The State spoke with former South Carolina Gamecocks catcher and current North Greenville University head baseball coach Landon Powell ahead of the Crusaders’ first trip to the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship.

No. 1 seed North Greenville opens up at 6 p.m. Sunday against No. 8 West Chester in the tournament that’s being held at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina.

Powell’s comments have been edited lightly for brevity.

It’s the first time NGU advanced to the DII world series. What were the emotions like in those final outs of the super regionals and in the celebration after?

Powell: “It was a magical day, something we’ve been striving for and working for here at North Greenville for years. … Took over here in 2015, the program was in a totally different place then, I think they were at 8-38 year before we got here. … I would say they were one of the bottom level division two teams in the country. So it’s been a complete overhaul. We’ve spent a lot of time and energy and poured a lot into this program over the last couple of years to try to elevate it to where it is.

“We’ve had some good runs in the postseason. We’ve made it to regionals and super regionals. This year was our fourth year in a row hosting a regional. We’ve also hosted a super regional before, back in 2019. And we’ve never been able to kind of break the door down and get to the world series. So we just felt like, hey, we just keep showing up and knocking on that door, eventually, we’re gonna bust that thing down. And we’ve been snake-bit in previous years, but it was really good to break through this year and get it done and finally go to the world series.

“These players have worked hard, they’ve earned it, they deserve this opportunity and I’m excited to go celebrate all that we’ve done to this point and celebrate our season and these players, but I’m also excited to go compete and win four or five more games.”

So you inherited that eight-win team and now you just hit the 50 mark, which was historic for the program. So what’s that journey been like for you rebuilding this program? Is it fulfilling finally getting to this spot?

Powell: “It’s been a grind. I mean, it’s been an uphill battle. North Greenville’s not a place that it’s very easy to have quick success because we’re limited with our scholarships, we’re limited in funding, it’s a private Christian institution, our facilities were not very good when I got hired. So there was a lot of things that needed addressed and we needed to improve, and those things don’t just happen overnight, and it’s not easy answers and quick fixes for all of them. So, this has been something that we’ve had to work really hard to accomplish.

“My administration has been supportive, my athletic director’s been supportive, but most importantly, I’ve had the assistant coaches and players that have believed in me and believed in our program. And, you know, they’ve come here and given their heart and their energy to what we’ve done. And so this is a group effort. …

“There’s hundreds of other guys that have contributed to what we are now accomplishing. And I’m really proud of all of it and it is definitely fulfilling and feels really good. But I don’t want to stop, I want to keep going, I want to win more games. I want to win this national championship.”

On the topic of assistant coaches, I saw you’ve got Trey Dyson there who is a fellow Gamecock. How’d he get involved with the program and what’s his impact in the season?

Powell: “We’ve had several former Gamecocks help around the program. … Trey Dyson joined me last year, both (Jon) Coutlangus and Trey played with me at South Carolina and we all went to a world series together so we have that bond, but Trey has been phenomenal. He works with our hitters. … He’s a good assistant coach, he keeps it loose with the players. He has good rapport with all of them. He’s done a lot of videos on the side for social media. He helps with scouting reports and things like that. He’s been a good assistant coach, but also a good friend and it’s been fun to have him back in the dugout and this whole thing has brought back memories of things that Trey and I got to do back in college and when we played for coach (Ray) Tanner.”

What do you remember about your own experience when you played in the CWS?

Powell: “It was one of those things it was like a dream come true for us as players at that time. You know, to get to Omaha and be on the big stage and play on television. And back then, things weren’t televised. You know, so going to Omaha and playing on ESPN like, that was such a huge deal. Nowadays, everything’s televised. So maybe that isn’t as big of a deal for these guys. But the College World Series was a dream event for a college baseball player. You know, just felt really important that you felt like it mattered and you felt like people cared what you were doing.

“And I remember from my experiences, it was just we had a very loose atmosphere. It was fun. Our coach let us enjoy it. He wasn’t uptight or stressed about the games. I mean, he was, you know, he was very much allowing us to celebrate and enjoy all the things we had earned and work for that year. So that’s my goal this week is to do the same. I want my players to enjoy this, I want them to have fun. Win or lose at this point, we’ve had a tremendous season and now it’s just time to go out and enjoy and celebrate but when that umpire says play ball, we will compete our butts off and try to win.”

Do you take any other of those experiences from when you were a player into your approach to this CWS as a coach?

Powell: “For sure. I think everything that I do as a coach I’m drawing from somewhere and so I’ve been a part of a lot of teams that have won championships, and I’ve been a part of winning baseball for a long time. So that’s helped me build this program, that’s helped me instill those same characteristics in our players and in our coaches. When it comes to a World Series I’ve been fortunate to be in three of them. And so I definitely have experiences that I can lean on when it comes to this week and and how to handle certain scenarios or how to keep a certain demeanor going on. And so I think I’ll be pulling from all of my personal experiences and trying to lead this group to a championship.”

Can you think of any of the best advice Ray Tanner may have given you either as a player back then or now as a coach?

Powell: “We texted some a couple days ago and he didn’t really give advice. He just was congratulatory and telling me to have fun and go get it and just encouraging me. I’ve gotten a lot of advice from a lot of coaches over the years and I’m taking as much as I can and try to help that build into who I am as a coach. So I don’t know if I could give you one certain thing, I could probably tell you 100 different things. …

“I’ve been fortunate to play for a lot of great coaches and had a lot of mentors in this game, not only just in college and professional level, but growing up. I played for great coaches as a kid and my dad was a coach and I’ve been groomed my whole life for being a baseball coach. This is, I kind of think, my calling so I’m excited to be where I am.”

