Our staff’s favorite work of the last decade • D1Baseball

Mike Martin poses with Florida State players after breaking the NCAA’s all-time wins record in 2018 (Aaron Fitt)

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D1Baseball Staff – January 10, 2025

In January of 2015, D1Baseball.com relaunched as a full-service college baseball website, after existing for the previous decade as a high-traffic resource for scoreboards, schedules and standings. We put together a dream team of the top college baseball writers in the country to chronicle the sport through the written word and through podcasts, and a number of those writers are still cranking out wonderful content a decade later: Kendall Rogers, Aaron Fitt, Mark Etheridge, Eric Sorenson and Shotgun Spratling. Other talented writers would join our team in the years to come, including Walter Villa, Mike Rooney, Joe Healy and Patrick Ebert, all of whom joined our five holdovers from the relaunch to share recollections from the first decade of D1Baseball editorial content.

We asked our team to answer a number of questions about the last decade, starting with their favorite moments, which we presented Monday. On Tuesday, we presented our team’s favorite players to cover over the last 10 years. On Wednesday, our staffers voted for the best team, player, pitcher, coach and program of the last decade.

Today we conclude with a good old fashioned link dump. We asked our staffers to share their favorite pieces they wrote over the last 10 years.

AARON FITT

The first story that comes to mind for me is my piece on Coastal Carolina’s national championship in 2016. I felt like I was along for that ride from the early days, having visited Conway the previous fall, again during opening weekend in the spring and midway through the season, and then covering Coastal’s super regional triumph at LSU. That was a magnetic group of players, and they were an absolute joy to cover. Not surprisingly, some of them have gone on to build nice careers as up-and-coming college coaches (Anthony Marks, Mike Morrison and Seth Lancaster).

Coastal Completes Journey For The Ages (2016)

UCLA’s David Berg was another all-time favorite player to cover, and I loved writing this in-depth feature on the full story of his journey to UCLA legend status:

Golden Spikes Spotlight on UCLA’s David Berg (2015)

Florida State’s Mike Martin was one of my favorite humans, and I wrote several columns about him that I am proud of — including this one after his career came to a close at the 2019 CWS. But I think my favorite was this one, which I wrote after watching Martin break Augie Garrido’s all-time wins record at Clemson in 2018. We republished it a year later when Martin became the first Division I coach to win 2,000 games:

Martin Meets Milestone With Typical Grace (2018)

KENDALL ROGERS

Given the historical nature: NC State’s Removal: The Timeline of Events

Rogers: The incredible legacy of Rice’s Wayne Graham won’t be forgotten

LSU’s Skenes exhibits greatness against Texas A&M

MARK ETHERIDGE

Here are three of my faves. MSU’s new stadium honored Rooker by engraving the first line of our Rooker story in its Triple Crown Room. I attached a photo.

Mississippi State’s Rooker Making History (2017)

Building An RPI-Friendly Schedule (2016)

Golden Spikes Spotlight: LSU’s Paul Skenes (2023)

ERIC SORENSON

30 Years Later, VCU’s Most Improbable Regional Run Still Resonates (2022)

Sorenson chats with three legends: Garrido, Graham and Martin (2015)

SHOTGUN SPRATLING

Instant Classic: TCU Outlasts A&M In 16-inning Super Regional Classic (2015)

Supers Bound UConn Won The Battle Of Toughness (2022)

Washington Breaks Through In Epic Fashion (2018)

BONUS — “This story wasn’t anything special, but the game was the craziest thing of the last decade.”: Believe in Beres: Bruins Win Epic Comeback (2022)

JOE HEALY

Rebuild complete: Tennessee baseball wins its first national title (2024)

Schlossnagle-to-Texas saga a sympton of a sport coming of age (2024)

“Happiest Man in College Baseball” Devin Burkes combines sunny demeanor and serious game (2024)

PATRICK EBERT

One of my favorite roles at D1 Baseball is being able to tell unique, under-the-radar stories, which includes features on Midwest and mid-major programs, in addition to my time spent covering summer collegiate leagues. Here are three features that were among my favorites to pursue for a variety of reasons:

Jacob Wilson Named D1 Baseball’s 2022 Summer Breakout Prospect (2022)

Maryland Earns First Ever Big Ten Championship (2022)

Notre Dame’s Strong Start During 2022 Season (2022)

WALTER VILLA

For me, it would be my Parker Byrd story and the follow-up that I wrote this past season. There are probably a bunch of other ones, but that’s always the one that sticks in my head.

ECU’s Parker Byrd Keeps Chasing Baseball Dream After Leg Amputation (2023)

Parker Byrd’s comeback inspires kids across the country (2024)