Lubbock Christian University Athletics

The 1983 Lubbock Christian College baseball team was the school's first-ever to claim an NAIA National Championship title. 

That season, legendary coach Larry Hays led the Chaparrals to a 56-27 overall record, including wins against Wyoming, Texas, Iowa State, Baylor, Rice and cross-town rival Texas Tech, who they beat in all six meetings. 

It was the third straight season for Lubbock Christian to play host to the NAIA World Series, meaning they were automatically qualified and did not have to compete in the District VIII or Area II postseason tournaments. At the World Series, they started off strong with wins over Southwestern (7-1), Kansas-Newman (13-3) and Coastal Carolina (14-9) before suffering a loss to Lewis-Clark State (18-17 in 10 innings), who many considered the favorite for the title. Forced to come back through the loser's bracket, LCC beat Union (4-0) to set up a rematch with Lewis-Clark, but they would have to beat the Warriors twice to claim the title. They did so, winning a tight 4-3 battle before clinching the crown with a 12-9 win. 

David Bulls and Bob Hinson led the pitching staff for the Chaps that season, with Bulls leading the NAIA with 130 strikeouts and Hinson earning the national lead with 16 wins, an LCU single-season record that still stands today. Both players were inducted into the Hall of Honor as individuals in 1994. 

Bulls pitched in 22 games that season, leading the team with a 3.54 ERA in 129 and two thirds innings pitched. He allowed just 51 earned runs on 134 hits and walked ony 48 batters. At the World Series, Bulls was credited with the win on the mound three times in just six wins and was named the World Series Most Valuable Player for his performance. He was also an All-District VIII selection. 

Hinson, a transfer from the University of Texas, pitched 155 and two thirds innings in 22 games, including 13 complete games. He allowed 91 runs, only 68 of which were earned for an 3.93 ERA while walking 69 and striking out 123. Hinson was named to the World Series All-Tournament Team and was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the fifth round of the Major League Baseball draft, which is still the highest a Chap has ever been selected. 

Nine players on the 1983 team hit better than .300 for the season for a prolific Chap offense. The offensive leaders were All-American selections shortstop Randy Velarde (Second Team) and third baseman Steve Coleman (Honorable Mention), along with District VIII Co-Player of the Year Bob Fannin. 

Velarde played in all 83 games that season (and leads the Chaps all-time in games played), batting .444 with 17 doubles, five triples and 13 home runs. He drove in 64 runs during the year, including 10 game-winners, which was tied for second on the team. Velarde also displayed his speed with 18 stolen bases on 21 attempts. Velarde went on to play 16 seasons of Major League Baseball. 

Coleman had a .477 on-base percentage for the year, which ranked as the second-best on the team. He had 91 hits (.350 AVG), including a team-leading 20 doubles, one triple and 14 home runs. He drove in 67 runs, 10 of which were of the game-winning variety. 

Fannin, who coach Hays claimed was one of the best power hitters he ever coached, was a force at the plate in 1983, collecting a team-leading 201 total bases on 99 hits, including 10 doubles, four triples and 28 home runs. He led the team with a .696 slugging percentage and 89 runs batted in. 

LCC set several NAIA World series records that season, including most runs in a game by an individual (Gary Hix, five vs. Lewis-Clark State), most at-bats at the World Series (Bob Fannin, 33), most chances accepted at first base at the World Series (Bob Fannin, 74), most bases on balls at the World Series by an individual (Chet Feldman, 15), most bases on balls as a team at the World Series (55 in seven games) and the record for the longest game at the NAIA World Series, which was the 18-17, 10-inning loss against Lewis-Clark State, which lasted four hours and 42 minutes. 

Furthermore, the Chaps became the first team to ever win the NAIA World Series while hosting it. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS (Chaparral NAIA National Statistical Rankings)
#1 - David Bulls, 130 strikeouts
#1 - Bob Hinson, 16 wins
#2 - Bob Hinson, 123 strikeouts
#3 - Randy Velarde, 108 hits
#3 - Bob Fannin, 28 home runs
#4 - Steve Coleman, 20 doubles
#6 - Bob Fannin, 89 runs batted in

WORLD SERIES RECAP - By Walt McAlexander
"AND, NOW, Ladies and Gentlemen," the voice blared from the public address system of Chaparral Stadium at approximately 11:20 p.m. June 6, 1983, "introducing the National Champion Lubbock Christian College Chaparrals."

