California magazine blog

End of the Road

This is where I wound up last night after Cal's 8-1 loss to Virginia and elimination from the College World Series. No, I wasn't there to drown my sorrows, just havin' a couple of beers with a friend. I'm not that serious a fan, and, besides, Cal has nothing to be ashamed of. True, they didn't play their best ball last night, what with the spiked pitches and botched plays, but the season was still quasi-miraculous and a hell of a lot of fun to follow here on this blog.

In the end, the essential story is this: A team that was to be eliminated as a varsity sport at Cal ended what was nearly its last season tied for fifth in the nation. They lost some games, sure, but they were never really beaten. And, thanks to donors, Cal baseball was reinstated for at least another seven years.

My six-year-old daughter sat on my lap last night as we watched the Bears suffer their final out. "Did Cal lose?" she asked.

"Yep," I said, "That's the end of the road for Cal."

"But they get to play again next year, don't they?"

"Yeah, they do," I said, holding my hand up for a high-five. Indeed they do.

Esquer Named Coach of the Year in Omaha

Cal's dream season on the baseball diamond continues, as the Bears stayed alive in the College World Series with a 7-3 win yesterday over a tough Texas A&M squad. Tomorrow they'll face the top-ranked Virginia Cavaliers. The Cavs handed the Bears a 4-1 loss in the opening round of the tournament last Sunday, before falling yesterday to defending champs South Carolina.

Cal arrived in Omaha with six straight wins behind them, including victories over Rice, Baylor and Dallas Baptist. Still, they are considered underdogs; they finished just sixth in the Pac-10 and were the third seed in their regional bracket. And by the end of the regular season, they had dropped off Baseball America's Top 25. Even now, the guys face long odds in their quest to go all the way. They'll need three more wins to make it to the best-of-three championship round. A loss tomorrow would send them home.

But long odds have been the story of this season. After all, this was a team that was to be eliminated as a varsity sport at the close of 2011 competition due to budget constraints. When CALIFORNIA spoke to head coach David Esquer shortly after the news of the cuts last September, he spoke of the unique challenge of trying to save a program, run a program, and prepare to dismantle a program all at the same time. "It’s much more difficult than I ever could have anticipated," Esquer said. "Just running a program is difficult enough."

In the end, Esquer will not have to dismantle his program. Thanks to donors, who pledged support in excess of $9 million to Cal Baseball, the team was reinstated in April. And given his squad's continuing success, it should come as little surprise that Esquer (now 355-312-2 in his 12-year tenure at Cal) was just named the National Coach of the Year by the National College Baseball Writers Association.

As to how he handled the uncertainty that dogged his players this year, Esquer told reporters in Omaha that he considered how he'd want his own son handled in the same situation. "I tried to make sure to provide that type of guidance for our players and help the alumni who were working so hard behind the scenes. Our job was to find an answer, not to assign blame or focus on the problem."

Cal plays Virginia at 4 PT on Thursday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN. You can also listen to the game on KALX, 90.7 FM.

Field of Dreams

They did it! The Cal baseball team is going to Omaha. Ranked sixth in the Pac-10 at the end of regular season play, the Bears are now the only team in the conference playing in the College World Series. Considering that the baseball team was to be cut at the end of this year, Cal has become the darling of the post-season, with sportswriters calling the Bears' success "storybook" and even "beyond storybook." They still have a big challenge ahead of them of course (their first match-up in the 8-team, double elimination tournament will be on June 19th against the winner of today's game between top-ranked Virginia and UC Irvine), but Cal dominated a powerful Dallas Baptist squad this weekend, shutting them down at the mound and hammering them at the plate. If they can stay loose and keep that momentum going, the Cinderalla story may yet get the ending it deserves. All of the games will be televised. For more information on the tournament, go here. And go Bears!

Glory Days

Justin Jones took his bro hugs at the mound last night before throwing his first pitch against Dallas Baptist in Game 1 of the super regional at Santa Clara's Stephen Schott Diamond. As the infield closed ranks around the Bears' sophomore pitching ace, the guy sitting in front of me turned and said, "That kid has needed his hugs all the way through school coming up." He knew this firsthand; seems his son used to catch for Jones when the two played ball together at Oakdale High School outside Modesto. He and his wife were there to support their boy's erstwhile teammate in his starting appearance against Dallas Baptist, a team that had taken the Fort Worth regional by storm, vanquishing baseball powerhouses TCU, Oklahoma, and Oral Roberts.

Jones didn't disappoint, as the Bears cruised to a shut-out victory over the Patriots before a packed stadium. The lanky, long-haired lefty (how's that for alliteration?) pitched six innings and only gave up a single hit before a cramping bicep took him out of the game. Sophomore Logan Scott then stepped in to relieve him, allowing only two hits en route to the save. Meanwhile the Bears' offence took charge with 11 hits, including two 3-run homers--one by junior outfielder Chad Bunting, the other by junior shortstop Marcus Semien, who also hit a triple in the sixth.

When it was all over, they played Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days" over the loudspeakers (he could throw that speedball by ya/make you look like a fool, boy) and 8-year-old Christian Karren borrowed this blogger's pen so he could collect autographs as the team departed the field. His dad, Charles Karren '90, urged him on. Get him! Yeah, that's Booker. He had two hits tonight. Christian gave me back my pen and held his autographed ball by the threads as the ink dried.

On the way out, I shook hands with Sam Petke, a former Cal player who was instrumental not only in saving the team from the budget axe, but also in getting the super regional played in Santa Clara. His voice was hoarse from shouting and broke with emotion a little as he talked about what the team's success this year meant to him. Next time, he said, he'd like to see the game play out in the shadow of Haas Pavillion, under newly installed lights at a sold-out Evans Diamond. "Isn't that a nice visual?"

