They followed it up with a sweep of Villa-no-fun over the weekend.
Get UC Davis today and then SMC this weekend. Seemed like the best squad Filter had got axed by COVID.
SCU Baseball is similar to hoops in that they had a great century prior to the mid 90s and then have done nothing since. Maybe this is a corner being turned. The WCC results always seem tougher to get for us.
Building a beautiful baseball stadium and then watching the program struggle relative to their tenure at Buck Shaw is such a headscratcher to me.
“Beautiful” stadium is in the eye of the beholder. Be careful where you sit because sight lines are crap due to the dugout being at field level. (Me: “Is he safe at first?” Seat mate: “No idea. I can only see the top of their helmets.”).
Maybe the dugouts had to be at field level due to the water table (I wonder if the bowels of Leavy are flooding now in the heavy weather like they did years ago when the water table rose and ruined the brand new Raquetball court floors). But, you can tell someone made a geometry mistake because you have to climb a second set of stairs to get to the upper bleachers which are elevated to see over the dugouts. And, finally, there was a lost opportunity to use the right outfield berm to have grass seating which the students would have loved.
Softball is a real head scratcher. After years of playing off-site in dumpy Marsalli park, they finally got a great venue on campus, only to have the same on-field results.
But for both teams, the high academic standards and (especially for baseball) the lack of ability to get Juco transfers lock out potential recruits. And, as I’ve said before on this board, in softball, you need pitchers. And anybody that is any good is going to the Pac 12.
My take-away - there were racquetball courts???
Cool old photos here:
Yeah, I haven’t been to enough college baseball stadiums to weigh the relative merits, but I suppose I meant they went from sharing with soccer (and football for a large portion of time) to a standalone that seemed quite nice by comparison, but they haven’t been to the NCAAs since.
I remember going to afternoon games at Buck Shaw when the Broncos ruled the league with Coach Sal Taormina. Large crowds then thought we didn’t have cell phones and the internet to take up our time.
I remember when I came to visit Santa Clara for the first time when I was a HS senior. I stayed the first night with a Junior RA who was from my high school (his younger sister was in my class). He took me to a Saturday baseball game at Buck Shaw with his friends and they snuck in a case of beer. I’ll just say that Sunday was a little tough to get through and my sun burn lasted a few days.
Relived that the next year as a freshman when I went with some guys and we somehow rolled in a pony keg. Good times.
Ah the good old days. Yes, racquetball courts were underneath the mezzanine floor that is now just behind the stands on the team bench side (west side). That general area was also a basketball court, lots of pickup there. The weight room was under the opposite stands (east side). Toso doubled as an arboretum to some degree with its unique fabric dome, much like today’s JMA Wireless / Carrier Dome (Syracuse).
As for baseball, I remember solid teams in the mid 90’s. NCAA appearances. Played in Buck Shaw. I used to cut Paddy Cottrell’s lawn from time to time during school…what a treat, spent most of my time chatting with him. What a great man.
All before cell phones, internet, and email.