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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Teddy Warrecker, head baseball coach at Santa Barbara City College the last 10 seasons, has joined the Cal Poly baseball program as an assistant coach.

Teddy Warrecker

Warrecker replaces Jesse Zepeda, who resigned in June after seven seasons as a Mustang assistant coach to take a similar position at Long Beach State under new 49er head coach Troy Buckley.

“Teddy will bring a lot of energy to the program,” said Cal Poly head coach Larry Lee. “He has valuable experience as a head coach and, being at the junior college level, had to be a jack of all trades.

“Teddy will be an integral part of our recruiting, will oversee our catchers and will represent the program extremely well,” Lee added. “He is very talented in a number of different areas and we’re excited and fortunate to have him on our staff.”

Warrecker, who turns 38 in October, compiled a 193-198-2 record as the part-time head coach of the Vaqueros. Prior to his arrival, the team had endured 19 straight sub-.500 seasons.

“It’s been a dream of mine to coach at the Division I level,” added Warrecker, the son of legendary Santa Barbara High coach Fred Warrecker. “I’ve known for at least five years that’s where I wanted to be. Coach Lee approached me about the job and it really came out of left field.”

In the last seven years, Warrecker guided Santa Barbara to six winning campaigns, including a 20-16 mark last spring, and three regional playoff appearances. The Vaqueros have gone 102-65 (.611 winning percentage) over the last four seasons.

Warrecker, named head coach at SBCC in January 2001, guided the 2008 Vaqueros to six wins in their last seven games to secure a spot in the Southern California Regionals for the third time in four seasons. The 2007 squad won 13 straight games to claim a playoff berth, break the school record for wins (34) and bring home the first Western State Conference North Division title since 1972.

The 2005 team reached the postseason for the first time since 1978. That Vaquero squad led the state in ERA, finishing the regular season with a 24-13 mark. The 2004 Vaqueros posted the school’s first winning campaign in 23 years, finishing with a 19-16 record overall.

Warrecker, who has five brothers, attended Santa Barbara High School and played for his father and head coach, Fred Warrecker, who recently completed his 37th season as head coach. Warrecker was a catcher and first baseman at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria and was a two-time first-team all-conference selection, first-team All-Northern California and first-team All-State. He helped the Bulldogs win the Coast Valley Conference championship in 1993, while setting school career marks in home runs and RBI.

The following summer Warrecker played for the Kenai Oilers of the Alaskan Baseball League, a team that went on to win the NBC National Championship in Wichita, Kansas. He attended the University of Arizona before signing with the Cleveland Indians after his junior year.

Warrecker spent six years in the minor leagues as a pitcher with the Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves. In addition, he was invited to the Indians’ Major League Camp as part of the 40-man roster in 1997. Warrecker also played in the final season, since reformed, of the Hawaii Winter League for the West Oahu Cane Fires.

After professional baseball, Warrecker completed his bachelor’s degree in history at Cal State Northridge and recently finished his master’s degree in sport science from the United States Sports Academy.

Prior to his 10-year stint at SBCC, Warrecker assisted his father at Santa Barbara High School, where the Dons won the Channel League in 1999, and 2000 and reached the CIF-Southern Section Division II championship game at Dodger Stadium in 2000.

Over the past several year, Warrecker has been invited to instruct at Showcase Camps at UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly as well as camps hosted by Baseball Factory, Area Code, ESPN Rise, TPX Top 96, and the Trosky School of Baseball.

Warrecker coached over 50 players who went on to play at the four-year and professional levels.

Lee, who played one year at SBCC (1980), was inducted into the California Community College Baseball Hall of Fame earlier this year and asked Warrecker to introduce him.

“That was an incredible honor,” said Warrecker. “Out of all the players who had played for him and coaches who had worked with him, he chose me. We’ve had a connection and now we’re going to be together and I think it’s going to be a great fit.”

(Cal Poly Release)

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Grant Desme Was Highly Rated Minor League Prospect

Grant Desme in his Cal Poly days (Cal Poly photo)

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Former Cal Poly outfielder Grant Desme, recently invited to the Oakland A’s spring training camp, has retired from baseball in order to pursue a career as a priest.

“I was doing well at ball. But I really had to get down to the bottom of things,” the 23-year-old Desme said. “I wasn’t at peace with where I was at.”

Desme, Big West Conference Player of the Year at Cal Poly in 2007 and the only player in the minor leagues last year to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases, plans to enter St. Michael’s Abbey in Orange County this summer and said he was embarking on a 10-year process to become a member of the abbey.

Desme was recently named the Arizona Fall League MVP after hitting 11 homers and 27 RBIs for the Phoenix Desert Dogs. He split the 2009 Minor League season between Class A Kane County of the Midwest League, and high Class A Stockton of the California League, combining at the two stops for 31 homers and 40 stolen bases — ranking as the Minors’ lone 30-40 man.

Desme, 23, from Bakersfield, played at Cal Poly in 2006 and 2007. He was a second-round (74th overall) draft choice of Oakland in 2007 and is a .286 hitter in three Minor League seasons with 33 home runs and 97 RBIs in 145 games.

In his two seasons at Cal Poly, Desme hit 23 home runs and drove in 86 runs. He hit .405 in 2007 with 15 home runs and 53 RBI, earning the Big West Conference’s regular season Triple Crown.

Baseball America recently rated Desme the Oakland A’s number 8 prospect.

