BASEBALL: Corvallis Regional Preview - Meet the Saint Mary's Gaels
This week, we are previewing the Corvallis Regional, a double-elimination opening round of the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament, hosted by #8 national seed Oregon State.
Today, our focus is on the Saint Mary's Gaels. How did they get here?
The Gaels were a preseason dark horse
"Nobody believes in us!"
Every team says it, but few truly embody it. Saint Mary's really can make the claim: in the West Coast Conference's preseason coaches poll, no one picked the Gaels to win the league. They tied for third with Gonzaga, who also lacked a first-place vote.
There was reason for optimism, however: junior outfielder Brian Duroff, junior corner infielder Ryan Pierce, and graduate pitcher Derik Eaquinto earned spots on the West Coast Conference all-conference preseason squad.
In February, a high-octane offense found liftoff
After a season-opening loss against Saint Louis University (Atlantic 10), the Gaels slapped them around with 16-1, 16-2, and 9-2 wins; further, all those victories were cut short by mercy rule.
Then, the schedule tightened. A midweek win over then top 25 UC Santa Barbara eased the pain of a sweep at Vanderbilt. The Gaels would close the month with more clutch hitting: a midweek 11-3 dub against Fresno State, and a mercy-rule 19-9 decision against San Diego State. Notably, the win over Fresno featured a contribution from a familiar name: home run hitter Eddie Madrigal, the younger cousin of Oregon State legend Nick Madrigal.
In March, WCC play began with a thud
The Gaels' high octane offense soon faltered: after narrowly upsetting San Diego State 5-2 on March 1st, they went 8-9 the rest of the month, and 1-2 in conference play. The opening matchup in their West Coast Conference schedule was an ugly 14-6 loss at San Francisco, where Saint Mary's gave up 6 runs in the bottom of the 1st, 7 more in the bottom of the 5th, and never recovered.
San Francisco took the series from Saint Mary's that weekend. The Gaels would finish March with a dubious 12-13 record, and a 1-2 mark in the WCC.
April started ice cold, and finished fiery hot
Saint Mary's followed up that conference-opening loss with a trio of losses against the University of Portland, then another sweep of losses against San Diego. Entering a tax day away game at San Jose State, the Gaels slumped to 15-19 overall and 2-7 in conference.
Soon, the slump stalled. A pair of Ryan Pierce bombs surged the Gaels past San Jose State 13-5. Then the Gaels took three close wins at Pepperdine: the total margin of victory in the series was just five runs. On Monday April 21st they delivered Cal an upset in Berkeley, then took 2-of-3 from Loyola Marymount. That weekend, Eddie Madrigal homered in every game.
The win streak would continue with a mid-week victory over Nevada, as Saint Mary's finished the month back over .500, 23-20 overall.
Despite a series loss to Oregon, Saint Mary's kept improving in May
The month of May started with a clean sweep of Pacific, but the win streak wouldn't last; Oregon outlasted the Gaels in a pair of midweek contests. Then, something amazing happened.
Saint Mary's got right back to its winning ways.
They finished the regular season winning 5-of-6, including a 12-11 thriller over Gonzaga that featured back-to-back homers, and a 12-10 nailbiter past Santa Clara where Diego Castellanos (no relation to the big league's grim reaper, Nick Castellanos) smashed a shot beyond the wall. Eddie Madrigal finished the regular season with a whopping 19 home runs! The offense was back.
That offense traveled to the West Coast Conference tournament in Las Vegas. First, a pair of home runs lifted Saint Mary's past 6 seed San Francisco. Then they raced ahead of 2 seed Gonzaga, 14-6. 4 seed Loyola Marymount fell in a rugby score 18-11, and suddenly the 3 seed Gaels were playing for a conference championship. After losing an extra-innings slugfest 16-13 (in 14 innings), Saint Mary's held on in the winner-takes-all title bout with San Diego, 9-8. Tied at 5 in the bottom of the 8th, a bases-loaded Ryan Pierce triple delivered three runners home. A Brian Duroff double to left sent Pierce across home plate, and Saint Mary's carried a commanding lead into the final inning.
Saint Mary's next game is tomorrow (Friday) night at Goss Stadium, against #8 national seed Oregon State. First pitch is scheduled for 5 PM.
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Matt fell in love with radio during his college days at Oregon Tech, and pursued a nine year career in sports broadcasting with Klamath Falls' and Medford's highest-rated sports radio stations. He currently lives in McMinnville wine country and is excited to talk about the Beavers again.