Turns out the coach was right. And the best might be still to come.
With a lineup generously sprinkled with veteran leadership and the program moving into a major league-quality facility , Lopez could see the elements coming together to make for some great memories.
It's worked out about as well as could be planned. First the Wildcats moved away from campus and into Tucson's Hi Corbett Field, a 9,000-seat park that formerly was the spring training home of the Colorado Rockies and has provided much better amenities for players and fans. Attendance dramatically increased right from the start, and the Wildcats capitalized in the regular season by finishing in a tie with UCLA for first place in the Pacific-12 Conference, their first title since 1993.
The good feelings have carried over to the postseason.
With a top-notch park to call its own, Arizona got to host an NCAA regional, which the Wildcats swept in three consecutive games, crushing Missouri once and Louisville twice by a combined 47-10.
Then last week, five Arizona juniors were taken in the first nine rounds of the Major League entry draft, paced by shortstop Alex Mejia, the Pac-12 player of the year, who was taken by the St. Louis Cardinals in the fourth round.
Four days after that, the Wildcats put the finishing touches on a trip to the College World Series by sweeping visiting St. John's in two consecutive games to win a super regional.
"This is a veteran group that's been through a lot of battles in the Pac-12, so we thought we could be good this year," says Lopez. "As someone told me, we hit the trifecta: moving into a new park, winning the conference and now, heading for Omaha."
The Wildcats open CWS play against Florida State Friday.
It's the first trip to the CWS since 2004 for Arizona (43-17), which has won three national championships and been to Omaha 15 other times but had been to an NCAA regional only once in the previous eight years before Lopez took over as coach in 2002.
This will be the fifth CWS appearance for Lopez, who has gone once before with Arizona, twice with Florida and in 1992 guided Pepperdine to the national title.
"We've been to the regionals recently, but we were almost always on the road," Lopez says. "We had five regional finals on the road, and they were in places like Wichita State, Texas A&M and Fullerton (Calif.), so they were tough places to play.
" I would tell the team in the fall, 'Listen, we're not going to get to Omaha unless you're tough enough to win on the road.' "
This season, there finally wasn't a need for that in the tournament, but the Wildcats showed some toughness, regardless. In the first game of the super regional against St. John's, the Red Storm jumped out to a 5-0 lead. After Arizona rallied to tie it, St. John's moved ahead again before the Wildcats rallied for a 7-6, 10-inning victory.
"St. John's came out hot, but Coach Lopez always talks about baseball being like a boxing match," says all-Pac-12 outfielder Robert Refsnyder, drafted last week by the New York Yankees in the fifth round. "You have to take their best shot. You're going to get hit with a right hook every now and then, and you have to shake it off.
"We have lots of leadership on this team with guys like myself, Alex, (outfielder) Joey Rickard (drafted by Tampa Bay in the ninth round) and a lot of other guys. We knew the offense has been powerful all year, and we took their best shot and then took care of business."
That offense features seven regulars hitting .326 or better. It's been paced by outfielder Johnny Field's .383 average, and complements a solid starting pitching staff, led by Cardinals sixth-round draftee Kurt Heyer (12-2, 2.28 ERA), James Farris (7-3, 4.18) and Konner Wade (9-3, 4.49), who pitched a complete game in the clincher against St. John's.
"We're pretty confident right now, but I'm sure every team going to Omaha is confident," says Refsnyder. "Our starting pitching has been amazing and the bullpen guys are fresh.
"We have a lot of athelticsm and run well on offense, which puts pressure on the defense, and it's all been working. We just listen to what Coach Lopez says. He's been there and knows what he's talking about. All of us juniors have been looking forward to taking on leadership roles because we knew a lot of us would be drafted, and this would be our last chance to play together."
And now, there's one more road trip for a team able to make the most of its new home.
"Omaha sometimes seemed like an unattainable goal, almost like the promised land that maybe we couldn't get to," says Refsnyder. "Now, you look around and see all your teammates and friends celebrating. It's like a dream come true."
And Lopez, who acknowledges being interested in other jobs in the past, sounds like he's in Tucson for the long haul .
"I really see the light at the end of the tunnel now," he says. "This is really an attractive place to recruit to. The intangibles are off the chart: the crowds, the environment. I've got a feeling we've turned the tide."
Source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/UsatodaycomCollegeSports-TopStories/~3/DbbGq36wMm4/1
Pittsburgh Steelers NFL Players Association Mike Tomlin Super Bowl Green Bay Packers
No comments:
Post a Comment