College Baseball in NorCal - The Bay Area

[Where Are They Now]

USF Dons always say all the right things but do they not underachieve? Nino Giarratano stayed the course until his son/shortstop Nico Giarratano became a Senior. That has come and gone. It was big news that Manny Ramirez, Jr. was coming to USF and then a couple of unremarkable seasons for the young Ramirez. USF was 29-28 overall and 11-16 in their conference. In my heart of hearts Troy Nakamura is soon to be their new Head Coach.

Santa Clara University finishes 13-40 overall and 9-18 in their conference. The former UCSD's O'Brien complied a 128-194 mark, including 53-103 in the WCC, during his tenure at Santa Clara. He led the Broncos to the 2014 WCC Tournament after finishing in a tie for fourth in the league standings. They sent Coach O'Brien 2.0 packing. Dan O'brien was given the opportunity of stepping down and he did, having replaced Mark O'Brien, who spent 10 years at SCU.

Stanford is hosting a Regional in #9's final season starting tonight at 6 pm - they were (40-14) and second in the Pac-12 (21-9) in the 41st and final year under #9 and earned the No. 8 overall seed in the 64-team field.

CAL Bears - Will Dave Esquer (Stanford Alum) be moving across the Bay to be the Cardinal new Head Coach? CAL was 25-29 overall and 15-15 in conference.

St. Marys was 37 - 20 and 18 - 9 in conference play.

Sacramento State is at the Sunken Diamond tonight having qualified under Reggie Christiansen.
32-27 overall and 12-12 in conference play

CAL State East Bay (formerly CAL STATE Hayward) Where are you Oscar Miller
Mike Cummins got a late starte when Bob Ralston and Darren Lewis both quit. Cummins has a valued resume having coached 35 years with stops at Santa Clara and San Francisco State. CAL STATE was 25-24 and 16-21 in conference. Cummins will be attempting to get CSEB to drop the interim coach tag and be hired as the Head Coach.

SF State has has two full years of Tony Schifano with Tyler LaTorre (SFGiants) as his assistant. Scifano came highly recommended via St. Marys and UC Davis but - has almost had zero pipe line from Skyline and/or all the plethora of high school kids playing at schools in the City. Under Schifano the Gators went 18-31 overall and 14-24 in conference. In 2016 they were 23-25 overall and 15-21 in their conference. I think Maloney Field @ The Swamp deserves a coaching change.

JUCO - College of San Mateo had a great season but it ended abruptly when having won game one of their opening three game playoff set - they dropped the next two.

Skyline Trojans finished 28-11 and were the 12 seed vs SJ Delta College - however they were also elimnated.

Canada Community College did not qualify for the playoffs

 

[1315]

Agreed about USF. Most kids get a single chance in the Cape; but three? Plenty of MIF passing on the Dons the last four years, plus a morphing roster.
Nak would be a good choice.

Some quality seasons in Nor Cal this year from not-so-notable names: Ohlone Santa Rosa.

Half the SFSU roster was JC transfers. Would've predicted greater results from that.

Valenzuela has made SMC competitive. The WCC schools have the challenge of tuition. SMC/USF 43k. SCU 47! The 11.7 gets spread thinly, quickly.

 

[Quaffer]

Good round up.

A couple notes:

I would have included a bit on the success of North Bay JC programs, particularly SRJC which just came in 2nd after winning state last year and has two recent alums playing this weekend in the NCAA tournament for Houston and Michigan. And also to be north-bay centric, I'd include Sonoma State, which has a good history but is off this year, and even Chico State, which has also had a lot of success in the CCAA.

As for UCF, St. Mary's, and Santa Clara - and Pacific should be in this mix too - my take is that all of the WCC schools are crazy expensive! With only 11.7 scholarships allowed for baseball that means families have to get a lot of need money and/or academic money and/or pay a lot themselves for the privilege of playing baseball at low-profile D1 baseball conference. Most top players are going to play for public schools in the Pac12 or Big West if they can. Those that play for WCC are are going to be highly sought after and these programs and the schools themselves have a tough time competing amongst each other for talent. I don't know what the magic formula is but I am sure that it's going to be a battle year after year and that right now Gonzaga, BYU, and LMU, for whatever reasons, are winning it, with St. Mary's also right there.

 

[CityVibesII]

Giarratano recently signed a five-year extension. Yes, I thought when his son graduated it would be a nice time to leave. I believe he can write his ticket. However, he has invested a lot of time and is well liked by admin. The the new field will attract kids/parents on the fence. Nakamura is a loyal soldier. All true points made about the cost of a WCC education. Nice to see St. Mary's competitive again; cannot figure out why Santa Clara cannot field competitive teams with all the talent in the South Bay region, alone. San Francisco State just doesnt attract local talent. Local kids look at State as an extension of high school in the fog. Public colleges so much more an option in this economy. Spreading DI quality talent (and not every kid is) within the region is just too tough.

 

[observer22]

Chico State's Cameron Santos out of Cal High earned the CCAA player of the year award, as well as the West Region POY. Coach Tayler also got CCAA Coach of the year and West Region COY.

http://www.chicowildcats.com/news/2...ards-taylor-coy-santos-poy.aspx?path=baseball

 

[larry legend33]

With exception of Stanford, Chico was arguably better than any of the previously mentioned schools this year. (yes even the D1 schools) They set a record for most wins and highest % in conference and were #1 in the nation in D2 at one point and top 5 most of the season. They unfortunately laid an egg to UCSD in the regionals who happen to be still playing in the D2 National Champ Tourney in Texas. Some good basketball and hoops at chico being played

 

[ncs_hewson]

Larry, that is a big stretch regarding Chico being better than the D1's especially SMC and Cal.

 

[larry legend33]

The Pac 12 schools are a notch above. Agree. But the small D1's... No way. The SMC, USF, Sac States, UOP's. Santa Clara's.... Nope. The gap is so narrow now. It usually is grades coming out of HS for those schools and kids have to go to JC route first. Plenty of Pro's coming out of schools in the CCAA conference. I've watched my share of games and I could got to a Chico vs UCSD game this year or a UOP vs Santa Clara and there is absolutely no difference in talent. none. Hell Chico's hoop team could beat a lot of these D1's as well.

 

[bella123]

The Pac 12 schools are a notch above. Agree. But the small D1's... No way. The SMC, USF, Sac States, UOP's. Santa Clara's.... Nope. The gap is so narrow now. It usually is grades coming out of HS for those schools and kids have to go to JC route first. Plenty of Pro's coming out of schools in the CCAA conference. I've watched my share of games and I could got to a Chico vs UCSD game this year or a UOP vs Santa Clara and there is absolutely no difference in talent. none. Hell Chico's hoop team could beat a lot of these D1's as well.

LL gonna disagree on the CCAA's being there with the WCC teams on the diamond. Yes plenty of talent at those schools, but the depth and overall talent still has a gap. The thing with baseball is one dominant pitcher can be an equalizer. That is why a Chico or UCSD can match up in one game vs. a SMC or USF. But play a 3 game series and by game 2 the difference is noticeable and by game 3 it is an obvious discrepancy in talent.

 

[larry legend33]

Bella, That is a more realistic assessment. You are correct. In a series the team with the deeper staff and talent will prevail. I was thinking lower tier WCC/Big Sky type teams against the best CCAA.