Great Memories
3/27/2019 11:04:00 AM | Baseball, My GW: Celebrating our Stories
Members of GW Baseball's 1979 team recall the run to the NCAA Tournament
Four decades later, the 1979 GW baseball team's place in program history is secure.
The scenes from an incredible run to the NCAA Tournament aren't as crisp as they used to be, but the relationships built along the way have stood the test of time.
A group of them are excited to get together, along with a host of other former Colonials through the years, on Saturday at Tucker Field at Barcroft Park for the GW Baseball Buff, Blue & BBQ alumni event before the middle game of the Atlantic 10 series vs. Saint Joseph's.
"Great memories," said head coach Mike Toomey, one of four GW Athletic Hall of Famers involved with the team. "I can't believe it's been 40 years. I don't know where the time has gone, but I'm still very, very proud of all those guys."
That squad remains the only GW club to record an NCAA win with a 5-2 defeat of Seton Hall on May 26, 1979, in Tallahassee, Fla.
The Colonials got there thanks to a talented roster with a perfect blend of experience and youth, led by a passionate coach in Toomey just a few years removed from his playing career in Buff and Blue.
Just as important, the group was able to stay confident and loose on their unprecedented postseason push with the personalities meshing to make a memorable ride all the more enjoyable.
"We gelled really well as a team," said Mike Leventhal, a senior pitcher from Connecticut. "Everybody really liked each other, and everybody rooted for each other. There was just an incredible team chemistry."
Toomey remembers entering the spring with lofty expectations after a few years spent scouring the prep and junior college ranks to construct a roster capable of contending for an ECAC South Division title.
The Colonials, with seven seniors and seven juniors on a 20-man roster, gained momentum with a strong fall playing against local competition in the Capital Collegiate Conference and rolled into the springtime believing they could be special.
"Our team reflected Mike Toomey," said Steve Doherty, a first-year infielder. "We were scrappy as all get out, and we never felt we were out of a game."
Those good feelings promptly faded on a Southern swing to open the spring with a 15-1 loss to NC State.
That blowout – followed by a frank team meeting that followed in a racquet ball court at the newly constructed Smith Center – ended up as a turning point."As a group, everybody kind of aired out our grievances, whatever they thought should happen and who wasn't pulling their end and so forth," Toomey remembered. "After that, we just kept winning and winning and winning. Once the air was cleared, we played tremendous ball."
GW went 22-9 the rest of the way, leaning on the pitching of Mike Howell and Kenny Lake and an offensive lineup paced by Jim Goss and Russ Ramsey that kept pressure on the opposition from top to bottom.
The highlights from that season included on-field fireworks like a 30-0 win over Bowie State that remains the largest win in program history and Howell's three-home run performance vs. American in which he was also the winning pitcher. Then there was the behind-the-scenes fun like a marathon road trip to West Virginia for a doubleheader that ended up wiped out by rain.
"We knew we could play with anybody," Leventhal said. "With the kind of fight and competitive drive that we had, you just believe in yourself. You believe you can win and just give it 120 percent."
Back then, GW played its home games on the Ellipse in the shadow of the White House, which meant dodging tourists and an in-play steam grate down the first base line. Some of the Colonials wore catcher's masks during practice to combat the inevitable bad hops on their infield.
Some of the tales from those times in the program's history are barely believable but unforgettable for those that lived them.
"As you look back at the things that we had to go through, I think that's part of what made this team so special," Toomey said. "They put up with so much adversity. We didn't really have the best of anything, but we had each other."
GW's road to history began with a championship at the inaugural Eastern 8 Championship, the precursor to the Atlantic 10. The Colonials beat Penn State and Pittsburgh at Central Dauphin High School in Pennsylvania to punch their ticket to the ECAC South Championship.
GW had to dig deep to advance with a perfect 3-0 mark at James Madison. The Colonials started with an 8-4 over the host Dukes, boosted by a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth from catcher Scott Carcella.
The next day, GW rallied from a ninth-inning deficit to beat Catholic, 6-5, on Drew Ingram's walk-off single driving in Billy Goodman. Howell went the distance in that one.
To cap it off, the Buff and Blue used a five-run sixth to take down JMU again, 8-4, and clinch their first NCAA berth in 20 years. It was an especially gratifying moment for the seniors, who had endured a 30-4 loss to the Dukes on the Ellipse in 1976.
