College World Series

Coach May

quote:

This kid is so locked in and so focused its comical. Unreal performance by a kid in the "zone".

Steven's a true gamer Coach.

I had a premonition before the CWS that Steven was going to come up big during it.
It's fun watching player's that you have followed do good.

It really must give you coaches a since of real pride when you see a player perform on one of the biggest stages.

EH

Now they're talking about pitch counts...FSU up to 115 pitches.

How about Detweiller Coach May---He seems to be in the hitting 'zone'!!!

Go Fresno!

The entire Fresno team is in the ZONE!!!!

Do you realize they are doing exactly what UNC did in 2006---lose game one---come back from a 5-0 deficit in game two and then win the third game--now that is eerie

ooops, thought you guys were talking about the pitcher being in the zone.

Makes you wonder what Steven will be like with two healthy thumbs

Go Fresno!

Its something that just happens. No one can really explain it. But what a time to do it!!! This Fresno State team is easy to pull for. They are a true team. The fact is they are just really good. They are proving they are the best team in the nation. And once you get in this thing what you did before you got there means nothing. Its all about what you do once you get there. And they have jumped all over this opportunity.

The pitcher is DEFINITELY in the zone, too...
...and this is GREAT drama.

Coach May,

Do you think that Perno should have put Fields in? Don't you use your best when you need it the most?
Especially since they knew that Fresno had better pitching starting today?

Fields is coming in now how ever I don't think it would matter who pitched for Georgia they Fresno State as a team are all in a zone. I have enjoyed this tournment. Gee what will i do thurs night????

What a great game by Wilson...
...hope to hold them.

FRESNO Wins
Mendonca MVP

AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!!!!!!!!!


GOOD FOR YOU FRESNO!!! IT WAS YOUR DESTINY!!!!

GOOD JOB GEORGIA.

DOGPILE!

BEST QUOTE


FOR ALL LEVELS OF ANY SPORT:

'PLAY AS A TEAM, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN" (AND DID)!
-Tommy Mendonca

MENDONCA MVP

PLAYED AS A TEAM

Huge congrats to Fresno State - no doubt in my mind that the best TEAM won it again this year.

I could be wrong about this, but pbonesteele might be the first hsbbweb member to have a son on the winning National Championship team.

REMEMBER OUR OLD FRIEND HOWARD COSELL AND WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS:


"THE THRILL OF VICTORY AND THE AGONY OF DEFEAT."

THE SAME RINGS TRUE TODAY.

.

D-E-T----W-I-L-E-R!

Wow, GREAT SERIES, congrats to Fresno. And congrats to UGA for a great run.

West beats east...again.

I do beleive there is another webster here whose son plays for OSU, if so, make that two parents!!!!!

quote:

'PLAY AS A TEAM, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN" (AND DID)!
-Tommy Mendonca

YEAHHHHHHHHH BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
( hard to type while jumpin up and down on the couch!!!!!! )

Great job by Fresno. Having seen Georgia twice last week, I thought they would win. Fresno was better as they controlled most innings of all 3 games.

Homerun04's son got a pinch hit single in the 9th for Fresno. Pretty special.

All the talk about Fresno being a 4-seed and Cinderella...certainly they are Cinderella but they were only a 4-seed because the seeding was messed up. They should've been a 2 or 3.

Great job nonetheless. Having spent some time in that city/town...I can tell you, for sure, that this is very, very special. It will be a GREAT homecoming for that team.

Oh, it is special all right. Fresno is already going nuts, good times when they come home. Son's team is in the same conference, not only that but they are our biggest rival in league, and I can tell you that every player on sons team has been rooting for them every step of the way, and texting and staying in touch from all over the country from their respective summer league teams. It is always a great feeling when the CWS champion is from your conference. So Kudos to Fresno until the battle begins again next year!

.
...Posted this after the Super Regionals and Fresno's upset there over ASU...

quote:

....when I look at Fresno State and I see team.

I have come to believe that talent goes a long way...but that in college ball "team" is the x factor.

And I gave come to believe that while talent can be identified and recruited..."team" is a great deal more elusive....despite all efforts sometimes it simply doesn't happen.

