dallas christian college baseball

(female announcer) production funding for "sports files" is made possible in part by.. (male narrator) infiniti of memphis has moved to germantown road just half mile north ofwolfchase galleria and is proud to support w-k-n-o for itsquality broadcasting and service to our community. quality and service --no wonder infiniti of memphis feels athome on w-k-n-o. my guest today on "sports files"is the head coach of the memphis

tigers baseballteam, daron schoenrock. [theme music] with temperaturesbelow the freezing mark, bitter wind chill factors andice as far as the eyes can see, baseball is probably thelast thing on anyone's mind. but the fact of the matter isthe college baseball season is already underway. schools in florida, texas,arizona and southern california, to name a few areas, don'tnormally have to deal with

weather conditionslike ice and snow, which gives them the legup on most other schools. but in 2014, it would bevanderbilt university from nashville that would surprise many and win the college baseball world series. a trip to omaha is the goalfor every d-1 college baseball program, but in realistic terms, earning a spot in the n-c-a-a tournament is the target. for the university of memphis,reaching the tournament is a

fairly elusive proposition. only once in coach daronschoenrock's ten years have the tigers accomplished that feat. but it's not because the tigershaven't put a good product on the field. it just shows you how toughof a challenge it really is. in fact, schoenrock has led hissquad to four straight seasons of 30 or more wins,and six in ten years. he has helped develop numerousplayers who have gone on to play

professional baseball, and lastseason had his team garnering national attention after an 11and 1 start that included wins over second ranked mississippistate and number 15 ole miss. today daron schoenrock joins me to warm things up with baseball talk. we'll get hisexpectations on the season, his thoughts on the race inthe american conference and the tragic loss of a tiger signee. and it's next on "sports files."

rock, it's great tohave you on the show again. thanks, greg. great to be here. thanks so much for your time. i hate to begin our segment withtragic news but the two young athletes from christian brothershigh school were killed over the weekend last weekendin a car accident. just tragic. and colin kilgorewas a signee of yours.

he signed in november. just talk a little bitabout this tragic news. (daron)well, it's, you know, first of all, our thoughts and prayersgo out to bob and anna, his parents, andhis brother, riley, who is a catcher atchristian brothers university. we got the news sunday morning. and it's just.. it almost seemslike it's not real.

you know, andlooking at when, you know, when an athlete that's so fullof vigor and life and everything loses life, you know, parents are never supposed to bury thier children. and watching boband anna handle that, they were very strong sunday. but you could still telljust basically still in shock. but we're, you know.. colin was lovedby his teammates,

got to know a lotof guys on our team. we have some christian brothershigh school players on our team that it really impacted. and we're going to honor colinwith a plaque on a locker that will be there for eternity. so, he'll be in ourlocker room every day. and we're going to attempt tokeep that locker occupied by a christian brothers player,a former christian brothers player, you know,every time that we can.

so, um, just, you know, obviously nothing you'd ever expect. but colin was very excitedand talking with buster kelso, the coach. he was so excited aboutbeing a memphis tiger. and, you know, it was afierce recruiting battle. you know, it hada lot of options. and he chose memphis. and we were veryfortunate and thankful he did.

and we still are. i think it's a greatgesture from your part. and again, our thoughts andprayers and condolences go out to the kilgore familyand friends of colin. so, the season getsunderway last weekend. you wouldn't know that it'sbaseball season when you look outside and see allthe ice and the cold. you lose to a three. could have easily won two ofthe three against oral roberts,

a pretty good teamin their own right. how did you think you guys performed over the first weekend? you know, about like.. our club, looking at it, isabout what i thought we were going to be. we swing the bat okay. we got, you know, six out of thenine hitters are back that were in the line-upevery day last year.

we faced a very good pitchingstaff with oral roberts, a staff that's going to be equivalent to an american athletic conference staff. and that was good for our hitters to see. caleb pitchedvery well on friday. you know, as you'dexpect, he just.. you know, he doesn'toverpower anybody. he just doesn't give youvery many good pitches to hit. that's caleb wallingfordfor those who are watching.

