By By Jeff Byrd / staff writer
May 23, 2002
West Alabama head baseball coach Gary Rundles will be busy running all over Patterson Field in Montgomery, Ala., beginning today and running through the conclusion of the NCAA Division II Baseball World Series.
Rundles is serving his third term as a chairman for the NCAA Division II National Baseball Committee. Rundles handles the NCAA's South Central Regional Tournament for the NCAA. Since Montgomery falls within his region, Rundles also does a lions share of the work when the World Series begins convening today.
Rundles left Livingston this afternoon and will be in Montgomery for his first set of meetings on Wednesday night. Most of the eight World Series teams will arrive in Montgomery by Thursday.
This year's South Central Regional was held in Cleveland where Delta State University successfully defended its title from 2001 beating Abilene Christian 3-2 in Sunday's championship game before 1,500 at Dave "Boo" Ferris Field. The Statesmen of coach Mike Kennison are now 50-6 on the season.
Once a winner emerges, it's on to Montgomery for the week-long World Series which begins Saturday with two games. It concludes the following Saturday night with the National Championship game. It's the same format used for the Division I College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
Rundles list his favorites for the 2002 Tournament as Chico State out of California, Columbus State, Ga., and Delta State.