A dream? No... well, yes! For those 3,684 fans who inched into every nook and cranny, filled the bullpens, sat atop parked cars and vans around the outfield fences, it ws the culmination of a dram coach Larry Hays started having some 13 years earlier. 

And for a group of 20 young men -- who only eight days earlier were told they didn't stand a chance against Lewis-Clark State of Idaho (a team that some considered as good as -- if not better than -- the 1927 New York Yankees) -- it was a dream come true. 

Say it again! National Champion Lubbock Christian College. That night everyone seemed in a daze -- celebrating with one another and the players. It would take days before the realization would sink in -- both for players and fans, just what the 1983 Chaparral team had accomplished. 

Perhaps it was only fitting that the Chaps would wear Cinderella's shoe since the NAIA had already announced the 1985  and 1985 tournaments would be hosted by Lewis-Clark State in Lewiston, Idaho. Perhaps it was only fitting that the Chaps would win a national title after failing to win a single game in four attempts while serving as hosts for the series in 1981 and 1982. And perhaps it was only fitting that since Larry Hays actually won five of the seven coin tosses during the World Series, that the Chaps would win. 

But all of the above come after the fact. 

The fact is that the Chaparral mound corps was head and shoulders above the rest of the field. 

The pitching headline starts with David Bulls, a senior whose only action in three previous World Series was to move around the dugout. But Bulls more than took advantage of his opportunities in 1983, winning half of LCC's six games and beng named Most Valuable Player in the Series. 

Bulls got the call on opening night and responded with a seven-hitter against Southwestern University of Georgetown, TX. He walked one and fanned 12, losing his bid for a shutout by allowing consecutive doubles in the ninth, but won 7-1. 

Thursday in the winner's bracket finals, the Chaps lost a heart-breaking 18-17, 10-inning contest to Lewis-Clark. LCC battled back from a 14-3 deficit and scored five runs in the ninth to tie, including four after two men were out in the inning. 

Then on Friday, Bulls hurled another masterpiece. Union University of Tennessee was the victim this time, as Bulls spun a five-hit shutout, winning 5-0, walking four and fanning eight. After 18 innings of pitching, Bulls had an ERA of .50 and had allowed only 12 hits, walked five and struck out 20. But he was far from finished in tournament action, and his first two showings only served to inspire the rest of the mound staff. Bob Hinson also hurled two complete-game victories -- both just as crucial as Bulls!

Hinson survived a shaky first inning against Kansas Newman on Tuesday, allowing three runs on a walk and four hits. He then allowed only two hits and a walk the remainder of the way, striking out 12 as the Chaps pounded out 15 hits in posting a 13-3 decision. 

The junior from LaMarque's next starting assignment came on Sunday -- following a rainout Saturday which gave him an extra day of rest. With a then record 2,382 fans cheering him on, Hinson spun another six-hitter, this time against No. 1 ranked Lewis Clark. Hinson held the Warriors to the lowest hit total of the year and allowed themm to score fewer than five runs for only the fourth time in 1983. The Warriors had entered what they anticipated was the championship game with a 69-5 record, were 49-0 against NAIA schools, had scored in double figures in 11 of their last 13 games and had been involved in only four other one-run games, winning three in 1983. 

But with Hinson struggling, L-C took advantage of seven walks and held a 3-2 lead entering the last of the eighth. Steve Coleman took over, ripping a home run to right field following a walk to Chet Feldman. Hinson retired the Warriors in order in teh ninth and the Chaps were in the finals. 

Kirk Dudley ws the third starter used in the series. He was the winning pitcher in the 14-9 decision over Coastal Carolina on Wednesday, with fireman Rick Dillman of Lubbock hurling the final 3.1 innings of three-hit relief to pick up the save. 

Kirk's younger brother, Kent, who pitched six brilliant innings in relief and allowed the Chaps to come from that 11-run deficit against L-C on Thursday, suffered the only loss of the Tournament. 