And I have come to believe that there are many times when the pursuit of "team" means sacrificing a great deal including wins...to achieve that elusive X Factor. Fresno used 8 guys in the #8 hole...tell me that those guys will not be "bought in" .

I see Fresno as a team with their heads completely in the opportunity before them...like Irvine last year...bought into this very moment.

Took some abuse for the comment but it turns out to be prophetic.

One story to relate....Great young man, team player and pending senior out of olders program was not getting PT, transferred to Fresno last fall in the last avaialable transfer year....We watched him on TV for two weeks and today in a national championship dogpile...how cool is that.

44
.

.

Very cool indeed 44!

Every college team in America who have asperations for a title should be taking notes from Fresno State right now. They basically applied the Oregon State formula in winning. Great defense, timely hitting, and gutsy pitching performances. It isn't about what your numbers or rankings look like in the regular season. It is about when did your team start playing like a team and when did they get hot.

Some of the higher ranked teams in this tournament were perplexing to me. They played with an entitlement mentality like their conference or their ranking was supposed to intimidate people. Some of these teams when they fell behind looked like scared puppies. I never saw the scared look on Fresno State when they fell behind. They are the ones who did the intimdating - on the field as it should be. I couldn't be happier for them

It almost seems like you shouldn't really read all the stuff the media puts out there, and just concentrate on what is happening with your own team.

If the non stop gibberish from the from the "live coverage and commentary" is what we should be satisfied with - Oh my Gosh! The camera people were great, did their jobs, I guess.

Commentary was horrible, am I the only one who thinks so - Geeeez get the roster straight, and stop repeating the same story over and over, there are guys on the team that you could cover and mix things up. It is maddening for the listeners to hear the same thing - and centering ont he same guys, I am sure they would like them to spread the interest a little - get a clue - cover every athlete on both teams - talk to the trainer, talk to the guy on the bench, that story is interesting,
same thing over and over is boring - even the guys you are covering think so.

quote:

Originally posted by ClevelandDad:
Every college team in America who have asperations for a title should be taking notes from Fresno State right now. They basically applied the Oregon State formula in winning. Great defense, timely hitting, and gutsy pitching performances. It isn't about what your numbers or rankings look like in the regular season. It is about when did your team start playing like a team and when did they get hot.

I'd say most importantly it was about believing in yourself.

Congrats to both teams for tremendous accomplishments but especially to Fresno State for believing in themselves.

quote:

Commentary was horrible, am I the only one who thinks so - Geeeez get the roster straight, and stop repeating the same story over and over, there are guys on the team that you could cover and mix things up. It is maddening for the listeners to hear the same thing - and centering ont he same guys, I am sure they would like them to spread the interest a little - get a clue - cover every athlete on both teams - talk to the trainer, talk to the guy on the bench, that story is interesting,
same thing over and over is boring - even the guys you are covering think so.

It goes something like this:

Gordan Beckam is a great shortstop.
Beckam is an All-American.
Beckam was the foundation on which they built this team.
Beckam has the best hairdo at the college world series.... repeat every few innings...

The other team better be afraid of going into the late innings trailing in the game because the great Joshua Fields will come in and close the door. He was a second round draft choice last year but came back to win the title. Joshua Fields can throw really hard and everyone except Stanford is afraid of him.... repeat every few innings...

Back to Beckam.....

Back to Fields.....

Oh, Rich Poyntress had a few hits.

They ought to be ashamed of their coverage. They did a nice job on the Eric Wetzel story and his Mom but they kept repeating that story line as well.

I liked Barry Larkin's laid-back analysis and style. Anybody but Mike Patrick repeating the same cliche's over and over again is an improvement.

I did tell JBB that he would play two teams that would show panic when they were down, I have seen it myself. Not used to losing.

But I don't think it was entitlement mentality. Sacred puppies or not, they made it to the championship series.

I didn't see any sense of conference entitlement either, nor did I get that impression when I was
there a few years ago when the ACC had big representation.

Unfortunetly hype can hurt outcomes.

It's very difficult coming into Omaha being ranked #1 seed, conference champs and expected to win. It's very difficult being the loser twice in two years and being expected to win it all from experience. It's very tough coming in as national champions and winning it again. It puts a lot of pressure on the coaches, who place a lot of pressure on the players. Teams that slipped into the top seed spots did so because they won and deserved to go, but all team situations are different and some are more relaxed which means that they play looser. Loose teams win ball games.

