MOBILE, Ala. – Just 18 months ago, University of New Orleans head baseball coach Tom Walter stared into a desert sky wondering what – if any – future his program had.

 

University of New Orleans

UNO players celebrate the 2007 Sun Belt Title.

His baseball team, like most of New Orleans, had evacuated miles from home following the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. His family was tucked away in Michigan while he and his staff did whatever it could to keep the 2006 Privateers intact.

On Saturday, his time in New Mexico State seemed like eons ago. His 2007 Privateers are postseason bound.

UNO put up six runs in the fifth inning, and the Privateer pitching trio of Justin Garcia, Stephen Whalen and Adam Campbell did the rest as UNO defeated No. 22 Louisiana-Lafayette 8-2 in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship on Saturday at South Alabama’s Stanky Field.

With the win, UNO (37-24) won the Sun Belt’s automatic bid and punched its ticket to the 2007 NCAA Regionals. Bids will be announced at 11:30 a.m. on Monday.

For Walter and the rest of his program, it was the final stamp on a redemption project that seemed improbable.

“I definitely had some family decisions to make about our future in this city,” Walter deadpanned. “But it was this group of guys that made the decision to stay so much easier. I could not be prouder for a group of guys or for a University than I am right now.”

Johnny Giavotella went 2-for-3 with a solo home run to lead the Privateers. The sophomore second baseman was named the Sun Belt Tournament Most Outstanding Player after going 8-for-17 with two home runs, five RBIs and seven runs scored.

It was a fitting tribute for a local New Orleans product, who like many on the Privateer roster, spent his first collegiate days stationed in Las Cruces, N.M. during the fall 2006 semester.

 “There was never a moment where I said I wasn’t coming back,” said Giavotella, the Privateers’ lone member of the All-Sun Belt regular season team. “We all had all the confidence in the world in Coach Walter, and we were a tight team and we were coming back.”

T.J. Baxter went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Joey Butler added two RBIs and a run scored.

On a long Saturday for UNO, which eliminated Middle Tennessee 10-4, the Privateers got stellar pitching from Garcia, Whalen and Campbell.

Garcia, who threw 100 pitches in UNO’s tournament-opening win over Western Kentucky on Wednesday, started and surrendered just two runs in four innings.

Whalen, who threw 65 pitches in Friday’s loss to Middle Tennessee, came in to throw three scoreless innings – working around three walks.

And in the fifth inning, the Privateer offense – stifled by ULL starter Buddy Glass (7-4) through the first four frames – erupted.

Trailing 2-0, UNO took advantage of a hit, a walk and two hit batters to score its first run. After ULL (43-15) replaced Glass with left-hander Kyle Mickles, Baxter greeted the southpaw with a two-run double to center – giving UNO its first lead of the day.

The Privateers made it 4-2 when Mickles was called for a balk with runners on second and third, and senior Greg Wolfe and Nick Schwaner later added RBI singles to make it 6-2.

Whalen then kept the momentum going in the sixth -- escaping a bases-loaded, two-out jam by getting ULL cleanup hitter Jeffries Tatford to foul out to Baxter, who made a diving stab to end the threat.

The Privateers added single runs in the seventh and eighth frames to make it 8-2 and handed the ball to UNO closer Adam Campbell. The senior tossed the final two frames, ending it on a flyout to senior Brandon Bowser and sending a resilient Privateer dugout into celebration.

“We had to call 38 guys and re-recruit them,” Walter reflected on his days following the storm aftermath. “As a group, the guys got together and decided to stick this out. I will never forget that loyalty.”