Guest Blevins Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Walton Named ABCA Midwest Region Coach of the Year For Immediate Release: July 18, 2006 TULSA?Oral Roberts University baseball head coach Rob Walton has been named American Baseball Coaches Association Midwest Region Coach of the Year, the ABCA announced on Tuesday. Walton, in his third season as head coach at ORU, led the Golden Eagles to one of their best seasons ever in 2006. The Golden Eagles were 41-16 overall and finished the season ranked in the Top 25 of all three major polls for the first time in school history, with a high ranking of 14th by Collegiate Baseball newspaper. The Golden Eagles captured their ninth consecutive Mid-Continent Conference Tournament title, and advanced to NCAA Regionals for the 18th time. ORU was seeded third at the Fayetteville Regional and defeated Arkansas in the opening game, then swept a pair of games from Oklahoma State to earn the school?s first regional championship since 1978. The regional win advanced ORU to its first-ever Super Regional, where they lost twice at No. 1 national seed Clemson. ORU also enjoyed unprecedented success within the Midwest Region, posting a perfect 9-0 record in games against regional powers Arkansas (2-0), Missouri State (1-0), Oklahoma State (4-0) and Wichita State (2-0). ORU enjoyed an 8-4 record against Top 25 teams. In addition to his ABCA honor, Walton also was named Mid-Con Coach of the Year. He is 133-47 (.739) in three seasons as ORU head coach. --ORU-- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Congratulations to Coach Walton. He's provided ORU fans with a team that they can really be proud of (not that we weren't proud of our team to begin with!). Looking forward to next season, Coach! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richieoru Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 When Galloway left I wasn't sure if ORU baseball was going to be able to keep up how good they were, but I sure didn't expect them to get better. I give huge props to Walton, what a great job he has done. Walton has stepped in there and just improved, improved, and improved what a great coach to have. Thank you Rob Walton and keep up the good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 I think that people familiar with Rob Walton had a sense that the program would be fine when he took over. I only knew him from what I'd heard, but I had several that know Walton say he was an excellent choice to replace Sunny. The interesting thing about Walton is that he found the solution to the problem that plagued Golloway throughout his tenure at ORU, and ultimately played a large part in his leaving - and that was the ability to win in an NCAA Regional coming out of the Mid-Con. It takes a lot of heart and character on the part of both coaches and players to accomplish what they did this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richieoru Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 I think that people familiar with Rob Walton had a sense that the program would be fine when he took over. I only knew him from what I'd heard, but I had several that know Walton say he was an excellent choice to replace Sunny. The interesting thing about Walton is that he found the solution to the problem that plagued Golloway throughout his tenure at ORU, and ultimately played a large part in his leaving - and that was the ability to win in an NCAA Regional coming out of the Mid-Con. It takes a lot of heart and character on the part of both coaches and players to accomplish what they did this year. yeah I guess I just assumed that we didn't have a high caliber of a coach as Walton so I just tuned out baseball and didn't listen to much about the program thinking it was in for some rebuilding and down years...wow was I wrong!!! A little off the subject, the new building built on the stadium looks great, I hope I get to see the inside of it sometime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 Rob Walton is such a perfect fit for ORU. I love his calm and confident demeanor. His attitude and confidence are reflected in his teams. He also has a good eye for talent. Does anything ever rattle him? Remember toward the beginning of last season when we lost seven or eight games in a row (school record)? His attitude was that it was more important to finish strong and that he was using the early part of the season to experiment and try different combinations of players to find what worked. The guy knows baseball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcboy2000 Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 One could almost argue that a certain former coach that is now the head man at another program in state could have been the recipient of the award.......... if ORU hadn't had such a great season! Thanks, Coach Walton for getting us over the hump! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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