coach (Leighton Hardin) at Lakeside," Pettigrew said. "He does an outstanding job and I know if (Bilodeau) can fit in their program and do the things they do in our program, it is going to be an easy transition for us, as far as coming to SAU.

"I think he will step in. He's going to pitch for us. I don't really know what his role is going to be yet. That will be determined throughout the fall and then the early part when we get back from Christmas in January up until we get ready to play. I am excited about having Remy, for sure."

Magnolia just enjoyed one of its best spring seasons ever. The softball Muleriders (60-11) bowed out Sunday in the national semifinals.

"I love Magnolia," Pettigrew said. "Our support is outstanding, not only for our baseball program, but for the entire university. You see that with all of the people that showed up for our regional tournament. It was the same thing for softball the week before."

Pettigrew said he hopes to continue the program's success. He is currently 80-35 in his first two seasons, giving him a winning percentage of .696, ranking him second-best in program history behind Gum.

Sports on 05/31/2018

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