our return all-conferenceperformer who turned down the draft. and very excited abouthow he pitched friday. we threw two freshmenout of the bull pen. two first guys in that we thinkare going to be outstanding. it's just going through somefreshmen things right now. i had a chance to go two -nothing in the six in that friday game andfailed to score a guy. and then it always bites you.

when you miss opportunities,it comes back to bite you. and it did. we gave up some twoout, two strike runs. and then thefirst game saturday, colin lee wasn't sharp. battling a littlestuff in his arm. connor alexander,another freshman, came in behind him and got the game under control and gave us a chance.

we made a littlebit of a run late. and then dylan toscano,sunday, was lights out. so, you walk away going we werein every game and against a good club on the road. you know, still a lot of things to learn but excited with what i'm seeing. sixty-three percent of theruns you scored last year back. seventy-sevenpercent of your home runs. fifty-eightpercent of your ribbies.

you got some potentoffensive players returning. mister tubbs, ofcourse, leading the way. talk about the returnees from a team that went 30 and 29 last season. you know, that's the thing is they all have at-bats under their belt. what we expect from them isgoing to be magnified a little bit over last year. and we talk aboutthat a lot with them.

you've got a lot of experience. now we expect more. and in the preseason ininner-squad scrimmages, what we can tell, we're a lotmore dynamic offensive club. we've got moreways to score now. and with the stolen base. our leadoff-hitter, darien tubbs, has really grown upas a lead off guy. we threw him in there as atrue freshman last year.

and he has shown that he canbe a very viable lead off guy. and then kane barrow and tuckertubbs in the middle of order. you know, we expect the r-b-i'sto come from him and tucker really came through with agreat weekend this past weekend. so, i like what we have. and we have a few more options. you know, we are new up themiddle with a new short stop. yeah, i wanted to ask you that. gross is gone.

willis is gone. when you lose adouble play combination, how hard is that to replace? very hard. because of the experiencenow, i feel like we've got, with brandon montgomery, thefreshman second baseman from collierville that's playing. we've got a little more armstrength to turn double plays. we actually turned two doubleplays this weekend that arm

strength of brandonplayed a big factor in. jacob overbey atshort is, you know, playing a lot at ole miss,transferred, sat out a year. so, it's his first timeto play in basically, you know, 18 months. he's going to be fine. very sure handed. not the runner that ethan is. probably a littlemore offensive.

it's a little.. you know, he'll probably drivein a few more runs at short than you have in the past. the question is will he dominatethe routine play like ethan did. ethan was, you know, lessthan ten errors a year guy. he was.. you knew what you were getting. knew what you were getting. he is in a whitesox organization now.

so, somebody elsenoticed that, too. last season, you get offto the tremendous start. you're gettingnational attention. you're knocking off ranked teams like mississippi state and ole miss. and then came back down to earth a little bit. and we're basically a 500team the rest of the way. how can you take it to that next step? i think learning..

you know, we talked about thisafter the oral roberts weekend is that it's a different feelingnow than it was when we jumped out of 11 and 1 last year. but the understanding ofwhat those guys that.. a lot of those guys went throughtheir college season for the first time last yearin an everyday role. now they know it'sreally a long haul. so, they're alittle more equipped. experienced.

and, you know,last year, you know, we got a lot of bounces our way the first 12 game to get off that start. the bounces aren'talways going to go your way. you just got to stay consistentwith your preparation. now this team has been very,very diligent in preparation. you always puttogether a daunting schedule. i love the fact that you'replaying the big boys from the s-e-c because you already playa tough conference schedule.

arkansas on the schedule. mississippi stateon the schedule. ole miss. just talk about thechallenges that lie ahead. well, you know, geographicand proximity allow that. we're located in a placewhere we can play a very strong mid-week schedule. and you throw home and homewith arkansas state in there. we've got quality opponents.

now what you getfrom those is one, you get a lot of local fansto stand up and take notice, you know, that arememphis tiger fans. hey, let's go watch thetigers play baseball. they're down at autozone park. and it may be the onlytime they see us play. a combination of where we playthe game and the opponent we play. so, the importance is making agood showing in those games.

the arkansas series, ianticipate us playing in front of somewhere around17,000 people in two nights. we played in front of 10,000 inlittle rock the last time we did this and then another 6,000at autozone the next night. so, big time atmosphere for ourguys to get in and especially for the young guys. they were getting theirfirst taste of college baseball. how many of thoseat autozone park? three?

