DETROIT (12/10/2017) -- It might have been snowing, but the sounds of "Play Ball" were all over campus as the University of Detroit Mercy Department of Athletics honored the Titan baseball program on Saturday, Dec. 9.
Members of all the Titan baseball teams were treated to a pregame reception in the Ball Room, where memorabilia and pictures from all the Titan teams were on display.
At halftime of the men's basketball game against Western Michigan, all the returning baseball players were part of a ceremony to unveil banners commemorating the 1997 MCC Championship and the five Titan teams that played in the NCAA Tournament. Â Â
The Titan baseball program was started in 1941 as Arthur Boeringer was the first head coach and the team went 6-1. In 1944, Titan Hall of Famer Lloyd Brazil took over for 19 years, registering a pair of 20-win seasons and four NCAA Championship appearances.Â
Little know the fact that Bob Calihan coached the team for two seasons from 1953-54. In 1965, Bob Miller took over the reigns at his alma mater and in his 36 seasons as skipper of the Titans, Detroit posted 896 total wins, 25 winning seasons, including reaching 30 victories nine times and a school record 36 wins in 1975. He also helped the program reach the NCAA Tournament in 1965 and win its first-ever MCC baseball championship in 1997.
In 63 seasons of Titan baseball, the program registered 1,212 overall wins.
In 1997, the Titans went 27-24 overall and 15-9 in MCC play, good for the second seed in the conference tournament. Detroit Mercy won its opening-round game 7-6 over third-seeded Milwaukee before defeating Northern Illinois, 9-7, in the semifinals.
That produced the championship match-up with Wright State and the Titans needed just one win, but the Raiders took game one, 10-9, despite a six-run rally in the last inning. In the winner take all championship contest, Detroit Mercy claimed a 6-3 victory in come-from-behind fashion to win its only league title.Â
The Titans made five trips to the NCAA Tournament in a seven-year span from 1959-65. The first was a NCAA District appearance in 1959 as the program battled Notre Dame and Western Michigan. In 1960, the Titans captured their first NCAA win defeating Ohio University twice, 16-2 in the opening round and 14-4 in an elimination game.
The team also qualified for the national tournament in 1961 and 1962.Â
In 1965 with coach Miller leading the way, the Titans beat Ball State, 4-3, and Ohio again, 8-7, before a tough loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes.
The Titan baseball program has 15 members in the school's Hall of Fame.Â
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