Stanford’s Hochgesang Is a Heartbreaker

OMAHA —  Josh Hochgesang is the kind of kid Cal State Fullerton just can’t quite sign.

Hochgesang grew up in Fullerton, went to Sunny Hills High, was a high school All-American with a gaudy grade-point average to go with his gaudy batting average (.507). So Hochgesang was forced to choose between a sizable signing bonus and a job with the New York Yankees or a baseball scholarship to Stanford.

Good grades, good pro potential, bye-bye Fullerton.

And so there was Hochgesang Saturday night at Rosenblatt Stadium, a senior now who is missing Stanford’s graduation today and breaking Titan hearts instead.

For it was Hochgesang who clubbed Stanford’s first home run, the first of three by the Cardinal. It was Hochgesang who was the first to dent the confidence of Fullerton pitcher Adam Johnson, the Titan starter who so much wanted to repay his teammates, the ones who won without the suspended Johnson last weekend in the super-regional at Ohio State.

But in the top of the third inning of a scoreless game, Hochgesang walked to the plate. There were two on and two outs. Johnson had wiggled out of trouble earlier, leaving men on first and third in the first and second and third in the second. If Johnson could have escaped again, maybe Johnson would have found his confidence and his head and his aim and his power.

Except that on an 0-1 pitch, a low, outside fastball, not a bad pitch but not where it was supposed to be, and with the wind blowing the eight flags representing the eight teams at the College World Series briskly out over the center field wall, Hochgesang swung and the ball traveled on a direct line to the bleachers.

It was a momentum giver. It was a tone setter. It was the 46th home run of Hochgesang’s Stanford career and his second at Rosenblatt Stadium. The first had come two years ago against LSU, a grand slam, but it only cut an LSU lead from 7-0 to 7-4 and his team would go on to its second loss and elimination.

So this was much more fun. “All the difference in the world,” Hochgesang said after Stanford’s 9-2 victory over Fullerton. “The difference between winning and losing says it all.”

Hochgesang estimates he lived five minutes away from Fullerton and he was the overachieving kind of player Titan Coach George Horton looks for.

“But we never had a chance with Josh,” Horton said. “He had real good grades and a lot of talent and we don’t usually beat Stanford for that kid.”

Truth be told, Stanford never expected to have Hochgesang, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound third baseman, back for his senior year. But Hochgesang, after struggling some with arm problems last season, was a 17th-round draft pick of the Florida Marlins. As a 4.0 student in high school and above 3.0 at Stanford, Hochgesang decided to come back and get his degree.

A good decision, it turns out, for Hochgesang hit .308 this year with 16 home runs and 65 RBIs and was drafted in the seventh round by Oakland.

Still, graduation is today and Hochgesang could be picking up his diploma. He is a communications major and he would absolutely love to be wearing that cap and gown for he is just as proud of that degree as he will be of the baseball contract he will sign with Oakland.