Former Demons in baseball postseason

If you're looking for rooting interests in college baseball's postseason, as an NSU fan, you have plenty.

Fomrer Demon head coach Dave Van Horn (1995-97) has his Arkansas Razorbacks hosting Grambling in the Fayetteville Regional. Van Horn requested copies of the Demons' media guides for his seasons in Natchitoches over the winter to reflect on those three years.

Some of the players, especially pitchers, he left behind could be pregame topics of conversation this weekend at the regional because also in Fayetteville is Kansas State, with pitching coach Sean McCann, who was John Cohen's pitching coach at NSU from 1998-2000. Joining him on the K-State staff is Andy Sawyers, the second-year hitting coach for the Wildcats who was Cohen's assistant in 1999-2000 when NSU was second in the Southland. The K-State sports information director is Kenny Lannou, who was assistant SID at NSU in 2002-03. The fourth team in that regional is Washington State, the first round foe for the Wildcats.

Mitch Gaspard, Demon head coach from 2002-2007, guided his first Alabama team to a strong finish and the Southeastern Conference Tournament finals, where the Tide fell in 11 innings to LSU. The Crimson Tide is the No. 2 seed in Atlanta playing Elon, with top-seeded Georgia Tech hosting Mercer in the other matchup there. Bobby Barbier, an Academic All-America first baseman for the Demons in 2004, is on Gaspard's staff as a volunteer coach, with his duties including third base coach. Barbier finished four seasons at NSU ranked in the top 10 of eight offensive categories and helped Gaspard's Demons reach the 2005 NCAA Tournament after winning the Southland Conference regular-season title.

Former Gaspard assistant Travis Janssen (2002-04) is an assistant at Jacksonville State, which swept through the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament unbeaten. The Gamecocks' reward is one of the toughest regional draws. Jacksonville State is in the Auburn regional, playing the home team, and Southern Mississippi plays Clemson on the other side of the bracket.

Former Van Horn pitching coach Rob Childress (at NSU 1995-97), in his third year as head coach at Texas A&M, guided the Aggies through the Big XII Conference Tournament unbeaten, highlighted by a 9-3 whipping of rival Texas. In the Coral Gables Regional as the No. 2 seed, A&M meets local favorite Florida International, who has Garrett Wittels, whose 54-game hitting streak is four back of the NCAA record 58 by Oklahoma State's Robin Ventura in 1987. Childress will call the pitches trying to stop him. No. 1 seed Miami and Dartmouth are the other two teams there. Another former Van Horn assistant at NSU, Matt Deggs, is the Aggies' associate head coach, and runs A&M's offense.

Former Jim Wells assistant (1991-92) Mike Bianco and his Ole Miss team are headed to the home of Thomas Jefferson. Ole Miss is a No. 2 seed at Virginia, the national No. 5 seed. The Rebels are playing St. John's and Virginia Commonwealth is the four seed in the Charlottesville Regional. Wonder if Bianco will take the boys by Monticello?

It goes beyond the NCAA Division I level.

Former Demon assistant Kyle Crookes and former Demon outfielder Stephen "Skunk" Adams are coaching Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College in the NJCAA (junior college) World Series. Crooks is head coach and Adams is his No. 1 assistant for a team that took a 37-22 record into postseason. Some former Hutchinson players on the Demon roster were 2010 senior Eric DeBlanc, slugging junior infielder Adam Roy and former SLC Player of the Year Jordan Robison. Crookes is in his sixth season as head coach at Hutch after being an assistant for four, and those 10 seasons have been the most successful in Hutchinson history. Crookes is 217-122 in six years as head coach. Adams, an All-Southland pick as a junior and senior for the Demons, is in his fifth season on the staff.