McCallie-Baylor link helping Lee

CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Mark Brew has become used to success in the NAIA World Series, with eight wins there in his previous three seasons as Lee University's head baseball coach.

But getting there remains a difficult challenge in itself, and this season seemed to establish longer odds than usual for the Flames.

"We started the school year with 38 players, and currently we have 27. And two of those are redshirting," Brew said Friday. "We've always prided ourselves on being a deep program. That was tested to the max this year."

Some of the departing players just decided to quit. Others were sent away for disciplinary issues.

But the rest -- well, the Flames not only survived the test by fire but seemed to be strengthened by it. They are 46-11 with 24 wins in their last 27 games. The only loss in their last 18 was by a single run in 15 innings, and the they avenged it in the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament with an 8-0 win over Brewton-Parker that made the two teams co-champions.

Lee has moved up to No. 4 in the NAIA rankings and Tuesday will host USC-Beaufort, Taylor (Ind.), William Jewell (Mo.) and Mount Vernon (Ohio) Nazarene in one of nine NAIA Opening Round double-elimination tournaments. The nine winners will join top-ranked Lewis-Clark State College at the World Series in Lewiston, Idaho.

"With all the adversity we've had, I never thought we'd be in this situation again," Lee captain and senior third baseman Tanner Moore said.

"Especially at the beginning of the season," junior right fielder Michael Brown added.

Those two epitomize the unity of the remaining Flames. Brown, a transfer from NCAA Division II member Carson-Newman who redshirted at Lee two years ago, graduated from Baylor in 2006 -- when Moore graduated from McCallie before playing for East Tennessee State and then Tennessee.

Moore came to Lee in the middle of the 2008-09 school year and had to share a locker in the baseball clubhouse with his former prep school rival.

They had played together with the Chattanooga Cyclones, however. Even Moore's challenge to Brown's accustomed neatness didn't overcome their friendship.

Both said they have loved being part of the "close-knit" Lee community and developing academically and spiritually on the "beautiful" campus.

Moore batted .352 with a .515 slugging percentage and 42 RBIs in 2009, and last fall he was almost unanimously voted team captain despite his short time in the program.

"He's a great leader and he has a great relationship with the coaches," Brown said.

"I try to lead by example," Moore said. "I try to be a vocal leader, too, but I'm a competitive guy and I want to show that in how I play and not by getting in people's face. I don't see myself as a one-captain deal. We have seven or eight seniors, and I see all the older guys as being leaders."

Moore is batting .379, one point below shortstop junior shortstop Jose Cuevas, and leads the Flames with 77 hits, 75 runs, 20 home runs, six triples, 160 total bases and a .788 slugging percentage. He and fellow senior Junior Rodriguez share the team lead with 67 RBIs.

Brown is one of the nine Lee regulars batting at least .313 and has nine homers, nine doubles, two triples, 44 RBIs and 42 runs. Ending his 2009 season early by diving for a fly ball down the line and crashing into a fence, he required shoulder surgery and missed fall practice while recovering.

"Mike could've been on the outside looking in at the first of the season," Brew said, "but he's had a great year. He's swinging the bat so well we have to have him in there, and he's also improved his defense."

Specifically, Brown has increased his power at the plate and in his right arm since arriving.

"He's tooled up, as we say," Brew said. "He was a good athlete, but he took to heart some things we told him to work on."

Brown had better college offers for football, he said, but couldn't shake his "passion" for baseball -- instilled in him by his grandfather, James Shoulders.

While Moore admitted that not returning to the World Series "would be a huge disappointment," he said the season still would be a triumph in light of what the Flames have overcome. Brown couldn't agree.

"Even though we went through so much, we've shown how good we are in the way we came together," he said. "For some other team to beat us out on our home field would be like a death in the family."

* Appalachian Athletic Conference champion Tennessee Wesleyan is seeded third in the NAIA group at Columbus, Ga., where Southern Polytechnic from Lee's league is seeded second. Cumberland University is seeded No. 1 for the group in Joliet, Ill.