The 2013 season was a historic season for the Coker baseball team. The Cobras captured the Conference Carolinas Tournament title, earned the team’s first-ever NCAA postseason bid, won the NCAA Southeast Regional and advanced to the NCAA DII Baseball National Championship. They finished the year with a record of 38-16, the third best season in school history, and were ranked as high as No. 3 in the nation according to the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.
The Cobras began the season with a 10-3 record, before finishing the Conference Carolinas portion of their schedule with a 14-9 record and earning the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. Coker captured its first-ever NCAA postseason berth after winning the 2013 conference championship on Apr. 28. The Cobras went 5-1 in the tournament, including winning four straight elimination games in the final two days. Coker earned the No. 4 seed at the 2013 NCAA Southeast Region Tournament, drawing the No. 3 seed Armstrong Atlantic in the opening game. The Cobras plowed through the Pirates 11-6, advancing to play the No. 2 seed USC Aiken. It was a nail-bitter from start to finish as the Cobras defeated the Pacers 2-1 in 10 innings with a walk-off base-on-balls by Shea Bell to score Fico Kondla. In a battle of undefeated teams, the Cobras took care of the No. 1 seed Mount Olive, 5-3, behind a stellar pitching performance by freshman Alex Hernandez. Then in the championship game, senior Dan Meyer threw a complete game on just two days rest to lead the Cobras to a 7-2 victory over the No. 5 seed Georgia College. The win gave the Cobras their first-ever trip to the NCAA DII Baseball National Championship. The Cobras drew the No. 1 University of Tampa Spartans in the opening game of the national finals and lost a tough contest. Then in the elimination game the Cobras faced another tough opponent, Grand Canyon. The No. 7 Antelopes ended Coker’s historic season.
Along the way, the Cobras earned seven Conference Carolinas weekly awards, while landing five on the All-Conference teams. Kondla and Andrew Goot were named to the First Team, while Meyer, Tyler Witzel and Zach Loraine were named to the Second Team. Lucas Britt, Zach Durham, Kyle Gallman, Goot, Taylor Martin, T.J. Sinnott and Keith Wolf were named Academic All-Conference. Goot and Loraine each garnered one National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Regional Pitcher of the Week Award. Kondla was later named a finalist for the Josh Willingham Award, which honors the top player in Division II baseball, while he and Loraine were named to the NCBWA All-Southeast Region Team. Loraine was later named All-Region by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), before being named a Daktronics All-American. T.J. Giczkowski would earn the ABCA’s Gold Glove Award, before Goot would be named the Conference Carolinas Spring Scholar Athlete. To cap off the incredible year, Dave Schmotzer was named the ABCA/Diamond Southeast Region Coach of the Year. The Cobras thrived as a team academically, achieving a 3.20 team grade point average. Loraine was also drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 21st round (No. 635 overall), only the second player in program history to get the call. Several media outlets took pride in covering the Cobras that season, as it was the No. 1 Story of the Year by both 100.1 The Fan and the Florence Morning News. WPDE rated the season as its No. 15 story of the year, while the team also made the front page of the state newspaper out of Columbia, S.C.
2013 Coker Baseball Team Members
Sammy Song
Taylor Martin
Seth Rainey
Ryan Urban
Fico Kondla
Frank Suarez
Shane Wilder
Griffin Sullivan
John Lauttenbach
Kyle Gallman
Alex Hernandez
Shea Bell
Chad Nader
Dan Meyer
Tony Nolan
Justin Bleckle
Tyler Witzel
Zach Durham
Russ White
Will Adams
Andrew Goot
T.J. Giczkowski
Zachary Shirey
Clint Allen
Zach Loraine
Lucas Britt
Jack Leech
Keith Wolf
Hunter Ressler
Will Winslow
Korbin Causey
Ernie Kirkwood
Chase Spivey
Brinley Griffin
T.J. Sinnott
Brandon Dyer
Head Coach: Dave Schmotzer
Assistant Coach: Don Amaral
Assistant Coach: Ricky Meinhold
Assistant Coach: Robert Skinner
Athletic Trainer: Brittany Stone