Towson baseball staves off different kind of elimination

Alejandro Zuniga Sacks | USA TODAY Sports

TOWSON, Md. — On an early March morning, Towson University catcher Zach Fisher felt his phone vibrate with a notification while he waited for an appointment with his academic adviser to discuss a thesis paper.

Thinking he had received a text message from a friend, the economics major looked down to reply but saw a number he didn't recognize. But before the screen shut off, Fisher caught a glance of the strange message, and his heart plummeted: He suddenly realized that his school was going to cut the baseball program.

Across campus, other athletes' phones lit up with the same text message.

It didn't say much, summoning the baseball and men's soccer teams to a mandatory meeting less than an hour later, but Fisher was rightfully worried.

He had enrolled at Towson after transferring from Maryland to join veteran coach Mike Gottlieb's program, one that had averaged 25 victories a season in 25-year his tenure, and Fisher had helped the 2013 Tigers match their best start since 2002.

But four months earlier, university President Maravene Loeschke had announced athletics director Mike Waddell's recommendation to cut men's soccer and baseball. It was the last Fisher and his teammates had heard until they received the message that Friday morning.

"I told my academic adviser, 'Hey, I gotta go. I think it's about getting cut,' " Fisher said. "I had a gut feeling that it would be bad news."

He was right. With campus police officers by their side, Loeschke and Waddell revealed the news at the hastily assembled meeting. The announcement lasted just three minutes and called for immediate disbanding of the men's soccer program and termination of baseball after the 2013 season.

Gottlieb — who had been informed of the decision only minutes prior — said he felt betrayed by the university to which he had dedicated more than a quarter of a century.

"It was like somebody punched me in the gut," Gottlieb said. "That weekend was like a funeral."

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The months since have seen a resurrection. Towson won the Colonial Athletic Association tournament as a 4 seed and earned its first NCAA tournament berth since 1991. The Tigers begin tournament play Friday in the Chapel Hill Regional, which also features No. 1 overall seed North Carolina, Florida Atlantic and Canisius.

The task that Towson faces in the NCAA tournament will be different, but perhaps not more difficult, than the one it encountered on that March morning.

After Loeschke and Waddell delivered the news, Gottlieb and the Tigers had mere hours to regroup. They were hosting the first game of a three-game Colonial Athletic Association series against Delaware that night.

When the Towson players arrived at John B. Schuerholz Park for warm-ups, they felt uncomfortable promoting a school that had abandoned them. So the Tigers taped over the university's name on their uniforms. They lost the first two games of the series, but then won seven of their next nine games.

"We lost a lot of respect for the administration," said outfielder Kurt Wertz. "We wanted to play this last season for us as a team."

Even as the Tigers strung together wins, they believed that their future as baseball players lay elsewhere. Gottlieb helped the majority of his 35-man roster explore transfer options, and very few planned on staying at a school devoid of baseball.

But spring was a harbinger of good news for the Towson community.

First, Loeschke revealed that the combination of a 1% "student fee" increase, an "aggressive fundraising campaign" and a contribution of $300,000 a year for two years from the state of Maryland would take baseball off the chopping block through the 2015 season. (The men's soccer program was not revived.) She later reiterated her support for the team in-person by boarding their bus before it departed for a weekend series.

In May, Waddell — who had recommended the sports be cut — resigned as athletics director to take a job at Arkansas.

Then Tuesday Loeschke wrote a letter to the team and Towson community commending their perseverence and achievement in the face of difficult circumstances, a letter that included the adage, "It is often said that life isn't about what happens to you, it's about how you respond to it."

"I don't think there's much bitterness left (toward the athletic department)," Fisher said this week. "The way they handled themselves, that had to change."

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The Tigers took the tape off of their uniforms, and despite finishing the regular season with an overall losing record, Towson qualified for the CAA tournament as the No. 4 seed. Then they swept the field to earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

The Tigers enter at 29-28 and are long shots to advance, but after surviving the imminent death of their program, they are ready to face any challenge.

"Being the underdog gave us all the momentum and the fight to go out there and prove the administration wrong," Wertz said. "The pressure isn't on us anymore. We're excited to go down there and maybe upset a team or two."

There is no guarantee Towson will continue to support its baseball program when the state's additional funding ends in two years, and some players say they still don't trust the athletics department to provide long-term support. Gottlieb said two younger players plan on transferring when the season ends. But the majority have faith in the University to continue to sustain the program and are proud to showcase Tigers baseball on a national stage when they face Florida Atlantic on Friday.

"Three months ago, we didn't have a future here," Gottlieb said. "I told the kids, 'Go to this regional and play like you're in your backyard: with energy and enthusiasm and love for the game.' Whatever happens, happens."