Momentum Building for Aztecs, Who Face No. 1 Stanford Next

The red-and-white flags flap in the wind at Sunken Diamond here: two of them, each representing a national college baseball title for Stanford, one in 1987 and another in 1988.

But the Aztecs, 48-20 and unimpressed, have unpacked their bats, set up residence and proceeded to start in motion their own tradition. They defeated Fresno State Friday, 8-4, in a second-round NCAA West I Region game before 756, and now comes a real test: No. 1 Stanford this morning at 9.

Stanford is No. 1 in two significant ways: seeded first in the tournament, and ranked No. 1 in the nation. The Cardinal (54-10) got to today’s game by defeating Middle Tennessee State, 6-1, setting a school record for victories in a season in the process. The 1987 national championship team won 53 games.

Today’s SDSU-Stanford winner will advance to Sunday undefeated and needing just one victory for the title in the double-elimination regional. The loser plays again today at 4 p.m. in the final elimination game to see who advances to Sunday as the last piece of the puzzle. That team would then have to win two in a row for the championship and the trip to Omaha, Neb., for the College World Series.

None of these Aztecs have even played on a team that won the Western Athletic Conference tournament championship. The closest any of them have come to the NCAA tournament was when they closed their eyes and thought real hard.

But now they are having the time of their lives. Nervous? Ha. Intimidated? Not these guys. The Aztecs are oblivious to it all. Somebody forgot to tell them that when you’re in a tournament involving the letters “NCAA,” protocol is that you perhaps sweat a wee bit.

Every day, their season is getting a little bit longer than they expected, and every day, they haven’t really been sure of what’s coming next.

They’re sure now. It’s Stanford.

“(Today) is the game,” Stanford Coach Mark Marquess said. “The team that wins that game goes home that day and plays at noon the next day. If you lose that game, you’re forced to play a team later that same afternoon that’s pumped up after a win.”

You would maybe expect the same thing to be coming from SDSU Coach Jim Dietz. But no.

“I thought the very first game we played was important,” he said. “They’re all important. We’ve been playing very important games for five weeks. It’s nothing new to us. Every game down the stretch of the conference was for first place or third place.”

His players agree.

“We’ll take them as another team on our schedule,” said Andy Petersen, Friday’s winning pitcher. “Without a lot of hype.”

Said catcher Eric Christopherson: “I figured we’d get them sooner or later. We kind of planned on it.”

SDSU is playing with a confidence usually seen in guys who have played in a few of these things. They’re a good road team, they say, so why shouldn’t they be confident? After they won their first-round game Thursday against Middle Tennessee State, one of the mothers asked Aztec assistant Gary Brown why the team wasn’t excited. Brown calmly explained that they needed more than one victory to get the job done.

At breakfast Friday, he matter-of-factly said the Aztecs would win four in a row. If they do that, they’ll be making travel arrangements for Omaha.

Their victories are beginning to stack up like so many tournament scrapbooks. Friday’s was their 15th in a row, and they didn’t show any signs of boredom.

They are doing it with offense, defense, pitching and running. And what else is there?

For the second game in a row, they got a home run in the first inning. Second baseman Scott Dennison hit this one over the left-field fence with the bases empty. In the second inning, Brian Grebeck scored on Darin McGhee’s single, and in the fourth, Anthony Johnson and Steve Boucher scored on Bill Dunckel’s single.

They got two more in the fifth to take a 6-0 lead, then spent the rest of the afternoon making sure they didn’t lose it. Petersen (10-2) allowed three home runs, all with the bases empty, but threw a complete game. He gave up four runs--three earned--and 11 hits. He walked three and struck out six. The closest Fresno State got was within three, 7-4, in the eighth.

Dunckel ended up with three runs batted in, giving him nine in the two tournament games.

Fresno State’s Erik Schullstrom started but lasted just 4 2/3 innings. The Aztecs chased him with six runs--four earned--and 11 hits.

“I thought I made quite a few good pitches,” Schullstrom said. “They battled them off and got hits.”

Tournament Notes

There is a chance of rain today. . . . Stanford won a coin flip with the Aztecs after Friday’s SDSU-Fresno State game, meaning the Cardinal will be the home team and bat last for this morning’s game. . . . Stanford will start ace right-hander Stan Spencer (13-1, 2.84 earned-run average). SDSU will likely counter with lefty Erik Plantenberg (10-4, 2.77).