Lower Columbia College Red Devils

With an illustrious history of LCC winning 14 NWAC baseball championships, the first to do it was the squad led by a fiery coach named Jack Riley. Riley coached the Devils from 1969 to 1972 before he went on to Oregon State where he led the Beavers for 22 years and garnered five Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors. His only LCC championship team is certainly a memorable one.
 
The 1970 Devils swept double headers from Centralia and Olympic to end league play on a high note. But the Devils needed a home playoff victory against Grays Harbor to qualify for the NWAC tournament in Centralia.  There the Devils beat Bellevue and Yakima Valley twice to finish with a record of 21-12.
 
The team was led by pitcher Mike McNeilly, himself an LCC Hall of Famer.  McNeilly went on to stardom at Gonzaga and was later drafted by the New York Mets.  Other current LCC Hall of Famers on that team included Terry Jones, Mike Polis, Jackie Strong and Steve Waite.  Those four were all members of the 1970 LCC basketball team that lost an epic double OT championship game to Peninsula.  Back in the days of small rosters many of the 1970 Red Devil players had to do it all.  Many played positions when they weren’t pitching and many took the field in multiple positions.
 
All of the 1970 Red Devils were top notch and many went on to play at the next level. Other members of the memorable 1970 Devils are Dave Dowdy, Dave Carpenter, John Mellein, Milo Meskel, Bob Kochis.  Art Carpenter, Denny Fithen, Bob Fitzsimmons, Mike McMahon and Dave Reynolds.
 
You always remember your first and the 1970 LCC baseball team kick started an incredible run of baseball success at Lower Columbia College.