the three i just mentioned? yep. now as far as theconference is concerned. yes, louisville is gone. but you pick up tulane. you pick up east carolina. you already have houston, one ofthe better teams in the country. how challenging is the american? very challenging.

and i think you look at it,greg, with the number of.. when you dissectline ups, you know, last year there were a lot of the young line ups in the league. they're all back. they all have experience. i think the difference willlie in how solidified are the pitching rotations going to be. i feel like ours has a chance.

you know, houston returnsbasically everybody on both sides of the ball. and we're three or four outsaway from going to omaha last year in the super regional. obviously you thinkthey're the pick to win it. the next.. i think everybody else, you throw them in a hat and jumble them up. and it's going to depend onhow you perform on the weekend.

i think we're allabout the same. very similar to what justinwas talking about with football. there's a lot ofparity in the league. but that parity doesn't necessarily mean they're not good. there's a lot ofquality opponents. who is going to reach outand grab that brass ring? you've led your team to fourstraight 30 plus win seasons. you've had six 30 winseasons in ten year at memphis.

so, you've obviouslywon a lot of games. you're one away from 300. hopefully that willbe coming this sunday. but what do you think it willtake realistically to get back to that elusiven-c-a-a tournament? i'm going to saywith our schedule, our number has got tobe in the 36 range. that seems like it'sbeen the magic number. thirty-seven, i think you're inreally good shape because the

r-p-i of who we play, win orlose by the end of the year, it's going to be strong. very strong. and if you can getin that 36 range.. thirty is great. thirty is a, you know,you're going to be above 500. you're holding your own. thirty-six to thirty-seven isgoing to be the difference. and you look at, youknow, a 56 game schedule.

a six or seven game swingis based on making one play, getting one run in. one hold inning where youshut them down after you score. this team has started talkingabout a lot of little things like that that a lot of teams inthe past haven't talked about. and that shows maturity. that's what i really likeabout what we have going now. it's a fine line. but you guys are right onthe cusp in getting to the 30

plateau every year trying to get to that 36 or 37 as you mentioned. a few minutes to go. let me ask you about a couple of the new faces we'll see this year. well, you know, two of the guys,two pitchers that we're very excited about that i thinkwe're going to have long term.. you know, if you sayweekend starting potential. connor alexander, a freshmanthat was at tipton-rosemark,

came in behind colin leeand pitched outstanding. i think five shut out inningsand was tremendous in that game two of the series. and then colton hathcock frombrighton came in and got the game and kept the gameunder control after caleb. and then he elevated a coupleof pitches with two strikes and gave up a couple of singles and a couple of extra base hits with runners on. but i think those two are goingto be names that you hear that

are going to be a bigpart of the tiger future. i mentioned thefreshman second baseman, brandon montgomery, who isgoing to be very offensive. a little different than zachwillis in that he's going to be a stolen base athletic typerunner that has some power in his bat. and then, you know,zach schritenthal, a sophomore third baseman fromdesoto central that played a lot last year when drew griffin got hurt,

had a real nice weekend. those are young guys in theprogram that we're putting a lot on. and then, you know,obviously returning jake little, tucker tubbs and kane barrow in that two, three, four slot ishuge for our lineup. i like the mix. the seniors are allgoing to contribute. and we've got a number offreshmen that are going to get

their first taste. the roster isshaping out really good. we just need theweather to cooperate. yeah, you beat me to the punch. you got the veterans. you got the young players. the veterans will take thoseyoung players under their wing. it's a nice combination. alright.

final minute. weather, you brought it up. already this weekend,the event in arkansas. you had a three game scheduleagainst two different schools. that's been altered. yeah, there's a lot of.. you see a lot of these threeopponents meeting up in the week in a lot of different places. they do that so they can playdifferent people and you're not

playing the sameteam three times. but this, obviously, we'rebalanced whether it's been moved to where we're only going to play a double header on sunday now. then we'll try to pick upanother mid-week game somewhere along the way to keep it our 56. the n-c-a-a selection committeeis always going to look more favorably if you do play in yourfully allotted 56 game schedule. so, we'll figureout a way to do that.

