Southland Announces 1990s All-Decade Baseball Team

Southland Announces 1990s All-Decade Baseball Team

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Southland Conference

FRISCO, Texas – The Southland Conference, as part of its year-long 50th Anniversary commemoration, has announced its All-Decade Baseball Team for the 1990s. The team includes stars from its member institutions from the 1990 season through 1999.

A total of 56 student-athletes makeup the 1990s all-decade team, including honorees from nine of the 10 institutions in the league during that era. Northwestern State placed a league-high 12 student-athletes on the team while McNeese State had nine and Nicholls State had eight. Louisiana-Monroe had seven honorees followed by Texas-Arlington with six and Texas State and Sam Houston State with five apiece. Southeastern Louisiana and Texas-San Antonio each placed two student-athletes on the all-decade team.

"With a number of emerging programs, Southland Conference baseball in the 1990s maintained its level of competitive success and national prominence,” league commissioner Tom Burnett said. “Many of the greatest players in league history participated in this decade and went on to more success in the major leagues.”

Northwestern State’s Jim Wells was tabbed as the coach of the 1990s all-decade team. Setting the Northwestern State program on a successful course for the next two decades, Wells led the Demons to three Southland regular-season championships in 1991, 1993 and 1994, and an appearance in an NCAA Regional in 1994. His clubs were 192-89 (.683) overall and 64-38 (.627) in Southland play. He coached two Southland Players of the Year, a Hitter of the Year, two Pitchers of the Year and 15 first-team all-conference selections. After departing to take over the program at Alabama after the 1994 seasons, Wells’ three coaching successors all won more than 60 percent of their games through the 2002 season.

Among Wells’ all-conference players, seven found their way to the all-decade team, led by three-time all-conference outfielder Terry Joseph, who earned the honor from 1993-95. He was also tabbed as the league’s top player and hitter in 1995. Kyle Shade, the conference’s all-time career batting average leader (.427), earned a spot on the all-decade team after earning all-conference in the outfield in 1992 and 1993 while being named the player and hitter of the year in 1993. Other two-time all-conference selections include shortstop Troy Conkle (1992-93), third baseman Matt Donner (1994-95) and pitcher Reggie Gatewood (1993-94), who was tabbed was tabbed the pitcher and newcomer of the year in 1993. Wells’ other players on the all-decade team include outfielder Brian Carlin, an all-conference selection and the 1991 player and newcomer of the year, and all-conference pitcher Barry Shepherd, the 1991 pitcher of the year.

Other Demons on the all-decade team include shortstop Ryan Anholt, an all-conference pick who earned player and newcomer of the year honors in 1998; outfielder Josh Hoffpauir, who was tabbed top newcomer in 1997; pitcher Brian Lawrence, an all-conference selection in 1997 and 1998 and the player of the year in 1998; all-conference pitcher Adam Stout, the 1999 newcomer of the year; and, pitcher Skip Madden, who earned pitcher of the year honors in 1996.

Eight other players on the all-decade team were named player of the year, including McNeese State pitcher and former head coach Terry Burrows (1990), who was also tabbed pitcher of the year the same year, and outfielder Deron Hofstetter (1994), who earned hitter of the year honors in 1994; Texas State first baseman Gary Herman (1992), who was a two-time hitter of the year in 1991 and 1992; Texas-Arlington outfielder Clay Gould (1993), the namesake of the Southland Coach of the Year Award; Sam Houston State pitcher Stephen Prihoda (1994); Louisiana-Monroe outfielder Shannon Cooley (1996), outfielder Tommy Lewis (1997), who also earned hitter of the year honors in 1997, and pitcher Ben Sheets (1999), who was also the 1999 pitcher of the year and a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic Gold Medal team; and, Texas State catcher Chad Spears (1997).

Additionally, Nicholls State’s Greg Gravois holds the conference career records for triples (19) and Southeastern Louisiana’s Macky Waguespack is the conference’s all-time career home run leader (56).

The Southland Conference will continue to recognize all-decade teams in the coming days.

