CAL baseball season ends, but it almost never started

This time last year Cal baseball was on the brink of being eliminated from the sports program at the college. Student athletes on the team were contemplating transfer options and desperately trying to figure out where they would be able to play baseball. Because baseball is not a top draw for most colleges and they don't exactly pull in the type of cash that college football does, the program was in deep trouble. That's when we started to hear the "save Cal baseball" chants, the fundraisers and the local media started to get involved.

As a kid, my Dad took me to a few Cal games and I loved every moment of it. The experience was much different and more unique than the professional game. We took a cooler loaded with sodas and snacks, we sat in the bleachers (almost all the seats at the stadium are bleachers) and we watched a doubleheader. It was the beginning of a dream because when we left the field and headed for the car, I told my Dad that I wanted to play baseball at CAL. That dream never materialized, but it was the dream itself that I will always remember.

At the 11th hour, CAL baseball was saved and they went on to compete at a very high level, making it all the way to Omaha for the college world series, where they were eliminated yesterday by a very good and scrappy Virginia squad.

I want to reach out and give credit where it's due. Cal baseball coach David Esquer, who was named college baseball coach of the year this week, deserves to be recognized for his hard work and dedication to the program. He could have taken a hike when things got tough, he could have quit considering how certain most people were that the baseball program was finished. But he didn't. He put up a fight, he taught his kids how to persevere through adversity and he did one hell of a job coaching this team in 2011. Congratulations to the Cal team, the coaching staff and the all who made it possible for Cal to have a baseball program.