dupagehounds.com

By: Will DeBoer

The Hounds will see a familiar face return to DuPage County this weekend. One that bares the exhilaration only a national championship could produce.

Drew LaComb will make his 2014 Midwest Collegiate League season debut during a three-game homestand the weekend of June 6-8. One week ago, LaComb was in Enid, Oklahoma, helping his Mesa (AZ) Community College Thunderbirds win an NJCAA Division II National Championship. In the decisive matchup with Hinds (MS), the sophomore second baseman went 3-5 with a double, two runs, and two RBIs, catching the final out of the game in the bottom of the 11^th inning of a 9-7 victory.

LaComb, who was named a Thunderbird captain, said the selection was “the highest honor I could ask for or receive at Mesa. It means so much to me to be the captain and to be allowed to lead my teammates throughout practices, games, and everything we do.”

Mesa’s run to the title did not come without adversity. The Thunderbirds lost their first game in the eight-team, double-elimination championship tournament.

“The first game of the tournament we came out playing nervous and uncomfortable,” said LaComb. “After the first game, I just continued to tell myself ‘I don’t want to come here to just to go two and out.’ Our team took each and every game as survival mode.”

And survive they did. Mesa won their next four games in the losers’ bracket, setting the stage for a winner-take-all championship matchup with Hinds. Fueled on self-belief, the Thunderbirds took a two-run lead in the top of the 11^th. The Eagles made it interesting in the bottom of the frame, loading the bases with two outs and sending their best hitter to the plate.

As LaComb describes it, “Our ace got him to ground out, and the force out was to me at second. The feeling once I caught the ball was one I will never forget. It took days for the feeling of us being national champs to sink in.”

LaComb’s extended stay with Mesa has prepared him for the rigors of the Midwest Collegiate League. He says that aside from some better pitching, the competition in NJCAA Division II measures closely to that of the MCL. When LaComb returns to the infield at the Benedictine Dog Pound, he will bring a combination of hustle and discipline he fostered in the Arizona desert.

“Mesa taught us to play the game the right way,” said LaComb.

When his second season in Lisle comes to an end, LaComb will take his talents to the Regis (CO) University Rangers. In the meantime, his Hounds teammates will look to add an MCL championship to his already-thrilling list of summer accomplishments.