That's just how it is and we see it all of the time, not just in Omaha. Not just in baseball. Remember the superbowl? I really felt for UNC and those kids, lots of pressure, I think that they conducted themselves with class. So did Georgia. How difficult it must be to sit around for 5 days and lose your momentum.

Every team has different dynamics going on, every team will play and approach the game differently. Fresno did a great job and deserved the title, but again none of those other 7 teams were losers, IMO. No one really loses in Omaha but only one team wins the championship.

These are just kids, and unfortunetly sometimes some get caught up in a situation where the expectations and pressure becomes bigger than the game they are playing. The commentary was horrible but after 2 weeks what was there left to say. Unfortunetly we begin to resent continuous chatter, but that's not the kids or teams faults.

This was one of the most enjoyable CWS championship finals to watch (for me) because both teams had such great field presence and dugout decorum. Granted, a couple of the players got upset with themselves but even their reactions were relatively mild compared to some teams in the past. As a matter of fact, even tho I was cheering for Fresno (western school and all), I would have been just as pleased if Georgia had won.

Tho both teams were 'Bull Dogs', I thought the teams were pretty different all the way around. The Fresno boys I saw as "heartland" boys while I found the Georgia kids seemed to be a little more sophisticated. Those were merely my perceptions, but it didn't seem to matter because as different as they seemed to be, they played like gentlemen, acted like gentlemen, and treated their teammates and coaches with great respect. Those coaches have done a great job of teaching their players how to respect the game.

Did anybody else NOT miss some of the shennagins of players letting themselves get hit to get on base? I think there must have been fewer hit batsmen in this CWS than in any I can remember ... I loved it. Both teams played the game the way it was meant to be played. Quite enjoyable.

quote:

Originally posted by justbaseball:
Great job by Fresno. Having seen Georgia twice last week, I thought they would win. Fresno was better as they controlled most innings of all 3 games.

Homerun04's son got a pinch hit single in the 9th for Fresno. Pretty special.

All the talk about Fresno being a 4-seed and Cinderella...certainly they are Cinderella but they were only a 4-seed because the seeding was messed up. They should've been a 2 or 3.

Great job nonetheless. Having spent some time in that city/town...I can tell you, for sure, that this is very, very special. It will be a GREAT homecoming for that team.

Thanks JBB, I was so hopping for a Stanford - Fresno matchups of the un-seeded West Coast Teams. I so thought it was going to happen you guys had a great run.

As you experienced, it is a truely special event to attend, I am just sorry we had not gone efore now. We met a lot of individuals that attend every year even if they do not have players who are participating.

quote:

Originally posted by iheartbb:
Listen,
If you are an aspiring commenntator, then do your job. Do some interviews outside the box. MAKE IT INTERESTING!!!! YOU DO NOT HOLD OUR ATTENTION BY REPEATING YOURSELF -----DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU HAVE BEEN THERE FOR TWO WEEKS. DO YOUR JOB. INVESTIGATE!!!!! FIND NEW STORIES AND LINK THEM TO EXISTING ONES.

Why is this something I should be telling a crew from ESPN that are paid professionals? If this National Championship is worth covering, then do it with the greatest effort you can, or just let some locals do it. Find something of interest ot cover!!!!! IT IS YOUR JOB!!!. HANGING OUT IN THE DUGOUT REHASHING THE SAME STUFF OVER AND OVER WAS ENOUGH TO FORCE ME TO TURN OFF THE TV SOUND AND TURN UP THE COMMENTARY ON MY SON'S SUMMER COLLEGIATE GAME - WHICH IS QUITE RAW, BUT NONE THE LESS, NEW INFO AS OPPOSED TO THE DAZED AND CONFUSED DUO WE ARE ALL FORCED TO LISTEN TO - THE ROOKIES WERE BETTER. For all of us listening, we would like those who commentate to really care about what they are talking about especially in the championship game. Share the love on both sides - we want to hear everthing about every player on the roster! They are all going down in history, why not talk about them!!

