Four-Time Champions

Baseball advances to national tourney

The LaGrange College baseball team continued its winning ways during the 2021 season. The Panthers, under coach David Kelton, went 24-10 and continued their dominance of the USA South conference.

LC extended its own conference record with a fourth-straight USA South Tournament championship. The Panthers were the conference’s West Division regular-season champion with a 12-1 record, and the tournament championship brought the team a fourth-straight automatic bid to the NCAA Division III national tournament.

The Panthers swept Piedmont in the first round of the conference tourney by a combined score of 37-3. LC won the first game 23-2, setting tournament game records for runs scored, home runs (6) and hits (29).

LC traveled to nationally ranked N.C. Wesleyan for the conference championship series. The Panthers won the first game 6-5 to extend their school-record winning streak to 15 games. N.C. Wesleyan rallied for a 7-6 win to tie the series, but the Panthers bounced back with a 9-4 win in the deciding third game to claim the tournament title.

Senior designated hitter E.J. Churchich was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Churchich set tournament records with four home runs and 14 RBIs in the five games. The Panthers set team tournament records for runs (55), hits (78) and batting average (.390).

Next, the team played in the High Point Regional of the NCAA Division III national tournament, where the season ended with a 7-6 loss to eventual national champion Salisbury.

Over the past six seasons, including the pandemic shortened one in 2020, the Panthers are 13th in wins (168) and 15th in winning percentage (.724) out of 389 NCAA Division III teams.

For the year, LaGrange had 10 players receive USA South conference awards, including four on the allconference first team. Six of the 10 players were named to all-region teams. Sophomores Joe Ruth (3B, .355 BA, 4 HR, 39 RBI) and Cael Chatham (SS, .365 BA, 8 HR, 37 RBI) were selected to the ABCA/ Rawlings South All-Region and D3baseball.com AllSouth Region teams, along with all-conference honors.