we'll play central arkansasand eastern illinois one game a piece on sunday and thenstart the home season, the home schedule on the 24th next tuesday against mississippi valley state. and i'm anxious to see thisclub get going and get some continuity going. and i know fedex parkis looking beautiful. it's an outstanding placeto play your home games. of course, it's always nice to go over to autozone park

as we mentioned. but it's a niceplace to go, folks, and watch someterrific baseball. rock, it's always a pleasure. thank you, greg. thank you so much. best of luck to ya. thanks so much. we'll take a quick break.

when we come back,it's "overtime." so who do you believe isthe greatest memphis tiger of all-time? undoubtedly if you ask enoughpeople you'll get a number of very qualified responses. but if i modify the questionto who is the greatest tiger "football" player of all time? the answer is easy. deangelo williams.

the former wynnehigh school standout, who could have gone just aboutanywhere but chose memphis, was recently inducted into the mclub hall of fame where hundreds turned out to honor the formerheisman candidate and his hall of fame classmates. among the guests, deangelo'shead coach at memphis tommy west and former offensivecoordinator, randy fichtner. williams would re-write therecord books in his four years at memphis and would leave asone of the all-time leading

rushers in collegefootball history. the induction ceremony tookplace earlier this month and i had a chance to catch upwith deangelo and some of those paying tribute to him. well, tommy, obviously a bignight for deangelo williams who has meant so muchto this program. just talk about deangelo, therecruitment and bringing this guy in and turning out to beprobably the most prolific player that's everplayed at memphis.

well, i don't think thereis any question about that. with all respect to allthe other great players, i think deangelo is.. i'm a little bitprejudice because i love him. but, anyway. just a.. you know, i always said thething that separated him. he is a great football player. nine years in the league as arunning back is unheard of.

but the kind of guy that heis is what separated him. he was the epitome of astudent athlete here. he loves memphis. still loves memphis to this day. comes back. all you got to do itlook at his facebook. just... i mean, just a great guy. you know, i feel very fortunateto have had the opportunity to

recruit him andto coach him here. (greg)you knew you had a greatrecruit when you got him. and obviously,there was questions. why didn't he go to ans-e-c team or another program? he went to memphis. the rest is history. what did you see in him thatyou knew he could be the star he became? well, the reason..

because of how he chose memphis. he could have gone.. you know, hecommitted to arkansas. he could have gone there. he could have gone to ole miss. he could have goneanywhere he wanted to go. but he did not want to followand be like the other backs. he wanted to go somewherewhere he could make a name for himself.

and when you said onename, if you say cher, or you say madonna,or you say tiger, or you say shaq, you knowwho they're talking about. and in memphis,when you say deangelo, everybody knows whoyou're talking about. and that's what he wanted. (greg)with all the greatthings he accomplished, you talked about the man,not just the football player. what do you think hislargest legacy that he left the

university of memphis? what will people.. what will be that one thingpeople will remember him for 20 years from now? oh, i think thekind of guy he is. and, you know, he's one ofthe few that gives back. and he does. he gives back to memphis. and i think, you know, he's notjust a great player that now has

gone on. and there are a few atother places that give back. you know, i know peytongives back at tennessee. and eli gives back at ole miss. but deangelo is one of thoseguys that is appreciative. i think he's really appreciativeof his opportunity and what he was able to accomplish here. (greg)randy, tonight's deangelo's night here at the univeristy of memphis.

what does he meanto you personally? that's hard to sayin like one sentence. he's a great, unbelievable kidthat told me a long time ago that he believed inmemphis, he believed in me, he believed in coach west. and he stuck to his word. and his family,mrs. sandra, odell.. the family is just unbelievable. and he's probably the most fun guy i've ever had

to be around coaching. i didn't get to be in his room every day per say as a running back coach. but he just.. that smile. and you're going tosee it again tonight. it's wonderful. it's priceless. (greg)how were you able to getthis kid to come to memphis?

uh, i think it wasmaybe in his make-up. it wasn't me. it wasn't anything froma coaching standpoint or recruiting standpoint. i think that he is a family guy. he cares about family a lot. and you'll look. and wynne high school isnot very far from memphis. and memphis couldoffer him a lot.

big timefootball, big time city, a lot of opportunity,opportunity if football wasn't in the cards for him to moveon and do things in this city. and he's just one of thoseunique guys that decided that, hey, why do i have to goanywhere else when i can get everything i want here. (greg)i guess it's no surpriseto you, to people around him, former teammates and coaches that he has excelled at the next level.

