Mustangs to feel effects of Fresno State's run

While about a month has passed since the Fresno State baseball team won the College World Series championship, effects of the nationally celebrated run could just be beginning to be felt on the West Coast – including at Cal Poly.

Indeed, even Congressman Devin Nunes, a Fresno Republican who on July 15 announced the passage of a House resolution he introduced to honor the freshly crowned Bulldogs – is a Cal Poly graduate.

Outside of the legislature, though, the possible slights the Mustangs could suffer from the historic Cinderella story capped June 25 could be more direct.

The most immediate of them could be absorbed in the San Joaquin Valley recruiting battle, which will likely be more difficult, Cal Poly head coach Larry Lee said.

“We’ve been able – over the last few years – to get some of the better (Central Valley) players, but now it’s a feather in (Fresno State’s) hat for them to stay local,” he said.

Several key contributors to last year’s Mustangs hailed from the area, including sophomore catcher Wes Dorrell (from Clovis), sophomore shortstop Kyle Smith (Visalia), and sophomore left fielder Luke Yoder and junior pitcher Jared Eskew (both from Bakersfield).

Fresno State’s senior relief pitcher during the run, Jason Breckley, also predicts the Bulldogs will see an influx of talent from their home base.

“I feel that it’ll help recruiting tremendously,” he said.

Of course, not everything about Fresno State’s championship may be so grim for Cal Poly.

In spite of possible recruiting drawbacks it may yield, Lee takes solace in what he says Fresno State’s success demonstrated about West Coast baseball.

“The games I saw just go to show you how strong the West is in baseball,” Lee said.

Fresno State advanced to the national field after winning the Western Athletic Conference tournament.

“What really helps (Fresno State) is that they’re in postseason play every year, so their team gets accustomed to playing in a regional tournament,” Lee said.

The Big West Conference discontinued its 14-year-old conference tournament in 1999, making it harder for Cal Poly to get a playoff bid.

Big West commissioner Dennis Farrell said the conference tournament ended in part because of ongoing concerns of costs to bring in teams from outside California, such as Utah State, New Mexico State and UNLV.

“There was also a concern among coaches that it wasn’t solving anything,” Farrell said. “It was creating double jeopardy.”

Four teams have represented the Big West at the NCAA Tournament the past two years.

“The argument could be made that we deserved even more than that in both of those years,” Farrell said. “I’m not sure a postseason tournament would help.”

Although the Mustangs are yet to make the postseason since moving to the Division I ranks in 1995, they went 3-2 in a dispersed non-conference series against Fresno State last season, and were able to stake substantial postseason claims in 2005 (when they went 36-20) and in 2004 (38-23-1).

While a conference tournament could help late bloomers such as this year’s Bulldogs gather steam, it could serve as a hindrance to arguably more deserving teams.

“Who do we want to send: Someone who has worked for it, or an underdog?” Farrell mused.

Lee said he’d be in favor of the Big West re-instituting its tournament.

“It adds to the strength of your schedule and it may push you to playoff consideration,” he said.

But a recent policy implemented by the NCAA imposing a later start date upon West Coast teams (that had, in theory, been given a competitive edge over East Coast counterparts due to favorable weather) makes a conference tournament’s return less likely.

“We have discussed it,” Farrell said. “But the prevailing mood since then is that – with the compacted season – to throw a tournament in there as well would compact it even more.”

Lee said the Bulldogs’ improbable ascent likely won’t overwhelmingly convince future highly-regarded pro prospects at Cal Poly to stay longer in hopes of winning such a title.

Nine Mustangs were chosen in June’s Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, and several of them ensued to sign professional contracts instead of returning for their senior seasons.

“The ultimate goal for most ball players is to play in the major leagues,” Lee said.