"It was kind of sweet revenge to get back at them for that shellacking we took as freshmen," Howell said with a chuckle.
GW advanced to the NCAA East Regional hosted by Florida State, where they matched up against some of the country's most respected programs.
Howell remembers more than once having to explain who the Colonials were and where they were from that week.
"I don't think they expected too much, but they had their hands full with us," Toomey said. "Because we had kids who really knew how to play and played hard right up to the last out."
GW pushed Arkansas to the limit in its opener, building an 8-4 lead at one point. True to form, the Colonials fought to the finish, scoring three runs in the ninth before falling 12-11. The Razorbacks' pitcher knocked down a smash from Tino Monaldo ticketed for center field, turning a would-be game-tying single into the final out.
Arkansas – with three future MLB players on the roster – would go on to win the regional and finish runner-up to Cal State Fullerton at the College World Series.
"That's how close it comes," Doherty said. "It was a heart-breaker."
With the season on the line, Howell turned in a gem to beat Seton Hall and stake his place in program history.
"That makes you feel good to know you've done something that nobody else in school history has ever done," Howell said. "Hopefully, they'll get back there, and that record will get broken before too long."
GW's magical run ended with a 12-7 loss to Florida with the Gators busting open a tight game thanks to a grand slam.
"The final analysis is that we could play with all of those teams," Leventhal said. "We lost eventually, but they were all close games. We were right there."
Those are the stories that get told and re-told when members of that historic bunch get together.
The Colonials moved on to start careers and families with Goodman, a 10th-round pick of the Texas Rangers in the 1979 MLB Draft, the only one who played professionally, but they have remain bonded by that tremendous experience representing the Buff and Blue on the national stage.
Some of them were on hand in January as part of an alumni gathering at a men's basketball game, and they'll get a chance to reminisce again Saturday before the Colonials host the Hawks.
"When we see each other, there's still that camaraderie because it is a family," said Doherty, who still lives locally in Rockville, Md. "I give Coach (Gregg) Ritchie a tremendous amount of credit for recognizing it and going back and really making an effort to honor the past as they're doing well in the present and looking ahead to the future. There's a lot of pride to be a part of it."
The scenes from an incredible run to the NCAA Tournament aren't as crisp as they used to be, but the relationships built along the way have stood the test of time.
A group of them are excited to get together, along with a host of other former Colonials through the years, on Saturday at Tucker Field at Barcroft Park for the GW Baseball Buff, Blue & BBQ alumni event before the middle game of the Atlantic 10 series vs. Saint Joseph's.
"Great memories," said head coach Mike Toomey, one of four GW Athletic Hall of Famers involved with the team. "I can't believe it's been 40 years. I don't know where the time has gone, but I'm still very, very proud of all those guys."
That squad remains the only GW club to record an NCAA win with a 5-2 defeat of Seton Hall on May 26, 1979, in Tallahassee, Fla.
The Colonials got there thanks to a talented roster with a perfect blend of experience and youth, led by a passionate coach in Toomey just a few years removed from his playing career in Buff and Blue.
Just as important, the group was able to stay confident and loose on their unprecedented postseason push with the personalities meshing to make a memorable ride all the more enjoyable.
"We gelled really well as a team," said Mike Leventhal, a senior pitcher from Connecticut. "Everybody really liked each other, and everybody rooted for each other. There was just an incredible team chemistry."
Toomey remembers entering the spring with lofty expectations after a few years spent scouring the prep and junior college ranks to construct a roster capable of contending for an ECAC South Division title.
The Colonials, with seven seniors and seven juniors on a 20-man roster, gained momentum with a strong fall playing against local competition in the Capital Collegiate Conference and rolled into the springtime believing they could be special.
"Our team reflected Mike Toomey," said Steve Doherty, a first-year infielder. "We were scrappy as all get out, and we never felt we were out of a game."
Those good feelings promptly faded on a Southern swing to open the spring with a 15-1 loss to NC State.
That blowout – followed by a frank team meeting that followed in a racquet ball court at the newly constructed Smith Center – ended up as a turning point."As a group, everybody kind of aired out our grievances, whatever they thought should happen and who wasn't pulling their end and so forth," Toomey remembered. "After that, we just kept winning and winning and winning. Once the air was cleared, we played tremendous ball."
