KEIZER, Ore. – Chico State Head Coach Dave Taylor decided to teach his team a lesson in Wildcats baseball history when their postseason hopes were looking shaky a little over a month ago. The Wildcats responded, winning the three ensuing series', and Sunday wrote their own chapter in Chico State baseball lore by beating Dixie State 7-3 to win the NCAA Championship Tournament West Region title.
Chico State scored six runs in the first and pitchers Kagen Hopkins and Sean Martin made the lead stand at Volcano Stadium. The Wildcats erupted out of the dugout when Shane Kroker squeezed the last out with a diving catch at third setting off a celebration that included a pile of Chico State players jumping on each other at the pitchers' mound, the dousing of Taylor with the Gatorade jug, and the presentation of the NCAA Regional title trophy.
Tears, hugs and laughter were in abundant supply.
“This is a special moment,” said Taylor. “These are memories these guys will keep forever.”
Taylor was part of five West Region Championship teams as the pitching coach at Chico State from 1997-2004, and won an NCAA title as a player in 1986 at the University of Arizona. So he knows how special the moment is and will always be. That is what he was impressed upon his team after they dropped three of four in San Bernardino during the first weekend of April and found itself in danger of missing the postseason.
“I was a little bit frustrated with the team's sense of urgency so we just decided to give them a little Chico State baseball history lesson,” explained Taylor, who had the team run to different parts of town where he would be waiting to share stories about former Chico State players and teams. “It brought everyone together. I think they figured out that I wasn't going anywhere so they decided to jump into the foxhole with me;”
The Wildcats took the message to heart and have won 13 of 19 since.
“It made me appreciate putting on the uniform,” said Ian McKay, an All-West Regional Tournament selection who had two hits Sunday. “It made me take seriously wearing that “'Cats” across my chest.”
With Sunday's win, the message sank in even further.
“I'm just sitting here realizing that this is why those (former players) are still best friends 15 years later. I didn't get it before. But now that this has happened I get it,” said Tournament Most Valuable Player Myles Dempsey. “We accomplished something together that we will always share.”
McKay and Dempsey were at the heart of the Wildcats' six-run first inning rally thanks to a play that's been at the heart of the program's 10th 40-win season – they were two of three Wildcats who got hit by a pitch in the inning.
TJ Yasuhara was drilled by a pitch leading off the inning and McKay followed suit. After Blake Gibbs drew a one-out walk to load the bases, Dempsey took a dose to force home the game's first run.
All three hit batters would eventually score for the Wildcats, who led the NCAA in hit batters entering the weekend with 106. They'll head to the College World Series nine shy of the school record of 122 set by the 1999 National Championship team.
“It's really just a toughness thing. You've just got to get on the plate and wear it,” said McKay, one of five Wildcats who've been hit by 10 or more pitches this season. “Getting hit by a pitch is as good as a hit.”
Shane Kroker took a bit of a different tact, driving in two runs with a base hit. When Eric Angerer pounded an RBI-double off the left-field wall, the score was 4-0 and Dixie State ace Mike Diedrick was pulled from the game after just a third of an inning.
Pierson Jeremiah kept the Wildcats rolling with a sacrifice fly that scored Kroker and Ben Manlove served an RBI-single into left field to make it 6-0.
“The philosophy is to get 90 feet however you can,” said Taylor. “We don't try to get hit, but we don't get out of the way.”
Chico State starter Kagen Hopkins gave the Wildcats a good start on two days' rest. The junior right hander allowed just one run on five hits in four and two-thirds innings. He struck out four and walked just one.
But the Wildcats were stranding runners in scoring position in the second, third, fourth and sixth, Dixie State slowly chipped away at the lead. The Wildcats finally pushed across an insurance run in the seventh. Dempsey drew a walk, advanced to second on a balk, and to third on Shane Kroker's sacrifice bunt. Angerer responded with a deep drive to left that was caught near the warning track but plenty deep to bring home Dempsey, increasing the lead to 7-3.
Meanwhile, Martin's magic season continued. The junior got Chico State out a big jam in the fifth coming on for Hopkins with runners at second and third with one out and keeping Dixie State off the scoreboard. He got a shallow fly ball to right for the second out and struck out cleanup hitter Cedric Johnson on three pitches.
He allowed just two runs on a sixth-inning home run, but followed that up with three straight zeroes to earn his second win of the regional.
“I can't stress enough how great Seanie has been this season,” said Taylor. “When I talk to a team 10 years from now about this 2012 team, he's a guy I won't forget.”
Martin joined Dempsey and McKay on the All-Tournament team, along with fellow Wildcats Jeremiah and Kroker.
Chico State will now travel to Cary, North Carolina, for the Division II College World Series, which will feature eight regional champions. The Wildcats will open the double-elimination tournament against Northeast Region champion West Chester Saturday morning at 10 a.m., PST.
