HAMMOND, La. – All-Americans Andy Davis and Gus Malespin, as well as Kenny Lehrmann – the program’s all-time leader in pitching victories, highlight Southeastern Louisiana’s Baseball All-Decade Team for the 1970s, head coach Matt Riser announced Thursday.

Joining Lehrmann on the pitching staff are Terry Beaver, W.E. Knight, Blaine Roseberry, Wayne Silva and Richard Simon. A multi-position player, Simon is listed as the squad’s utility player.

Infielders include catcher Mark Butler, first baseman Russ Marsh, second baseman Greg Marten, Davis at shortstop and third baseman Glen Duplessis.

Outfielders are Kevin Fogg, Steve Grigas and Malespin while Ernie Johns slots in as the designated hitter.

As the length of the season expanded during the decade, this edition of the All-Decade Team expands its bench to carry a trio of extra players, including catcher Chris Belmont, infielder Paul Schultz and outfielder Dale Halladay.

Coaches during the decade include Jim Waldrop (1967-72), Bob Ricketts (1973-75), George Lee (1976) and Carl Torbush (1977-79). 

Ricketts led the Lions to a Gulf South Conference Western Division title and NAIA playoff appearance in 1973 as well as an NCAA Regional championship, NCAA DII College World Series appearance and a No. 3 national ranking in the final 1975 Collegiate Baseball poll.

Lee made the most of his single-season tenure, guiding the Lions to a 26-11 record and an NCAA Regional appearance. His .703 career winning percentage is the highest in program history.

Torbush, who would later gain fame as the head football coach at Louisiana Tech, North Carolina and East Tennessee State, guided Southeastern to a Gulf South Conference Tournament championship and an NCAA Regional appearance in 1978.

Waldrop, a former professional baseball player, is a member of the Southeastern Athletics Hall of Fame, as are Davis, Grigas, Lehrmann and Marten. Davis and Malespin were the only unanimous selections to the All-Decade Team. 

Players were placed on the ballot based on postseason awards, single-season and career records earned, and overall career achievements. The team was selected by a voting base consisting of former Southeastern baseball letterwinners, coaches and administrators.

All former Southeastern baseball lettermen are eligible to cast a ballot for each of the seven squads making up the All-Decade Teams. Ballots will be conducted by email. An executive committee consisting of current and former coaches, players and SIDs will oversee the creation of the final team structure.

Lettermen interested in participating are asked to contact Associate Sports Information Director Damon Sunde (damon.sunde@southeastern.edu) to be added to the voting panel.

DIAMOND CLUB / S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the baseball program are encouraged to join the Diamond Club. Lion baseball alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.
 
All membership fees and donations to both the Diamond Club and S Club (baseball) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern baseball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.

 

TICKET INFORMATION
Southeastern is implementing mobile ticketing as the primary method for securing tickets during the 2020-21 school year. Tickets will be available via email in a PDF format for fans to download on their phone or print at home. Tickets can also be downloaded to Apple Wallet. 

CLEAR BAG POLICY
Southeastern Athletics enforces a clear bag policy for all ticketed events. The policy mirrors safety precautions required for entrance to professional and collegiate sporting venues throughout the country. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit www.LionSports.net/Clear.

 

SOCIAL MEDIA
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PLAYER BIOS

W.E. Knight – Pitcher 

Four-year letterwinner … 2.32 ERA led the team as a freshman and his six victories as a sophomore topped the staff … finished his career ranked third in appearances (47), fourth in both complete games (17) and losses (13), fifth in wins (16), innings pitched (223.1) and strikeouts (155), and 16th in ERA (3.71) … currently ranks fifth all-time in complete games, 19th in losses, 20th in wins, 23rd in both innings pitched and strikeouts, 43rd in appearances and 49th in ERA.

Kenny Lehrmann – Pitcher 

Highly-decorated southpaw is the program’s all-time leader in wins (25) … earned ABCA All-Region (1978), Gulf South All-Conference (1976, 1978) and Gulf South Conference All-Division (1976, 1977, 1978) during his three seasons … helped lead Southeastern to a Gulf South Conference Tournament championship and an NCAA Regional appearance in 1978 … his 1.99 ERA in 1976 ranks as the 12th-lowest in program history … led the team in strikeouts all three seasons … his 90 strikeouts in 1977 were the second-highest single-season total in program history at the time, currently ranking 15th … also led the staff in wins twice and ERA once … at the time was just the second pitcher in program history to record double-digit victories … one of just five pitchers to toss double-digit complete games over the course of a single-season … finished his career ranked third in strikeouts (230) as well as fifth in both innings pitched (237.1) and complete games (14) … currently ranks ninth in career complete games (14), 12th in strikeouts and 17th in innings pitched (237.1) … inducted into the Southeastern Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016.

Blaine Roseberry – Pitcher 

Two-year letterwinner made the most of his time at Southeastern, earning ABCA All-Region (1978, 1979) Gulf South All-Conference (1979) and Gulf South Conference All-Division (1978, 1979) honors … helped lead Southeastern to a Gulf South Conference Tournament championship and an NCAA Regional appearance in 1978 … ranks second in program history with 19 complete games … one of just five pitchers to toss double-digit complete games over the course of a single-season … led the team in wins with 10 in 1979, becoming just the third pitcher in program history to record double-digit victories in a single season … led the staff in both ERA and innings pitched twice … finished his career ranked second in complete games (19), fifth in wins (19), 11th in strikeouts (114), 12th in innings pitched (179.2), 13th in ERA (3.16) … currently ranks second in complete games, 14th in wins, 26th in career ERA, 35th in innings pitched and 45th in strikeouts.