GW went 22-9 the rest of the way, leaning on the pitching of Mike Howell and Kenny Lake and an offensive lineup paced by Jim Goss and Russ Ramsey that kept pressure on the opposition from top to bottom.
The highlights from that season included on-field fireworks like a 30-0 win over Bowie State that remains the largest win in program history and Howell's three-home run performance vs. American in which he was also the winning pitcher. Then there was the behind-the-scenes fun like a marathon road trip to West Virginia for a doubleheader that ended up wiped out by rain.
"We knew we could play with anybody," Leventhal said. "With the kind of fight and competitive drive that we had, you just believe in yourself. You believe you can win and just give it 120 percent."
Back then, GW played its home games on the Ellipse in the shadow of the White House, which meant dodging tourists and an in-play steam grate down the first base line. Some of the Colonials wore catcher's masks during practice to combat the inevitable bad hops on their infield.
Some of the tales from those times in the program's history are barely believable but unforgettable for those that lived them.
"As you look back at the things that we had to go through, I think that's part of what made this team so special," Toomey said. "They put up with so much adversity. We didn't really have the best of anything, but we had each other."
GW's road to history began with a championship at the inaugural Eastern 8 Championship, the precursor to the Atlantic 10. The Colonials beat Penn State and Pittsburgh at Central Dauphin High School in Pennsylvania to punch their ticket to the ECAC South Championship.
GW had to dig deep to advance with a perfect 3-0 mark at James Madison. The Colonials started with an 8-4 over the host Dukes, boosted by a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth from catcher Scott Carcella.
The next day, GW rallied from a ninth-inning deficit to beat Catholic, 6-5, on Drew Ingram's walk-off single driving in Billy Goodman. Howell went the distance in that one.
To cap it off, the Buff and Blue used a five-run sixth to take down JMU again, 8-4, and clinch their first NCAA berth in 20 years. It was an especially gratifying moment for the seniors, who had endured a 30-4 loss to the Dukes on the Ellipse in 1976.
"It was kind of sweet revenge to get back at them for that shellacking we took as freshmen," Howell said with a chuckle.
GW advanced to the NCAA East Regional hosted by Florida State, where they matched up against some of the country's most respected programs.
Howell remembers more than once having to explain who the Colonials were and where they were from that week.
"I don't think they expected too much, but they had their hands full with us," Toomey said. "Because we had kids who really knew how to play and played hard right up to the last out."
GW pushed Arkansas to the limit in its opener, building an 8-4 lead at one point. True to form, the Colonials fought to the finish, scoring three runs in the ninth before falling 12-11. The Razorbacks' pitcher knocked down a smash from Tino Monaldo ticketed for center field, turning a would-be game-tying single into the final out.
Arkansas – with three future MLB players on the roster – would go on to win the regional and finish runner-up to Cal State Fullerton at the College World Series.
"That's how close it comes," Doherty said. "It was a heart-breaker."
With the season on the line, Howell turned in a gem to beat Seton Hall and stake his place in program history.
"That makes you feel good to know you've done something that nobody else in school history has ever done," Howell said. "Hopefully, they'll get back there, and that record will get broken before too long."
GW's magical run ended with a 12-7 loss to Florida with the Gators busting open a tight game thanks to a grand slam.
"The final analysis is that we could play with all of those teams," Leventhal said. "We lost eventually, but they were all close games. We were right there."
Those are the stories that get told and re-told when members of that historic bunch get together.
The Colonials moved on to start careers and families with Goodman, a 10th-round pick of the Texas Rangers in the 1979 MLB Draft, the only one who played professionally, but they have remain bonded by that tremendous experience representing the Buff and Blue on the national stage.
Some of them were on hand in January as part of an alumni gathering at a men's basketball game, and they'll get a chance to reminisce again Saturday before the Colonials host the Hawks.
"When we see each other, there's still that camaraderie because it is a family," said Doherty, who still lives locally in Rockville, Md. "I give Coach (Gregg) Ritchie a tremendous amount of credit for recognizing it and going back and really making an effort to honor the past as they're doing well in the present and looking ahead to the future. There's a lot of pride to be a part of it."
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