I agree about the commentary. However, these guys don't really have time to interview players, because most are not given the time to do it. Some coaches are pretty adament about their players not talking freely to the press that's after them, and control their interviews. The reason being is that all the hype and hoopla can get in the way of the reason for being there. I remember in Omaha, Dave's teammate was a 13th pick, one of the highest at the time, everyone wanted to interview him, the coach wouldn't allow it. His reasoning, he didn't want any egos to get in the way. Some allow press interviews for the paper, which is awesome, everyday there are some new articles in the paper about teams, players, etc.
I do beleive that the only info ESPN may have to go by is that given to them by the school's SID, the rest they try to find on their own, high draft picks playing always being a big story in Omaha.

As far as the emotions coming from the dugout, it's not all because of a loss. This is a time when reality hits that the season has ended and for many that means the end of their college careers and leaving those whohave been like your family for years. These guys go through a lot to get there, it's a reality check for many. I am sure many of your son's have experienced those emotions regardless of where or how it ended. It's a tough time for many of them.

Maybe those emotions get misunderstood as sore losers or cry babies.

Homerun04, way to go and congrats to your son's team.

Fresno State finishes with a #51 RPI. I wonder what it was before they were seeded 4 in their regional, in the 70's perhaps. A lesson for the mid majors out there. Anything is possible.

quote:

Originally posted by Dad04:
Fresno State finishes with a #51 RPI. I wonder what it was before they were seeded 4 in their regional, in the 70's perhaps. A lesson for the mid majors out there. Anything is possible.

I believe it was in the 70's. One lesson for the mid-majors out there is if your RPI is as high as Fresno's was, you better win your conference tournament like Fresno did or you won't even get a chance to be Cinderella.

The true lesson is that a cohesive TEAM (who believes in itself - agree with Roger Tomas on that point) can beat the nationally ranked recruiting rosters. Fresno disposed of Long Beach State, San Diego, ASU, North Carolina, Rice, and Georgia. Hope I didn't forget anyone

Absolutely you have to play as a team who believes that they can play against and beat nationally ranked teams. And a great example of stepping up when one of the best pitchers in the country goes down. That is what it is all about, IMO.
Is Fresno considered a mid major D1.
This is a great story, but are we assuming other teams didn't play as a team also and didn't beleive in themselves?

Justbaseball did make a comment that they actually should have been a higher seed.

Not sure of the remarks about Beckham and Fields, not their faults the announcers had nothing else to talk about.
BTW, I think that Josh Fields is a great story. Drafted high to come back to help his team get to Omaha. Then drafted high again. We may understand it as trying to get more $$, that's not his style, so the word is. He may seem a bit uppity to some, but as I posted before, he has a very quiet demeanor, doesn't talk much, very strict in his beliefs and interacts differently with people.

quote:

Is Fresno considered a mid major D1.

It is a subjective call. Their last 6 ending RPI's in descending order were 91, 35, 167, 76, 69, and 70. Their conference is ranked 13th in RPI. Looks like a mid to me, but I don't consider that a bad thing.

quote:

Fresno disposed of Long Beach State, San Diego, ASU, North Carolina, Rice, and Georgia. Hope I didn't forget anyone

I would have to say that Fresno had the toughest road to the Championship.
And came out on top.
They truely earned this Championship.
EH

I never considered Fresno St. a mid-major. Not 10 years ago, not today. But maybe thats my California bias?

They get good players (some of the best actually) from our area every year. They draw good crowds to a big college stadium. They have a strong fan base. To me, their program is just a tick below Fullerton and Long Beach...but certainly above mid-major.

(BTW, did you know they were missing their best pitcher through all of this? Tanner Scheppers).

RPIs are a mess. Have been ever since I've watched them. Maybe if the NCAA would pay less attention to them they would get the seeding more correct.

Fresno is most certainly a Cinderella champion. But they are legit, no doubt. USD, Long Beach State, ASU, Rice, UNC and Georgia is quite a track record and perhaps no national champion in some time is more deserving. What a great story!

Looking at the Georgia Bulldogs record was it not a battle between two Cinderellas for who got the Glass Slipper


Had to love the Fresno kid who when asked about the Cinderella aspect simplly said--We are not Cinderella. We are Fresno State