Ah, the Championship game. It was supposed to be no contest, as Lewis-Clark would finish the series with a .388 team batting average, compared to a modest .302 effort for the Chaps. And L-C would again finish in double-figures in hits, 16, and end the tournament with 95 hits, including 27 doubles, two triples and 13 homers. 

The Warriors scored twice off Kirk Dudley in the second. But in the bottom of the frame, Mike Rivera doubled home a run and Gary Hix's squeeze bunt knotted the score at two. L-C made it 3-2 in the fifth on an error, but the Chaps exploded for five runs in the sixth. Bob Fannin's bases-loaded double off the first baseman's mitt put LCC up 4-3. Then a throwing error allowed two more runs to score nd the fifth also scored on an error. 

L-C reached the elder Dudley in th top of the seventh for two singles and a walk. Hays marched to the mound, turned to the bullpen and summon in -- David Bulls! Bulls took advantage of the dramatic, tense moment, quickly striking out the side. The larges crowd ever to witness an LCC home baseball game erupted. The countdown to the national championship was only six outs away! 

But the adrenalin that Bulls had going in the seventh departed in the eight when the Warriors proved to be human. Quickly, a double, RBI single, walk, and David Martinez' 18th homer of the year -- which stunned and silenced the throng -- tied the game at 7-7. 

However, as LCC came to bat in the last of the eight, the crowd came to life again. It was a repeat performance of what happened in the 18-17 game four nights earlier. In that tilt, after the chaps had come back to tie, the leadoff batter in the next inning homered. 

To be truthful, it wasn't the leadoff batter, who homered, but No. 2 man, senior catcher Ed Jeffrey in his last collegiate at-bat. He lined a shot to right field which glanced off Allan Peterson's glove an into the many fans just outside the fence. 

That ignited another five-run inning, as pinch-hitter Rich Wieligman had an RBI single -- his first hit since March 2 and only his third hit of the season. Then Randy Velarde followed with an RBI single, Randy Ledbetter's sacrifice bunt went for a single when the pitcher fell down and it was 11-7. Coleman's RBI sacrifice fly finished out the scoring. 

The Chaps would need every one of those five runs, for L-C did not go out easily in the ninth. The Warriors had six times scored five or more runs in a Series inning and 10 times scored either three or for runs, so the ninth would be just another "ordinary" inning. 

It started that way, with a single and a walk. Hays lifted Bulls in favor of southpaw Travis Walden, Walked faced two lefty hitters, walking one, wild-pitching home a run before getting the second to bounce out to first and then walked the bases full again. 

That brought Dillman out of the pen for his third Series appearance. The freshman surrendered a single to narrow the margin to 12-9. He then struck out Martinez on an 0-2 pitch. 

The next batter was Jim O'Dell, the NAIA Player of the Year and a Golden Spikes finalists. O'Dell had set a national collegiate mark for runs batted in with 137 (still the NAIA record) and was 11-for-26 in the tournament with two homers, three doubles, eight RBI and no strikeouts in 32 plate appearances. 

After working the count full, Dillman came up-and-in with a fastball, which O'Dell took for a called third strike at 11:09 p.m. and the celebration erupted. It marked the third time -- and the second in two years -- that Lewis-Clark had finished as runner-up. 

The crowd graciously showered both teams with applause during the awards ceremonies which followed and it was well after 1 a.m. before the lights at Chaparral Field were turned off that night. 

But the scorebook bearing the results of the finals -- LCC 12, Lewis-Clark 9, burned throughout the night and will be etched forever in the hearts of Chaparral baseball fans. 

AWARD WINNERS
All-District VIII Team: Steve Coleman, 3B; Randy Velarde, SS; Chet Feldman, RF; David Bulls, P; Bob Fannin, 1B and Co-Player of the Year
All-Area II: Randy Velarde, SS; Steve Coleman, DH
All-Americans: Randy Velarde, SS (Second Team); Steve Coleman, 3B (Honorable Mention)
World Series All-Tournament Team: Bob Fannin, 1B; Chet Feldman, RF; Bob Hinson, P; Dan O'Connor, Golden Glove Award; David Bulls, Series Most Valuable Player