Improbable Berth Only Invigorates the Aztecs’ Spirits : Baseball: Despite setbacks, SDSU heads for first-round baseball game in NCAA Regionals.

Wait a minute.

They’re going again? The San Diego State baseball team? To the NCAA Regionals?

But the Aztec coach has no voice.

“From ragging on the umpires,” Coach Jim Dietz explained.

And his recruiting has been limited.

“You’ve got to have money to recruit,” he further explained.

And the players haven’t had much sleep.

“Trying to catch up on all the sleep I can,” third baseman Steve Boucher said late Tuesday morning, two days after returning from a grueling trip to Hawaii and a few hours before the Aztecs left for Fresno State and a first-round game against Stanford at 3:30 p.m. today.

This team started the season with only two of 17 pitchers having any serious varsity experience.

Ugh.

This team lost an opening-round game in the Western Athletic Conference tournament to Brigham Young, 19-1.

Ouch.

This team had its share of hot streaks (four consecutive victories to win the WAC tournament) and cold streaks (four games at BYU were snowed out).

Brrrr .

And this team lost three times to U.S. International this month, which indeed casts aspersions on the Aztecs’ 43-19 record.

Aaaargh .

And here come the NCAAs.

An unlikely story? Come along . . .

See the guy sitting in the chair on the far end of the dugout? The end closest to home plate? That’s the coach. Dietz. He has been at SDSU since 1972, and he pops LifeSavers during games as though they are antacid tablets.

He is a teacher. Other coaches call each pitch, but Dietz wants his catchers to understand the game well enough to do it themselves. His players have a constant green light on the basepaths, but they have to know when to run.

And let somebody screw up . . .

“When I see (Dietz) coming out and veering to his left, I know it’s me who is going to get it,” catcher Rick Page said. “When he is veering to his right, I know it’s the pitcher who is going to get it.”

Still, the players get along well with him. They address him as “Coach,” unless he is not around. Then they call him “Deker,” an affectionate takeoff of his surname.

They like to have fun with Dietz. They were in an airport one day this spring when one of them picked up an airport telephone that was connected to the public address system.

“Mr. Deker,” came the voice over the speakers. “Mr. Jimbo Deker, please answer the white courtesy phone.”

Even Dietz had to laugh over that one.

The two guys standing near first base are Jason Ledford and Darin McGhee. They platoon, Ledford batting left-handed and McGhee right-handed.

Note: If an Aztec yells “ Surf’s up! “ he is likely shouting at Ledford. If he hollers “ Nose! “ he wants McGhee.

A few steps over, at second base, is Scott Dennison. He was a preseason All-American, and he is batting .323 with a team-high 43 RBIs. He was first-team all-WAC. He even hunts birds with Dietz. Just call him Mr. Versatile.

Honors, awards, press clippings . . . it’s no wonder Dennison’s teammates like to mock the public address announcer: “And now, here’s Scott Dennison and the rest of the Aztecs.”

The guy all bundled up at shortstop is Steve Dietz, the coach’s son. But what is he wearing ?

“It could be 80 degrees and he’ll be wearing three pairs of thermals, four pairs of socks, three shirts . . .,” outfielder Bill Dunckel said. “He’s always wearing a ton of clothes. I think he’s trying to make himself look bigger.”

The player rolling around in the dirt at third? Boucher. Piggy, they call him.

“He’s such a mess,” Dunckel said. “He’s such a slob.”

How many players have a particular hit named after them? Boucher does. A “Boucher Hit” or “Piggy Hit” is a kind of seeing-eye grounder that limps through the infield and somehow sneaks around--or bounces over--a defender for a hit.

He is batting .313 this year. Last year he hit .351 and set a school record with 14 sacrifice bunts.

The three guys shagging flies in the outfield, from left to right, are Dunckel, Derek Vinyard and Brent Ferguson.

Dunckel is batting .332 with two homers and 41 RBIs. He also is the proud owner of the School Record for Shortest Time Holding a School Record. He put together a 24-game hitting streak earlier this season, surpassing Chris Gwynn’s 21-game mark. It lasted 12 days.

Why? Because that was how long it took Vinyard to pass him on his way to a 28-game hitting streak. Was Dunckel bitter? Not really, except . . .

“We told him the reason it ended was because there were no more worms to kill,” Dunckel said. “It seemed like every hit he got was because he drilled it into the ground, and he can run so fast . . .”

Vinyard leads the team with a .382 batting average.

Ferguson didn’t have a spectacular year. He batted .286 and was told by Dietz before the USIU game on May 13 that he had to have a good game to make SDSU’s WAC tournament roster. Ferguson got on base his last two times at bat, went to Hawaii for the WAC tournament . . . and then reached base in each of his first 10 at bats. Talk about lighting a fire under a guy. Ferguson was named outstanding player of the WAC Tournament.

Fires burn inside some of the other Aztecs, too. Look at the pitching staff.

Rick Navarro (8-5, 3.12 ERA) started SDSU’s first game Saturday in the WAC tournament finals against Hawaii and took a line drive off his left ankle in the second inning. He stayed in the game until one was out in the eighth.

“Basically, we had used all of our pitchers,” Navarro said. “If I came out, we would have had to go to the bullpen early. We couldn’t afford that. I had to stay in for myself and for the team.”

So you figure he has earned an extra dose of appreciation, right? Wrong. His teammates will continue calling him “Hat.” They say, since he is only 5-foot-10, his hat is all you can see when he’s on the mound.

Brian Holliday (6-2, 3.09) and Clint Borman (5-3, 4.46) are the Aztecs’ other main starters, and Mark Gapski (5-2, 4.47, five saves) is the closer.

The catchers are Page and Marcelino Garcia. Page was second on the team with a .343 batting average. Both, though, are among the leaders in keeping their teammates amused.

Garcia is alternately called “Caveman,” “Fonzie” and “Rocky” because of the way he talks. Page goes by “Jaboo” because of his habit last year of bringing beads to games and blessing his bats.

Understand that spirits play a very large part with these Aztecs. You don’t believe it, just take a look at what will be taped on the dugout wall during each game in Fresno. A crayon-colored drawing, sketched by pitcher Tom Keating.

It depicts a half-moon, with a nasty-looking face, rising above the earth. It is titled “Bad Moon Rising.” Keating drew the picture and gave it to Holliday, his roommate, before last week’s WAC tournament. Keating didn’t go to Hawaii, and he is not in Fresno, but he wanted to do something to show he was with the team in spirit.

Before games, or when the Aztecs need a rally, they each touch the Bad Moon Rising drawing. Dunckel figures each player touches the drawing three or four times a game.

Go ahead and make fun of them. Tell them that superstition is bunk, and that the drawing has no magical powers whatsoever.

But they had it on the dugout wall for each of the games in Hawaii . . . except one.

Right. The 19-1 loss to BYU.

“It’s going with us to the regionals,” Dunckel said. “Maybe it’s for all the guys who (can’t) be there.”