Collins gets win No. 900,
Michael Berkel, Alestle Sports Reporter
Issue date: 4/10/07 Section: Sports
You may not know his name, but he may have certified himself as a legend at SIUE.
It has taken him 29 years to get to this point, but Gary Collins reached a prestigious milestone over the weekend.
The SIUE baseball coach reached career win number 900 when his club beat the University of Southern Indiana 9-4 on Sunday at USI Baseball Field in Evansville, Ind.
Collins is only the 10th head coach in NCAA Division II history to reach the career landmark.
"An awful lot of players have contributed to that number," Collins said. "I owe it all to them."
Coming into the season, he had accumulated 882 wins in his tenure with the Cougars.
Collins got win number 899 April 1 before his team played back-to-back doubleheaders at Southern Indiana this weekend.
When asked if there was any extra pressure to get the win, Collins said, "I gave it some thought. I didn't share it with anyone else, but certainly I wanted to get it behind me as quickly as possible."
The Screaming Eagles did not make it easy for him, sweeping up wins in three out of the four games on the weekend series.
After losing the first two games on Saturday, SIUE was not to be denied in its third meeting. The Cougars jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second inning when junior shortstop Cory Bunner got one of his three hits and drove in Zach Stead. USI came back and tied it in their half of the inning and took a 2-1 lead in the third on an RBI triple by center fielder Michael Beaven.
Jim Grant gave the Cougars the lead back in the fifth when he hit a two-run double down the line. Grant later scored to make it a two run lead.
Cougar starter Adam Tallman was unable to make the lead stand up as he gave up two runs in the bottom of the seventh. The Screaming Eagles chased Tallman out in the seventh after he allowed four runs on six hits through six and two-thirds innings.
SIUE junior right fielder Daniel Thomson hit a two-run single to left in the top of the eighth and drove in what would prove to be the winning runs. The offense then reeled off 3 more runs to pad the lead.
It has taken him 29 years to get to this point, but Gary Collins reached a prestigious milestone over the weekend.
The SIUE baseball coach reached career win number 900 when his club beat the University of Southern Indiana 9-4 on Sunday at USI Baseball Field in Evansville, Ind.
Collins is only the 10th head coach in NCAA Division II history to reach the career landmark.
"An awful lot of players have contributed to that number," Collins said. "I owe it all to them."
Coming into the season, he had accumulated 882 wins in his tenure with the Cougars.
Collins got win number 899 April 1 before his team played back-to-back doubleheaders at Southern Indiana this weekend.
When asked if there was any extra pressure to get the win, Collins said, "I gave it some thought. I didn't share it with anyone else, but certainly I wanted to get it behind me as quickly as possible."
The Screaming Eagles did not make it easy for him, sweeping up wins in three out of the four games on the weekend series.
After losing the first two games on Saturday, SIUE was not to be denied in its third meeting. The Cougars jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second inning when junior shortstop Cory Bunner got one of his three hits and drove in Zach Stead. USI came back and tied it in their half of the inning and took a 2-1 lead in the third on an RBI triple by center fielder Michael Beaven.
Jim Grant gave the Cougars the lead back in the fifth when he hit a two-run double down the line. Grant later scored to make it a two run lead.
Cougar starter Adam Tallman was unable to make the lead stand up as he gave up two runs in the bottom of the seventh. The Screaming Eagles chased Tallman out in the seventh after he allowed four runs on six hits through six and two-thirds innings.
SIUE junior right fielder Daniel Thomson hit a two-run single to left in the top of the eighth and drove in what would prove to be the winning runs. The offense then reeled off 3 more runs to pad the lead.
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