Aztecs Face Old Nemesis Stanford in NCAA Regional Opener

SAN DIEGO —  A San Diego State baseball team that once was hoping just to qualify for the four-team Western Athletic Conference tournament suddenly finds itself in the NCAA Regionals this week.

The Aztecs (43-19), seeded fifth, open play against No. 2 Stanford (37-21)--the team that knocked them out of last year’s tournament--at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Fresno State. It will be the second consecutive NCAA tournament appearance for SDSU, and the eighth since 1979.

However, it may be the most unexpected tournament appearance. The Aztecs finished second in the WAC and were ripped by Brigham Young in the tournament opener last week, 19-1, before storming back to win the championship. They defeated Wyoming, BYU (in 10 innings) and Hawaii twice (the second time also in 10 innings) to earn an automatic berth to the tournament.

“It’s kind of like . . . kind of like Santa Claus came,” Coach Jim Dietz said. “Unbelieveable. It’s just unbelieveable.”

What happened is that a couple of small goals suddenly added up. First, the Aztecs wanted to finish no lower than fourth in the WAC. They were second.

Then, after being blown out by BYU, they wanted to stay in the WAC tourney long enough to get another shot at the Cougars.

They did, and won, 6-4.

Then they got to the championship, defeated Hawaii and then, Monday, were looking forward to playing more baseball.

Players wandered in and out of the baseball office Monday, popping in video tapes from the weekend’s WAC tournament and waiting to pack up and take off again. The Aztecs will leave Wednesday morning for Fresno.

“We’re just thrilled to death with what we have accomplished,” Dietz said. “I’m so pleased for these players and for this university. There are so many negative things going on, this is just a real positive for the university.

“This is one of the finest moments for this program.”

The Aztecs came within two victories of advancing to their first College World Series in last year’s West Regional at Stanford. SDSU lost twice to the Cardinal--6-2 each time. But SDSU lost several key players from that team, including All-American catcher Eric Christopherson, and they entered this season with only two of 17 pitchers having solid varsity experience.

An unlikely tournament team?

“Yeah,” Dietz said. “Not because the potential isn’t there, but we’ve just kind of gotten ahead of ourselves.

“After the (WAC tournament championship) game, everybody rushed up to me with TV cameras and microphones. I didn’t know what to say. I was not prepared for the moment. Last year, I was.

“I’m still not prepared. It was just a heroic effort.”

And despite the influx of newcomers, the memory of last year’s tournament losses to Stanford remains fresh.

“I like playing (Stanford),” Dietz said. “What the heck. I like playing them for some obvious reasons, and for some not-so-obvious reasons.

“If you’re going to play somebody who has beaten you a couple of times . . . sometimes it’s hard for them to beat you the third time. I like that. I really do. Something about that appeals to me.”

Said outfielder Bill Dunckel: “I’m excited. I wouldn’t pick anybody else. If we beat (Stanford), we deserve to be there. If we don’t, we have no business being there.

“We know Stanford. We know their tendencies. I’m excited.”

Other first-round games in the double-elimination West II Regional: No. 1 Miami (45-15) vs. No. 6 Portland (30-17) and No. 3 Fresno State (37-20) vs. No. 4 Cal State Northridge (41-16-1).

Aztec Notes

Second baseman Scott Dennison, who batted .323 this season, and pitcher Rick Navarro, who was 8-5 with a 3.12 earned-run average, were named first-team all-Western Athletic Conference on Monday. Outfielders Bill Dunckel (.332) and Derek Vinyard (.382) were named to the second team. Catcher Rick Page (.343) and third baseman Steve Boucher (.313) were named honorable mention.

Other regions, with start dates:

West I Regional at Los Angeles, Friday--No. 3 USC (44-15-1), Middle Tennessee State (28-31), No. 15 Hawaii (48-16), Pepperdine (41-15-1), No. 16 Creighton (45-20) and Minnesota (36-24).

Central Regional at Austin, Tex., Friday--Cal State Long Beach (40-19), No. 19 Southern Mississippi (41-22), Texas (46-16), Oklahoma State (43-18), Rutgers (32-20-2) and Alabama Birmingham (27-28).

Atlantic Regional at Tallahassee, Fla., Thursday--No. 2 Florida State (53-12), Georgia Tech (40-24), Alabama (39-18), Florida International (43-21), St. John’s (33-12-1) and Coastal Carolina (36-27).

East Regional at Gainesville, Fla., Thursday--No. 6 Florida (45-19), No. 25 North Carolina State (45-18), Jacksonville (43-19-2), Missouri (39-18), Ohio University (33-25) and Furman (25-24).

Northeast Regional at Orono, Me., Thursday--No. 4 Clemson (56-8), Mississippi State (40-19), No. 21 Maine (45-16), Villanova (37-13-1), Towson State (27-21-1) and Princeton (22-20).

Midwest Regional at Wichita, Kan., Friday--Top-ranked Wichita State (59-12), Ohio State (50-11), Baylor (40-18), California (34-25), Rider (32-14-1) and East Carolina (29-22-1).

South Regional at Baton Rouge, La., Friday--No. 7 LSU (47-18), No. 18 Texas A&M; (42-21), No. 23 South Alabama (43-15), Oklahoma (40-21), No. 20 Southwestern Louisiana (46-18) and Northwestern Louisiana (38-19).