The Bears are now just one game away from the College World Series in Omaha. They play Dallas Baptist again tonight at 7 in Santa Clara. There's still limited ticket availability, but fans can also tune in to ESPNU to watch, or listen on KALX (90.7 FM) or KTRB (860 AM).

Go Bears!

Believe It!

It was one of those miraculous endings that make sports worth watching. Having trailed most of the game and going into the bottom of the ninth still down by three, the Golden Bears looked to be finished for the season. The game would determine who advanced to the NCAA super regional. The loser would go home. Afterward, even Coach David Esquer had to admit his doubts. "I told the guys that we could do this, but when it actually happened, I don't know that I actually believed it," he said.

What actually happened was this: After Cal brought the game to within a single run, first baseman Devon Rodriguez, who hit a two-run homer earlier in the game, stepped up to bat with two outs and bases loaded. With the count at 1-2, he hit a shot to right field that scored Austin Booker and Tony Renda, who slid home for the winning run. Calling the game for KALX (see video below), a hyperventilating Danny Fry sounded like Joe Starkey calling The Play. There was no band to rush the field, but the Cal dugout spilled across the diamond in joyous exultation.

 

 

After the game, Esquer seemed as amazed by his team as anyone. “We've come back from the dead so often this year. We’ve never died, we’ve never stopped playing.” Amen to that. All season long, I've been blogging about Cal Baseball under the heading, "The Last Season," in reference to the decision last summer to cut baseball and four other programs from the University's varsity lineup. It's no longer the case, of course. Thanks to some $10 million in donor pledges, Cal Baseball lives on (as do Rugby, Men's and Women's Gymnastics and Women's Lacrosse).

Shortly after the cuts were announced, I asked Esquer what he has was saying to his players to keep their morale up. "I told our team, ‘We stand for something, and if what they’re telling us is that we stand for the very last team in the history of California baseball, we can give them one hell of a team.’ And I really do believe that. We can give them one hell of a team this year."

So far, so great.

Cal will take on Dallas Baptist in the Super Regional, a best-of-three series beginning this Saturday at Santa Clara University. The winner advances to the College World Series. Go Bears!

The Long Road to Omaha

The NCAA Baseball regionals begin tomorrow with 64 teams vying to win the 2011 College World Series. Sophomore second baseman Tony Renda, recently named Pac-10 Player of the Year, will lead the Bears in Houston as they go up against Baylor, Rice and Alcorn State. The games will be broadcast on KALX, 90.7 FM. 

This is the second year in a row Cal has qualified for the regionals, and they did it despite the likely prospect of losing their program next year. Then again, the uncertainty may have given the Bears a competitive edge. "There's nothing like adversity to bring people together," Coach David Esquer acknowledged at a press conference following the team's reinstatement in April. At that time, his team had a record of 19-7 and was ranked 13th in the country. "All year," Esquer continued, "it has been a little like us against the world. We've wanted to show the University they made a really big mistake."

Since reinstatement, the team has gone 12-13, struggling against some stiff Pac-10 competition and slipping out of the Top 25."Even so," notes Baseball America's Aaron Fitt, "Cal is one of the most dangerous No. 3 seeds in this tournament, loaded with athleticism in the diamond and power arms on the mound."

Earlier in the season, Cal bested #1 seed and regionals host, Rice, in a come-from-behind, 15-inning marathon in AT&T Park. If they can repeat that kind of performance in Houston, well, they could be on their way.

Two Out of Three (Ain't Bad)

The Cal Baseball team staged three comebacks in their series against the Oregon Ducks this weekend at Evans Diamond. Sadly, only two were successful.

On Friday, the Bears were saved by freshman Michael Theofanopoulos who hit a pinch-hit double in the bottom of the ninth to score sophomore Mitch Delfino and end the game, 2-1. It was a good week for Theofanopoulos, who gave the Bears their one highlight against Stanford last Monday when he hit a three-run homer--the first home run of his college career.

On Saturday, the Bears trailed 4-3 going into the bottom of the eighth. After advancing runners to second and third, however, it looked like they might again snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. But with two outs, first-baseman Devon Rodriguez hit a hard line-drive straight into the right-fielder's mitt and the jaws of defeat clamped shut. The Bears were shut down in the ninth. Final: 4-3, Ducks.

On Sunday, the Bears gave up 4 runs in the first two innings, then came back with four of their own in the last 3 innings, eventually winning on a single to left field by senior Austin Booker that sent short-stop Marcus Semien sliding into home plate just ahead of the throw to the catcher. Cal won 5-4 and took the hard-fought series, two out of three.

The Bears improved to 26-14 overall, 11-7 in the Pac-10. Currently ranked #21 by Baseball America, Cal travels to Santa Clara tomorrow, then faces #3 Oregon State in Corvallis this weekend.

Down on the Farm

The Cal Baseball team fell to Stanford at Sunken Diamond last night. The Bears, who seemed to lack their normal spark, trailed 8-0 after six innings, prompting Coach David Esquer to play his bench (and bench nearly the entire starting lineup). The strategy worked. Cal finally got on the scoreboard in the seventh, thanks to a three-run homer by Freshman Michael Theofanopoulos. The rally was too little, too late, however, and Stanford prevailed 9-5.

Now 24-13 on the season, Cal came into the game ranked #20 by Baseball America. Stanford was ranked #21. This was Cal's second loss of the season to the Cardinal. The Bears still have a chance to redeem themselves when they wrap up their regular season against Stanford in a three-game conference series at Evans Diamond. But that's not until late May. Next up is Oregon. Cal hosts the Ducks in three games, this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.