Yeah, I remember Smude.   Great player.  But with Hedman at 1b, didn't have a place for him. 
Hickey played 1b and corner outfield spots...Witzansky was similar, and some 3b as well, I think.

Seem to Remember Rager doing some pitching as well?

Escandon was a middle infielder who got drafted in the mid 90s, before the program got good.  Made it as high as AAA for a full season.   Think that Fullerton true toget him to transfer there, back in te Augie Garrido days, but he didn't go.

Jarod Kula was probably 96 or 97, big guy who came in as a power pitcher.  Legend is that he decided he wanted to take BP one day and and started hitting shots over the 345 sign, and became mostly a hitter.  "Kula bombs", they were called.

Witzansky and Kevin Hickey were the same class, '99, and both really good players.  Tough call between the two.  Hickey had the advantage at home of hitting left handed with the short porch, but a great swing and great hitter.

Agree that Bruml and Rosenbaum could be in the conversation by the time they are done.  Enjoying being able to watch via video once in a while, as we live on the other side of the country.

Great to see the program in such good shape these days. 

Speaking of Cal Lu, yeah, they'd have a great team even if limited to post scholarship days.   They had a kid, Anthony Olden, I think was his name, who hit a ball against us that probably lande somewhere in the Sontag theater, if it ever did land.   They also had a pitcher back then, Bell, who was low 90s and a big presence on the mound.

Tough out for the Hens...would love to see a breakthrough soon and to advance beyond the regionals.

Got me to thinking what the best Pomona-Pitzer team has been over the last decade or so.  2002/2003 with Jose Cortez and co, or 2010 with Drew Hedman/David Colvin, etc?

And what the all-time team would be

C:  Jose Cortez
IF:  Drew Hedman
IF:  James Kang
IF:  Emiliano Escandon
IF: Nick Frederick
IF: Brandon Huerta
OF: Zach Mandelblatt
OF: Jase Turner
OF: Eric Munzer
OF: Mike Witzansky
P: David Colvin
P: Adam Gardner
P: Spike Einsiedler
DH: Jarod Kula

Thoughts?

Watched some of the Pomona game last night...tough call on the balk that kept that 7th inning going.  Video feed wasn't good enough to tell if it was actually a balk, and there was no replay.  Lots of chances for both teams that came up empty, though.

Didn't see the game today, but figured that Linfield would be tough.  Would have been nice to see what the Hens could have done with a healthy pitching staff.  Seems like pitching, and especially pitching depth, has been the problem for them in NCAA play - even with the Cortez led teams in the early 2000s, as well as the Hedman/Kang/Mandelblatt/Colvin teams a few years back.

Will be interesting to see how next year shapes up.  If everyone is healthy, a lot of pitching returns, along with the whole infield...

Hens sweep CMS - blowouts in the first two, and a 4-2 win in the final game.  7-0/3-0 on the season.  Looks like another solid FR class for Coach P - including the current #2 and #3 pitchers - Cameron Yen and Simon Rosenbaum.   8 straight wins over the Stags now....

Tsinghua has some nice players, and are certainly athletic.  More size and athleticism overall than Wash U, but struggled in the half-court offense.  A lot of turnovers (carrys and travels) and the offense looked almost NBA like...not a lot of sets, a little in the way of ball screens and a lot of guards trying to break people down off the dribble.  In general, the Tsinghua guards had trouble finishing near the basket.

On defense, Tsinghua had trouble defending against Wash U's sets, and gave up a lot of open looks.  A lot of gambling on defense leaving players out of position.

My overall take is that the Tsinghua team has some decent individual skill, but it's not put together in a system that takes full advantage.

Pomona-Pitzer went independent in football for a few years starting in the mid 90s...supposedly because the team's roster size was too low to be competitive through a conference schedule.  This left the SCIAC with 6 football teams (no Cal Tech either, but they have no varsity football)  The irony is that on the strength of some really good recruiting classes (Jack Ramirez & others), the Hens fielded some really good teams as an independent and would have been very competitive in SCIAC those years.  I think there was a one loss season where the only loss was to Azusa Pacific, etc.

Chapman joining SCIAC would make an already strong baseball conference even better.   

Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 22, 2010, 06:30:50 PM

Quote from: pomonaalum on May 22, 2010, 06:28:23 PM
I hear you...SCIAC going to 4 conference games this year against each team instead of 3 changes the dynamics of region games.  You can't play as many against the Spring Break snowbird teams, etc. 

Two pretty solid teams in Cal Lu and Redlands got left at home this year after the SCIAC getting two bids last year (PP and Cal Lu)

Most of your snowbird games were not in-region.

I realize that most of the snowbird games are not in-region.  Was commenting on the fact that there could be a shift to more in-region games with more league games, and with a competitive league, more in-region losses.

Key in SCIAC is not to lose to the Whittiers and Oxy's of the world.  Redlands lost to both this year, etc.

I hear you...SCIAC going to 4 conference games this year against each team instead of 3 changes the dynamics of region games.  You can't play as many against the Spring Break snowbird teams, etc. 

Two pretty solid teams in Cal Lu and Redlands got left at home this year after the SCIAC getting two bids last year (PP and Cal Lu)

Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 22, 2010, 06:05:35 PM

Quote from: pomonaalum on May 22, 2010, 06:04:36 PM
MC with the walkoff run.  6-5...2 out RBI single after an earlier batter reached on an error.  Season comes to an end in the regionals again, one that the Sagehens were well set up for after wins in the opening 2 games.  Too bad...but this was supposed to be a rebuilding year after losing Hedman, Mandelblatt and co.

Kang and Brunswick graduate, but most of the rest of the team returns next year.

Ehhhh, just re-loading.

Great core in place...this program looks to be here to stay, just needs to break out of the regionals.  Always had enough hitting for SCIAC, but not enough pitching to win in a compressed regional format against other good teams...this has been a problem dating back to the Cortez/Turner teams of earlier in the decade.

BTW - gutsy performance by Fogarty.  Ended up being the LP, but 1 unearned run in 3 innings after pitching only 7 innings all year...

MC with the walkoff run.  6-5...2 out RBI single after an earlier batter reached on an error.  Season comes to an end in the regionals again, one that the Sagehens were well set up for after wins in the opening 2 games.  Too bad...but this was supposed to be a rebuilding year after losing Hedman, Mandelblatt and co.

Kang and Brunswick graduate, but most of the rest of the team returns next year.

5-5, heading for the top of the 9th.  PP stranding runners all day, 1-13 w/ RISP.

Play resumes...PP leaves runners on 2nd and 3rd, Seaman still in for MC.

Fogarty relieves Colvin...too bad, had cruised through the last couple of innings, but I don't think you can put him out there after the long top of the inning + rain delay.

Linfield has to be rooting for this rain delay to go on long enough to force both pitchers out of the game...but not long enough to push the championship game until tomorrow.

What is the procedure for washing out a game...can it happen?  Does it reset to the last full complete inning?

MC hangs on to win 9-8...

Looks like PP will be playing MC tomorrow at noon, win or lose tonight.  Win and it's for the right to advance to the national tourney.  Lose and it's for the right to play Linfield in a winner-take-all game.

How many pitches did Colvin throw on Wednesday, and will he be ready to go tomorrow?  The setup of league play means that pitchers don't often throw on "short rest" during the regular season.