 

Southland Conference 1990s All-Decade Team (1990-99; 56 players)

Name, Team Pos. All-SLC Superlatives
Ryan Anholt, Northwestern State SS 1998 1998 Player of the Year, 1998 Newcomer of the Year
Cody Arcement, Nicholls State P 1998 1998 Wins Leader
Ben Broussard, McNeese State 1B 1998, 1999 1998 & 1999 Hitter of the Year
William Brunson, Texas State P 1992 1992 Pitcher of the Year
Brent Bubela, Sam Houston State C   1996 Batting Average Champion, 1996 Tournament MVP
Terry Burrows, McNeese State P 1990 1990 Player of the Year, 1990 Pitcher of the Year, Former McNeese Baseball Coach
Brian Carlin, Northwestern State OF 1991 1991 Player of the Year, 1991 Newcomer of the Year
Alby Carvajal, Texas State DH/1B 1989, 1990 1990 Hitter of the Year
Troy Conkle, Northwestern State SS 1992, 1993  
Shannon Cooley, Louisiana-Monroe OF 1996 1996 Player of the Year
Clint Cortez, Nicholls State P   1995 & 1996 Strikeouts Leader
Andy Davis, Louisiana-Monroe DH/OF 1991, 1992  
Matt Donner, Northwestern State 3B 1994, 1995  
Kelly Eddlemon, Sam Houston State 3B 1999, 2000  
Gavin Fingleson, Southeastern Louisiana 2B   1999 Hits Leader
Reggie Gatewood, Northwestern State P 1993, 1994 1993 Pitcher of the Year, 1993 Newcomer of the Year
Chris Gay, Texas-Arlington P 1992 1992 Pitcher of the Year
Clay Gould, Texas-Arlington OF 1993 1993 Player of the Year, Namesake of SLC Coach of the Year Award
Clint Gould, McNeese State 1B 1993, 1994 1993 Tournament MVP
Greg Gravois, Nicholls State OF   SLC Career Triples Leader (19)
David Hawkins, Nicholls State P 1992 1992 ERA Leader
Karl Heckendorn, Texas-Arlington OF 1992, 1993 1992 Newcomer of the Year
Harold Henry, Louisiana-Monroe OF 1990, 1991  
Gary Hermann, Texas State 1B 1991, 1992 1991 & 1992 Hitter of the Year, 1992 Player of the Year
Shawn Hill, Nicholls State P 1993 1993 ERA Leader
Josh Hoffpauir, Northwestern State OF   1997 Newcomer of the Year
Deron Hofstetter, McNeese State OF 1994 1994 Hitter of the Year, 1994 Player of the Year
Jacques Jobert, Nicholls State 2B   1998 Tournament MVP
Terry Joseph, Northwestern State OF 1993, 1994, 1995 1995 Hitter of the Year, 1995 Player of the Year
Jeff Juarez, Texas-San Antonio OF 1998, 1999  
Greg Kubes, Sam Houston State P 1997 1997 Pitcher of the Year
John Lackey, Texas-Arlington P   2002- MLB, Los Angeles (AL), Boston
Jason Lecronier, McNeese State OF 1994, 1995 1994 Newcomer of the Year
Brian Lawrence, Northwestern State P 1997, 1998 1998 Pitcher of the Year
Tommy Lewis, Louisiana-Monroe OF 1997 1997 Hitter of the Year, 1997 Player of the Year
Brent Lockwood, Nicholls State SS 1996 1996 Hitter of the Year, 1995 Newcomer of the Year
Skip Madden, Northwestern State P   1990 Newcomer of the Year
Ben Mann, Louisiana-Monroe P 1996 1996 Pitcher of the Year
Matt Mize, Texas-Arlington 3B 1998, 1999  
Scott Pederson, Texas-San Antonio OF 1994 1994 Tournament MVP
Darwin Pennye, Texas State OF 1988 1988 Hitter of the Year
Kevin Perret, Nicholls State 3B 1997 1997 Batting Average Champion
Stephen Prihoda, Sam Houston State P 1994, 1995 1994 Player of the Year
Ryan Robertson, McNeese State C 1994, 1995  
Jose Rubiera, Texas-Arlington OF   1991 Batting Average Champion
Jon Saylor, McNeese State P 1995 1995 Pitcher of the Year
Kyle Shade, Northwestern State OF 1992, 1993 1993 Hitter of the Year, 1993 Player of the Year, SLC Career Batting Average Leader (.427)
Ben Sheet, Louisiana-Monroe P 1998, 1999 1999 Player of the Year, 1999 Pitcher of the Year, U.S. Olympic Team Gold Medalist, 2000 Atlanta Olympics
Barry Shepherd, Northwestern State P 1991 1991 Pitcher of the Year
Chad Spears, Texas State C 1997 1997 Player of the Year
Adam Stout, Northwestern State P 1999 1999 Newcomer of the Year
Corey Taylor, Louisiana-Monroe OF 1997, 1998  
Ron Thames, Sam Houston State 1B 1996, 1997  
Mike Trahan, McNeese State 2B   1996 Newcomer of the Year
Brian Vidrine, McNeese State OF 1990 1990 Batting Average Champion
Macky Waguespack, Southeastern Louisiana DH 1999 SLC Career Home Run Leader (56)

 

Coach of the Decade: Jim Wells, Northwestern State