(randy)oh, he's more than excelled. you think about guysthat play his position. the amount of years, the punishment that puts on his body. i've had the unique experiencenow over the last eight years to see it. it's a brutal game. it is for men. and he is a man.

and he has gotten it done. he has been consistent and thecity of charlotte loves him. (greg)his greatestlegacy would be what? if you could pinpointit down to one thing. football or as a person? (greg)anything. he's one of the most honestpeople i've ever been around. as a young guy and now ayoung man and now a father, you know, he'sjust an honest guy.

he was true to hisword a long time ago. and when he asked meto be here tonight, i told him i'll be hereand i was going to be here, no question. deangelo, congratulations. what does this mean to you? oh, it's huge, man. i really appreciate theopportunity of first being here and the opportunity that memphisgave me to help their program

be successful. and, you know, i oweeverything to memphis. for them to induct mein to the hall of fame, i feel like i need to inductthem in to the hall of fame, meaning in the university ofmemphis and everything that came with it. what is the one.. there is so many thingsthat you accomplished. but the one legacy you takeaway from your time at memphis.

well, the relationship that i had with my head coach in tommy west. most of the things that i doon the field and the way that i deal with things,come from my head coach, coach west. teammates like joe doss. what can you say? oh, man, it's big! i saw joe whenthe gate pulled up.

and i was like, oh,there goes my guy! yeah! so many memories here, man. so many memories here. just seeing the guysthat i played ball with, that i keep in touch with. memphis created my extended family. and i really appreciateeverything and all the doors that they opened for me.

deangelo, you couldhave went anywhere. (greg)you picked memphis when youcould have went to the s-e-c or a big national program. why? (deangelo)basically it boils down to thelove that memphis showed me and the opportunity to play. they didn't tell me what icould do or what i couldn't do. they didn't giveme any limitations. and they didn't limit me.

did you know at thattime what you did college, collegiately, you were goingto turn in to an incredible professional career? had no idea, man. had no idea. i was just blessed with theopportunity to play this game, man. and coach west, uh, giving me ascholarship to come play here at the university of memphis.

i went through a lot. it'll be a part ofmy speech today. i don't know if you guysare going to stick around. but i'm a kind of go through itand tell everybody my process. i don't know how longthey will give me to talk. but i'm going to try to get it all out today. it's unbelievable, man. i think i saw something onlinewhere they said it's been a while since wewere in the top 25.

i mean, i don't know what's awhile but i was a part of it. i was on a team thatwas in the top 25. went down to arkansasstate and beat them by 15. but, i mean, i don'tknow how long ago that was. (greg)that was the last time. yeah, that was the lasttime we were in the top 25? yeah. and it's great to see theprogram move in that direction and stick with a coach.

i'm always excited to see myteam whether it's on t-v or whether i'mwatching it via computer. i'm 100% sure everybody in ourlocker room hates that i talk about the university of memphisthe way that i talk about them because i just have that muchlove and passion for my schools. i just tried to work my butt offas much as i possibly could to be successful because when istarted this conversation, when i started this journey, iwas going to a graveyard and i was going to end my career.

but i took that challenge and itook that bull by the horns with the help of my coach and coachfichtner and my support staff. and that's where i am today. everyone, thank you. you guys have a great time. [applause] before we say good night,grizzlies center marc gasol went for six points and ten reboundsin the west's 163-158 victory in the n-b-a all-stargame last sunday.

big spain and the grizzliesreturn to the court this sunday in portland to begin the post all-star game portion of their schedule. twenty-nine gamesremaining in the regular season. and be sure to stay tuned latertonight here on w-k-n-o for the replay of today's tigers andu-conn huskies basketball game. the action begins at midnight. and that will do it for now. have a great week andwe'll see you next time.

(female announcer)production fundingfor "sports files" is (male narrator) infiniti of memphis has moved to germantown road closed captioning providedby w-k-n-o, memphis.