City well represented in NCAA Baseball Tournament

By Benton Smith     May 30, 2014

Garrett Cleavinger, Oregon

When the 2014 NCAA Baseball Tournament begins today, Lawrence will be well represented, and not just because of Kansas University making its first appearance in five years.

Four players who once wore the baseball uniforms of Free State and Lawrence high schools will be in the dugouts of four college teams, playing in four states — all chasing the dream of reaching the College World Series.

Garrett Cleavinger, Oregon

This won’t be the sophomore left-handed reliever’s first trip to the NCAAs. The LHS grad appeared in three games and earned a victory for the Ducks against South Dakota State in the 2013 tourney.

After Oregon failed to advance to a super regional last year, the setup man understands the feel and atmosphere of the tournament’s first weekend and what awaits the Ducks in Nashville, Tennessee.

Tim Lewis, Maryland

“We’re obviously going there expecting to win,” Cleavinger said, “and we know with the team we have this year that we’re perfectly capable of going in and winning that regional.”

A tough critic, Cleavinger described his sophomore season up to this point (3-1, 2.76 ERA, 29 1/3 innings, 46 strikeouts, 16 walks) as up and down. His personal highlight came a couple weekends back, at UCLA — a big series for the Ducks (42-18). After walking two batters and plunking another in the series opener, he came back the following day with two strikeouts in an inning, then struck out three and earned a win in the finale of an Oregon sweep.

“It was a big confidence boost for me,” Cleavinger said, “and it turned out to be a big series for our team.”

The Ducks open the tournament against Clemson (36-23).

Tim Lewis, Maryland

Nick Krug
Kansas pitcher and Lawrence native, Colin Toalson, is pictured on Tuesday, May 27, 2014, at Hoglund Ballpark.

A junior outfielder from Free State, Lewis played at Allen County Community College a year ago. Now he’s a key member on Maryland’s first NCAA Tournament team in 43 years.

“Playing at this level, you play against the best,” the Terrapins’ starting left fielder said.

At first, that wasn’t easy for Lewis. In early April, he was only hitting .182. But once he became a regular starter during the Virginia Tech series (April 11-13), the one-time Firebird got comfortable at the plate and began seeing the ball well. He enters the Columbia, South Carolina, regional riding a 14-game hitting streak and has his average up to .307.

“I took advantage of the opportunity that he gave me,” Lewis said of coach John Szefc making the former junior college player the Terps’ No. 6 hitter.

Maryland (36-21) opened the season with a tough schedule, and Lewis said things were “pretty shaky” at times before the team recovered and made a push — “We’ve been rolling ever since,” he said. The Terps had won 11 games in a row before falling to Georgia Tech in the ACC championship game this past weekend.

Shane Willoughby, Youngstown State

Lewis knows Lawrence’s other NCAA Tournament participants well, and he’s hoping all of them experience success at their regionals.

“For all four of us to be in, it’s pretty special,” he said.

Maryland opens against Old Dominion (36-24).

Colin Toalson, Kansas

A Free State product, Toalson isn’t an every-day player for the Jayhawks (34-24), but he is a part of just the fifth team in program history to earn an invite to the NCAAs. The junior right-handed pitcher who has thrown 6 2/3 innings in six appearances was bombarded with texts, phone calls and congratulations when KU made the tournament field.

“It’s kind of weird being in the same town I went to high school in,” Toalson said, “but it’s still fun. Just walking around town, I see all these people I knew from when I was 8, 9, 10 years old. They keep up with what’s going on, what we’re doing.”

As excited as Toalson and another FSHS alumnus, freshman catcher Lee McMahon (not on the active roster for the tourney), are for their opportunity, the former Firebirds pitcher said it’s also cool to be one of the handful of guys representing the city’s baseball programs in the postseason.

“I remember growing up as a kid playing with all those guys, playing against them,” Toalson said. “Hopefully we’ll get a chance to play against each other again on a much bigger stage, more at stake. I think it’d be a lot of fun.”

Kansas opens against Kentucky (35-23).

Shane Willoughby, Youngstown State

The freshman shortstop from Lawrence would never make such a claim, but one could argue Willoughby had as much to do with Youngstown State’s NCAA berth as any player in the starting lineup.

On the season, the former Lion is only batting .200 with 25 hits and 10 RBIs, but at the Horizon League Tournament last weekend, he went 5-for-13 with five runs scored and two RBIs in a four-day, must-win stretch that gave the Penguins (16-36) an unlikely automatic bid.

“I didn’t have a really good regular season, but I picked it up in the tournament,” Willoughby said a few days after YSU won the Horizon’s postseason title in Mequon, Wisconsin. “We had a lot of guys step up in the tournament, which made us pretty successful.”

The 5-foot-9 freshman bats near the bottom of the YSU lineup, but his teammates encouraged him to be aggressive at the plate.

“To get the opportunity that I’ve gotten this year to play and just help out the team as much as I can,” he said, “it’s been unbelievable.”

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