How much encouragement have you had this week from former teammates, either from USC or professionally?

Powell: “I’ve had a lot of texts and calls and people reach out. It’s been amazing. I think after we won the game to go to the world series … I celebrated for a while and I hugged my family and friends and parents and players and I didn’t check my phone for a while and then about three hours later, I started checking my phone and I had like 328 texts or something like that. … I’m just now kind of catching up to responding to everybody and returning calls and texts and but it just means a lot.

“It means people are paying attention. It means people are supportive. It means people have our back. All those things feel really good. So I know that we’re carrying the flag for the entire state of South Carolina right now in the postseason for baseball, and we’re gonna go up here to this world series and try to represent our state and represent the city of Greenville, and we’re excited about all those things.”

How is your family doing? How have you continued to remember or honor your late daughter Izzy?

Powell: “We had twin daughters in 2012 and Izzy, she passed away when she was 5 months old and that changed my wife and I and our family forever. Obviously branded some deep wounds, but it also I would tell you it’s strengthened us and strengthened our family, our faith. We are still a family of five — just because she’s not physically with me here doesn’t mean that she’s not with me every day. So I think about her all the time. I have photos of her in my office and photos of her at home all around our house. My kids and my wife, myself, we wear bracelets with her name on it. She’s a part of our life and I felt 100% that she was with us on Saturday when we won that super regional. I felt like she was kind of there watching.”

You’ve got West Chester coming up. Have you gotten a good look at them and what do you expect to see out of them once you guys get to carry?

Powell: “I’ve watched three or four of their games, so they’re a good team. Any team you play at this stage is gonna be good. They won the national championship in 2012 and 2017, so they’ve won twice in the last decade. That’s pretty strong. They have a solid team full of hitters they can run. They like to steal, they’re very aggressive on the base paths. They have a left-handed pitcher that’s had a phenomenal year; I’m sure that’s probably who we’ll face. We’re not underestimating them. We understand what kind of team they are but we also believe in ourselves and the season we’ve had and the talent we have. And our goal is just to go be ourselves and play our brand of baseball and compete every pitch and let the chips fall where they may.”

Are there any guys for people who aren’t familiar with NGU baseball that they should look out for in this coming week once you guys get to the world series?

Powell: “Yeah, I would say our right fielder named Marek Chlup, he was Conference Player of the Year in our conference. He is first team All-Region and will likely be an All-American. He’s from Czech Republic, which is rare. There’s not much baseball in Czech Republic. … He’s a great player. Big, powerful guy, 6-4, 240 pounds. Hits a ton of home runs but he’s also got 30 stolen bases on the year so he’s just a great athlete.

Our catcher, well he won’t be catching now he’s injured. So now he’ll be possibly DH, pinch hitting but our catcher was our three-hole hitter. He was National Player of the Year last year. He’s been a first team All-American twice already in his career, his name’s in John Michael Faile. He got hurt in the conference tournament, tore his knee up and actually had surgery, so he has not played in the conference tournament, the regional or the super regional. So we’ve been without him and he’s arguably been our best player.

Offensively him and Marek have definitely been our best offensive guys. But John Mike has also caught and done a tremendous job defensively. So losing him was a huge blow to us. We were able to still kind of pick up the pieces and have some guys step up and win anyway. But John Mike, we think is going to be able to play again in the world series. We’re optimistically kind of holding our breath. …

Pat Monteith, he plays third base and he was a conference freshman the year last year … and he’s having another tremendous season this year. … We got an exciting team. A lot of good players and good pitching. … I think we’re a fun team to watch.”

The coaching carousel comes around this time of year. Whether it’s now or in the future, if a DI school calls you up and offers you an assistant or head coaching job, would you entertain the call?

Powell: “Yeah, I think I’d entertain anything just out of respect for other schools, out of respect for the game of baseball. I don’t just ignore people altogether. I think I would listen to any situation. That’s different than how likely I would be to take a job, but I would definitely listen.

“You know, my alma mater, South Carolina. Obviously that’s a different animal. I’ve played there, I’m in the Hall of Fame there, I love that school. It’s not much of a secret, I’ve told people before I’d always be interested in an opportunity to go home and be back at the school that I played at. I’ve had a ton of people in the last couple of days asking me about Clemson and those kinds of things. …

“But in all honesty, like right now, I’ve got my blinders on. I’m focused on this team. I owe it to these players to give them everything I got until the last pitch is thrown and that’s my plan. I don’t want to be distracted or worried about those other things. I want to really focus on this team and go win a national championship.”

Is there anything else that the world needs to know about NGU baseball before the CWS?

Powell: “This is not a fluke kind of thing for us. We’ve been ranked number one in the country four out of the last five years. So we’ve had a mainstay top-five national program. I think the biggest thing is the transformation from what the school was to what it is now, seven years ago. I mean it literally has kind of gone from worst to first, which you don’t see that a lot in college athletics. It doesn’t happen that often, especially as quickly as it’s happened. So I think these players should get a lot of credit for what they’ve done.”

DIVISION II BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME SCHEDULE

The tournament will be played at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina

Saturday, June 4, 1:30 p.m.: No. 3 Southern Arkansas vs. No. 6 Rollins

Saturday, June 4, 6 p.m.: No. 2 Point Loma vs. No. 7 Illinois Springfield

Sunday, June 5, 1:30 p.m.: No. 4 Southern New Hampshire vs. No. 5 Angelo State

Sunday, June 5, 6 p.m.: No. 1 North Greenville vs. No. 8 West Chester

June 6-11: TBD

Michael Sauls is The State’s summer sports intern. He is an award-winning student journalist who attends the University of South Carolina where he is the managing editor of The Daily Gamecock.