Baseball Invited to Inaugural Tony Gwynn Classic During 2016 Season
Jun 16, 2015 | Baseball
SAN DIEGO - The first piece of the 2016 schedule has been set for Tulane baseball, as the program was announced as one of eight participants in the inaugural Tony Gwynn Classic, to be co-hosted by San Diego State and the University of San Diego from Feb. 26-28, 2016, announced the schools on Tuesday.
Tulane will join the two hosts, as well as UC Santa Barbara, Kentucky, Nebraska, Nevada and Bryant in an eight-team tournament that will be held at SDSU's Tony Gwynn Stadium and USD's Fowler Park. The teams will be split into two four-team brackets, with the winners meeting for the tournament championship at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
"The Tony Gwynn Classic is going to be an exceptional tournament that many will strive to duplicate," stated Tulane baseball head coach David Pierce. "We are excited to be a part of the inaugural year."
Gwynn died exactly one year ago today after a lengthy battle with cancer. The announcement of the tournament that will bear his name was held at his statue outside Petco Park, coinciding with the one-year anniversary of his passing.
"Our goal is to make the Tony Gwynn Classic the country's preeminent in-season tournament, as well as baseball's yearly coming-out party in San Diego," said tournament founder and chairman Jack Murray, the long-time USD radio broadcaster, who is managing the event for the Tony and Alicia Gwynn Foundation.
Gwynn, a 2007 inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame after an exceptional 20-year career with the San Diego Padres, coached his alma mater of SDSU for 12 seasons, compiling a 363-363 record that included three Mountain West Conference Championships to go along with three NCAA Tournament appearances.
Prior to his time in the coaching ranks with the Aztecs, Gwynn starred on the diamond for the Padres, leading the franchise to their only two World Series Appearances in 1984 and 1998. He was a 15-time All-Star, five-time Gold Glove Award recipient and a seven-time Silver Slugger Award honoree. The Los Angeles native won eight National League batting titles, as well, and his career batting average of .338 is tied for 18th-highest in the history of Major League Baseball.
"Hopefully, this can be a focal point for the beginning of each college baseball season nationally," stated Gwynn's successor and current SDSU head baseball coach Mark Martinez. "There's a lot of people behind the scenes who made this happen, and we can't thank them enough for putting Tony's name out there. The idea behind it was to have it ongoing to celebrate Tony's legacy - and do it forever."
The inaugural tournament will feature three 2015 NCAA Regional teams in Tulane, San Diego State and UC Santa Barbara, while Kentucky, Bryant, Nebraska and SDSU all earned NCAA Regional berths in 2014.
Baseball America editor-in-chief John Manuel stated in an interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune that "college baseball has had a variety of big events early in the season, such as the Houston College Classic, but the Tony Gwynn Classic should stand out from the crowd. It will have great weather, teams from around the country to attract scouts and the on-campus locations to attract fans, as well. I hope the event can become one of the highlights of the college baseball calendar, and I believe it will."
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