Monday night, on the eve of the 2010 Mountain West Conference baseball tournament, the names were read off, one-by-one, announcing the First-Team All-Conference selections.
Catcher: Bryan Holaday, T.C.U. First Base: Matt Curry, T.C.U. Second base: Jerome Pena, T.C.U. Shortstop: Taylor Featherston, T.C.U. Outfielders: Jason Coats and Brance Rivera, T.C.U. Pitchers: Steven Maxwell, Matt Purke and Tyler Lockwood, T.C.U.
Ranked No. 6 in the nation, T.C.U. took nine of the 13 First-Team spots. The Horned Frogs also had the Freshman of the Year (Purke), Pitcher of the Year (Maxwell) and Coach of the Year (Jim Schlossnagle).
And somehow, Tony Gwynn’s San Diego State Aztecs are supposed to get past this team — not to mention four others — in order to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season?
Well, as a matter of fact, yes. Such is the case when your regular season is torpedoed by injuries and defections and you limp to the finish line at 28-26 with no hope at all of securing an at-large postseason bid.
For the Aztecs, the Mountain West Conference Tournament, which they host beginning today at Tony Gwynn Stadium, will be a week’s worth of must-win games. If SDSU doesn’t win it all, all it will have to show for 2010 is questions of what might have been.
For instance: What if pitcher Tyler Lavigne, all-conference a year ago and slated to take over the role of staff ace from Stephen Strasburg, hadn’t decided to sign a professional contract last June despite being a 50th-round draft choice? What if leadoff man and center fielder Pat Colwell hadn’t been injured in a summer Jet Ski accident and lost for the entire season? What if flame-throwing right hander Ryan O’Sullivan hadn’t injured his elbow on the fifth pitch he threw this year, thereby being forced out of the rotation for the remainder of the season?
Bryan Crabb's injury left the Aztecs without a second starter
How might have things gone if newly-minted ace Addison Reed hadn’t missed three weeks with a broken pinkie on his (left) non-throwing hand? Or if freshman sensation Bryan Crabb, the team’s No. 2 starter, hadn’t been hit in the head by a line drive three weeks ago at BYU and lost for the year? Or if valuable freshman infielder-outfielder Jordan Van Hoosier hadn’t been ruled academically ineligible several weeks ago and therefore unavailable for postseason play?
It would be enough to cause a former Hall of Fame baseball player, now college coach, to go gray (which is pretty much exactly what happened).
“There’s no doubt we’ve had to try and overcome an awful lot,” said Gwynn, whose team nonetheless comes into the tournament playing well having won 19 of its last 29 games. “But I just keep telling our guys that all it’s going to take is for us to get hot for one week. We’re at home, and I feel like we still have the ability to do it.”
Embedded soundbyte: Gwynn on his team’s trying year
Just a quick look back at last year’s MWC Tournament in Fort Worth, Tex., should be enough to give any of the six teams hope. Utah, the lowest seed in the tourney, won five of six games — beating favored TCU twice along the way — to snatch the championship.
The Utes beat the Aztecs, 9-3, in the title game to punch their ticket to the NCAA’s. SDSU will have a chance at redemption right away, facing Utah tonight at 7 p.m. in a first-round game. The Aztecs, seeded fourth last year before making the title round, are the No. 3-seed this time around. Utah, once again, is the No. 6 (and lowest) seed.
TCU is playing for a possible national seed in the NCAA tournament
At the top of the seedings, of course, is TCU, which sailed through the season at 43-11 and won the conference’s regular season title (at 19-5) by four full games over second-place New Mexico. The Horned Frogs, stunned a year ago, will be looking to make amends — and judging by the All-Conference selections, they’ll have plenty of ammunition to bring into battle.
New Mexico was seeded No. 2 a year ago as well, but lost both of its tournament games and was ousted quickly. The Lobos, built around an offense with as much firepower as any club on the West Coast, seem to feel comfortable at Tony Gwynn Stadium, having scored a combined 34 runs in back-to-back victories over the Aztecs last month.
Prior to the SDSU-Utah opener tonight, No. 4-seed BYU and No. 5-seed UNLV will match up at 3 p.m. The Cougars were among Utah’s victims a year ago and come into the tournament off a surprising loss to conference doormat Air Force on Saturday. UNLV, which went 0-2 and went home early last season, just lost three straight to SDSU here over the weekend.
That sweep has the Aztecs feeling upbeat, hoping that momentum gained against the Rebels will snowball. Led by slugging right fielder Brandon Meredith (the Aztecs lone First-Team All-Conference selection), power-hitting center fielder Cory Vaughn (2nd-team), and base-hit machine second baseman Mitch Blackburn (2nd-team), SDSU has scored eight or more runs in 13 of its last 17 games.
Embedded soundbyte: Gwynn on having home field advantage:
Reed, the NCAA’s All-American closer a year ago, made a smooth transition to starter this year, finishing 8-1 with a 2.33 ERA. Also named the MWC 2nd-team, Reed will get the ball tonight against Utah, hoping to scuttle any upset hopes the Utes may have this time around.
If Reed and SDSU survive the opener, New Mexico would wait in the second-round on Wednesday. That’s where Gwynn’s worries will reach a crisis point. Because of the season-ending injuries to Crabb and O’Sullivan (who has returned to be the team’s everyday shortstop, but still can’t pitch), the Aztecs have been looking for some consistent arms — and frankly to this point — haven’t found any.
Embedded soundbyte: Gwynn hopes for support from SDSU fans:
Someone — anyone — will have to pitch lights-out to compliment Reed and give the Aztecs a chance to survive. Otherwise, a second-consecutive trip to the NCAA’s will be out of the question.
– Ello
Craig Elsten -
Chainsaw -
