LOOKING BACK AT THE BEST SEASON EVER

The Fresno Pacific baseball team has a lot to be proud of this season.

By Andrew Marden
VSP Senior Writer:

FRESNO, Calif – Only one team can be the national champion. Everyone knows that going in.

But ten teams make the NAIA World Series.

And this year, for the first time ever, Fresno Pacific was one of those teams.

“It hit me once we got there,” said FPU junior outfielder Tyler Pryor. “Seeing all the other teams and how many people come to the games, it makes you come back to reality and say, ‘wow, that’s pretty cool.’

Even more so when you remember the Sunbirds have only had a baseball program for four years.
“I’m real proud of our team, a lot of guys came in to turn this program around from where it started,” said pitcher Brian Oliver, a Central High grad. “The fact that we made it to (Lewiston) Idaho to play against those teams is a tribute to our players and our coaching staff.”

The Sunbirds played three games at the NAIA World Series, winning one of them (vs Embry-Riddle Saturday). All told, they won 39 games this season and made the tournament’s final eight.

They also won five straight elimination games at the Sioux City (IA) Regional to qualify for the World Series.

“We went out there and we laid it out on the line and that’s really all you can ask,” said head coach Oscar Hirschkorn, a Kerman native, who’s been the head coach of the program all four years it’s existed. “And that’s really what this group was good about doing.”

“We get a lot of Cinderella stories, being compared to Fresno State,” said outfielder Dwight Nixon, whose pinch-hit, two-run walk-off homerun eliminated Embry-Riddle on Saturday. “But all of us think we’re not a Cinderella story, we deserve to be there just as much as anybody.”

With a .283 batting average and a .424 slugging percentage, the Sunbirds proved at least that much.

But is it a bad thing being compared to Fresno State? After all, the Underdogs to Wonderdogs did win last year’s NCAA national championship.

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NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!

The Fresno Pacific men’s tennis team knocks off powerhouse Auburn-Montgomery for the title.

Sunbirds head coach Neil Castro was his usual self during the NAIA national championship match – cool, calm, and collected – against Auburn University-Montgomery on Saturday at the Mobile Tennis Center.

Castro is used to this. His Sunbirds teams have been winless against the Senators five times in title matches (4 women, 1 men).

A 5-3 loss to AUM’s women’s team in 2007 was the only real opportunity to capture that elusive title. This time he eyed his No. 5 player, Maxime Adam, holding a match point for the NAIA national title. The Sunbirds contingent roared as Adam broke serve to gut out a 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over Francisco Redondo to elevate his team to a 5-3 upset win over the 8-time national champion Senators. Adam’s teammates stormed to court No. 45 to mob the sweat-soaked Adam and celebrate Fresno Pacific’s first-ever men’s tennis national title.

It is the fifth overall national title in Sunbirds history. The women’s volleyball team won the other four (1989, 2003, 2007-2008). Saturday’s win also snapped AUM’s three year championship win streak (2006-2008).

On this occasion the Sunbirds needed not a miracle, but a ferocious mentality to finally overcome the benchmark for NAIA tennis success. The Senators have been many things during their championship runs: unstoppable, unbeatable, and invincible. Not on this day, not in this moment.

With the city of Montgomery just under 3 hours away by car, AUM definitely had the hometown feel along with home court advantage. Dozens of AUM supporters arrived in carloads to witness the mighty Senators try to claim their ninth national title.

The Sunbirds had other plans.

In doubles action, the Senators crushed the Sunbirds at the Nos. 2 and 3 positions by 8-4 and 8-3 scores, respectively. Vicente Joli and Alex Gonzalez’ 8-5 win at No. 1 doubles over Michael Johnson and Monte Tucker provided the spark Fresno Pacific would need for singles.

Sunbird No. 3 Gonzalez answered the bell first with a rousing 6-3, 6-4 win over Sadio Doumbia to knot the team score 2-2.

No. 6 Jose Hilla fell to AUM’s Nicola Miscovic 6-2, 6-1 to push the Senators back on top by a 3-2 margin.

With four matches closely contested and the momentum swinging back and forth for both teams, it was only a matter of time before one was to take control.

No. 1 Fabio Silva fell behind 4-5 in both sets to AUM’s Victor Sanaki Papi, but edged Papi in both of them to win 7-5, 7-5 to tie up the team score 3-3.

With both teams needing two wins in the final three matches, it was the Sunbirds who finally overcame the dominant history and aura of AUM men’s tennis.

No. 4 singles player, senior Marco Foelz, wrapped up an impressive 6-2, 6-4 win over Monte Tucker to put his team up 4-3 and within a victory of a national title.

Minutes later, Adam’s monumental comeback at No. 5 singles clinched the championship. Castro was named the NAIA Coach of the Year, while Joli was recognized as the championships Most Outstanding Player.

The “2009 NAIA Men’s Tennis National Champions” banner will forever be held up in the rafters at Fresno Pacific’s Special Events Center, alongside four championship banners won by women’s volleyball.

The Sunbirds men’s tennis team concluded the season with a 25-2 record…and a national championship.

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BAD TIP: FRESNO PACIFIC LOSES AT THE BUZZER

From NAIA.org-

Sylvester Collins’ tip-in off of a Walter Howard miss with no time remaining lifted Tougaloo College (Miss.) to a 69-67 victory over ninth-seeded Fresno Pacific University (Calif.) in the seventh game of the 2009 Buffalo Funds NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament at Municipal Auditorium Wednesday evening.

Fresno Pacific took a 5-3 lead in the opening minutes of the first half and built as much as a nine-point cushion in the first 20 minutes before settling for a 42-38 lead at the break. Both teams shot well from the floor in the opening half with the Sunbirds connecting on 50 percent of their shots while Tougaloo made 46.7 percent from the floor.

The second half was close throughout with neither team holding more than a six-point advantage. The game was tied on five different occasions in the half. Fresno Pacific’s biggest lead of the half was a six-point cushion at 47-41 with 15:44 remaining. Tougaloo’s largest lead was four points at 60-56 with 8:37 left in regulation.

Fresno Pacific took a 67-65 lead on two free throws from Todd Brown with 2:12 left in the game. The Bulldogs answered with a bucket by Walter Howard with a minute left to knot the game at 67. The Sunbirds had a chance to take the lead with 25 seconds left, but Kevin McCaughey was called for a player control foul, setting up Collins’ heroics.

Jeremy Cable led Tougaloo with 20 points and eight rebounds. Howard added 15 markers and Collins netted 13 points and seven rebounds. Keith Fisher led all players with eight assists. For Fresno Pacific, James Lewis led three players in double figures with 21 points. Todd Brown added 19 points.

Tougaloo improves to 22-10 and advances to Friday’s second round where it will play eighth-seeded Robert Morris (Ill.) College at 9 a.m. CDT. Fresno Pacific completes its season with a 26-8 overall mark.

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