Wayne Silva – Pitcher 

Four-year letterwinner earned Gulf South Conference All-Division honors in 1975 … helped lead Southeastern to a Gulf South Conference division title in 1973 as well as an NCAA Regional championship, NCAA DII College World Series appearance and a No. 3 national ranking in the final 1975 Collegiate Baseball poll … led the team in wins three times, innings pitched twice and once each in ERA and strikeouts … three shutouts in 1976 tied the program’s single-season record … finished his career ranked second in shutouts (4), third in both wins (20) and innings pitched (248.1), fourth in both appearances (45) and losses (16), eighth in strikeouts (118) and 12th in ERA (3.15) … currently ranked second in shutouts, 11th in wins, 12th in both innings pitched and losses, 25th in ERA, 42nd in strikeouts and 49th in appearances.

Mark Butler – Catcher 

Four-year letterwinner earned Gulf South Conference All-Division honors three times … helped lead Southeastern to an NCAA Regional championship, NCAA DII College World Series appearance and a No. 3 national ranking in the final 1975 Collegiate Baseball poll … tied for the team lead with nine home runs in 1976, the second-highest single-season total in program history at the time … also paced the team with 39 base hits in 1977 … finished his career as the all-time leader in games played (146), second in at-bats (456), fourth in both doubles (22) and home runs (19), fifth in hits (127) and eighth in RBIs (77) … currently ranks 25th in homers, 36th in games played, 37th in at-bats, 51st in doubles, 52nd in RBIs and 55th in hits.

Russ Marsh – First Baseman

Two-year letterwinner earned a host of awards, including All-Region (1978, 1979), Gulf South All-Conference (1978) and Gulf South Conference All-Division (1978, 1979) … helped lead Southeastern to a Gulf South Conference Tournament championship and an NCAA Regional appearance in 1978 … led team in runs scored twice … set the program single-season record, at the time, with 21 stolen bases in 1987 … also set the single-game record with four steals against Southern Miss in 1978 … finished career with the program’s highest all-time batting average (.345) and second-highest slugging percentage (.552) and ninth-highest on-base percentage (.416) … currently ranks ninth in slugging percentage, 12th in batting average, 15th in stolen bases and 30th in on-base percentage.

Glen Duplessis – Third Baseman

Three-year letterwinner … set then program record with a .410 batting average on the way to earning ABCA All-Region and Gulf South Conference All-Division honors in 1979 … also led the team with 57 base hits … finished career ranked 10th in home runs (14) and 11th in batting average (.312) … currently ranks 41st in batting average and 45th in homers. 

Gus Malespin – Outfielder 

Unanimous All-Decade selection … three-year letterwinner helped lead Southeastern to a Gulf South Conference Tournament championship and an NCAA Regional appearance in 1978 … earned All-America honors after hitting .375 with 11 home runs and 43 RBIs in 1979, striking out just twice in 128 at bats … also earned ABCA All-Region (1978, 1979), Gulf South All-Conference (1979) and Gulf South Conference All-Division (1978, 1979) honors … led the team in both home runs and RBIs in 1979, tying the program’s single-season homer record setting the RBI record … walked more than he struck out in his career, fanning just 13 times in 291 career at bats … finished his career with the highest batting average (.364) and slugging percentage (.684) in program history in addition to ranking second in home runs (21), fourth in on-base percentage (.428), fifth in triples (7) and seventh in RBIs (80) … still the program’s career leader in slugging percentage in addition to ranking third in batting average, ninth in triples, 17th in on-base percentage, 18th in home runs and 49th in RBIs … signed a free-agent contract with the Boston Red Sox following the 1979 season.

Ernie Johns – Designated Hitter

Three-year letterwinner helped lead Southeastern to an NCAA Regional championship, NCAA DII College World Series appearance and a No. 3 national ranking in the final 1975 Collegiate Baseball poll … earned Gulf South Conference All-Division honors in 1977 … led the team in home runs (10) in 1977, tying the program’s single-season record and becoming just the second Lion to hit double-digit homers in a season … also led the team in batting average (.299), runs scored (29) and RBIs (28) in 1977 … finished career ranked fifth in slugging percentage (.514), seventh in on-base percentage (.410) and eighth in home runs (13) … currently ranks 26th in slugging, 37th in on-base percentage and 51st in home runs.

Chris Belmont – Extra Catcher 

Four-year letterwinner helped lead Southeastern to a Gulf South Conference Tournament championship and an NCAA Regional appearance in 1978 … earned ABCA All-Region (1978, 1979) and Gulf South Conference All-Division (1978) honors … led the team with 11 home runs in 1978, setting a then program single-season record … finished career as the program’s all-time leader in home runs (23) in addition to ranking third in games played (136), 11th in slugging percentage (.499) … currently ranks 13th in home runs, 33rd in slugging percentage and 45th in games played.

Dale Halladay – Extra Outfielder 

Four-year letterwinner helped lead Southeastern to an NCAA Regional championship, NCAA DII College World Series appearance and a No. 3 national ranking in the final 1975 Collegiate Baseball poll … earned Gulf South Conference All-Division honors as a freshman … led the team with .406 batting average in 1976 … finished career ranked sixth in batting average (.314) and ninth in on-base percentage (.399) … currently ranks 38th in batting average and 50th in on-base percentage.

1970s ALL-DECADE TEAM

P – Terry Beaver

P – W.E. Knight

P – Kenny Lehrmann

P – Blaine Roseberry

P – Wayne Silva

C – Mark Butler

1B – Russ Marsh

2B – Greg Marten

SS – Andy Davis

3B – Glen Duplessis

OF – Kevin Fogg

OF – Steve Grigas

OF – Gus Malespin

DH – Ernie Johns

UT – Richard Simon

C – Chris Belmont

IF – Paul Schultz

OF – Dale Halladay

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