General manager Billy Beane “was understanding and supportive,” Desme said, but the decision “sort of knocked him off his horse.” After the talk, Desme felt “a great amount of peace.”

“I love the game, but I aspire to higher things,” he said. “I know I have no regrets.”

Cal State Fullerton Is Favored By Big West Coaches

Irvine, Calif. — Following a season that once again concluded in Omaha, Neb., at the College World Series, Cal State Fullerton was selected to capture the 2010
Big West Baseball Championship, a title they lost to UC Irvine last season, according to the Big West Conference preseason poll conducted by the league’s nine head coaches.  The Titans, who have claimed at least a share of seven of the last 11 titles and a conference-best 14, nabbed seven first-place votes for a total of 79 points and were followed by defending conference championship UC Irvine, who picked up two first-place votes en route to a 71 point total.  Rounding out the top three were the Cal Poly Mustangs, sitting third with 60 points.

The Titans, under third-year head coach Dave Serrano, finished the 2009 campaign with a 47-16 overall record and a 17-7 conference mark, good enough for second place in the Big West.  Cal State Fullerton swept both the NCAA Regionals and Super Regionals to advance to the College World Series for its 16th appearance.

Fullerton has a wealth of returning talent that includes an entire weekend pitching rotation, a closer, and a couple of top-round draft pick defenders up the middle to
go along with a Top 5 recruiting class.  Slated to headline the Fullerton rotation are Daniel Renken, Noe Ramirez and Tyler Pill, while Nick Ramirez returns as the team’s closer. All four of the hurlers achieved All-American status a year ago and accounted for 34 wins, seven saves and a 3.24 combined ERA.

The Anteaters of UC Irvine are coming off one of their best seasons in program history, which witnessed the ‘Eaters capturing their first league crown with an outstanding 22-2 mark.  UC Irvine also became the first team in conference history to go undefeated at home during league play and boasted the second-best conference winning percentage in Big West history at .917.  Like Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine welcomes back a majority of their pitching staff, including All-Americans Daniel Bibona and Eric Pettis. Rejoining Bibona and Pettis on the mound in 2010 are Preseason All-America Christian Bergman and Crosby Slaught.

Cal Poly looking to continue its success of last season, was selected third in this year’s poll.  The Mustangs concluded 2009 with an overall mark of 37-21, a third place finish in the Big West at 14-10 and made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since moving to Division I in 1995.  Leading the charge offensively in 2010 is Big West Freshman of the Year Matt Jensen who was sidelined late in the season due to a fractured clavicle.  Prior to his injury he sported a .375 batting average with 15 doubles, nine home runs and 53 RBI and recorded a 23-game hitting streak, the third longest in Cal Poly Division I history.  Also coming back from injury this season is pitcher Steven Fischback, who in 2008 finished seventh in the Big West with 79 strikeouts and posted a 5-4 record with a 4.55 earned run average.

Long Beach State secured the fourth slot with 50 points, UC Riverside landed in fifth after receiving 48 points and UC Santa Barbara grabbed 36 points to take the sixth spot.  Pacific locked down seventh with 30 points, followed by Cal State Northridge’s eight-place point total of 19.  Rounding out the nine-team field with 12 points was UC Davis, who is playing in just its third season at the Division I level.

(Release)

2010 Big West Coaches Poll Results
1. Cal State Fullerton (7) – 79
2. UC Irvine (2) – 71
3. Cal Poly – 60
4. Long Beach State – 50
5. UC Riverside – 48
6. UC Santa Barbara – 36
7. Pacific – 30
8. Cal State Northridge – 19
9. UC Davis – 12

( ) First-place vote

*Collegebaseball360.com is currently releasing our 2010 baseball conference previews, and we will have one soon for the Big West Conference.

Trials To Take Place In July

Jensen

year ago, Jensen fractured his collarbone in a Cal Poly game in early May and was unable to participate in the trials. Jensen (5-10, 190, Clovis, CA) sported a .375 batting average with 15 doubles, nine home runs and 53 RBI before fracturing his clavicle in May 2009. He suffered the injury when he was involved in a collision with a San Francisco baserunner.  Jensen is the first Mustang baseball player to be invited to the National Team Trials.

Cal Poly head coach Larry Lee on Jensen:  “Matt is one of the better ball players in the country.”  “He should be able to follow up a tremendous freshman year with another quality season and is fully recovered from his broken collarbone.

“He’s really developed as a defensive second baseman to add to his already impressive credentials from an offensive standpoint,” Lee added. “Having the opportunity to represent the United States in this endeavor is a great honor and Matt is as good as it gets on and off the field. He will represent Cal Poly at the highest level this summer.”

Kyle Winkler-RHP-TCU

This is the second invite for Winkler as he participated in the 2009 trials last summer.  Winkler completed a successful

Winkler

freshman season, tying for the team lead with seven victories. In 17 appearances, he made 14 starts and posted a 7-1 record to go along with a 4.15 ERA. In 73 2/3 innings pitched, the righty tallied 48 strikeouts. He was named to the Mountain West Conference All-Tournament team and the Fort Worth All-Regional Team.

TCU head coach Jim Schlossnagle on Winkler:  “This is a great honor for Kyle and our program,” Schlossnagle said. “Representing your country is one of the greatest honors one can receive in amateur baseball and Kyle was very close to making the team last year. I’m sure he will represent TCU at the highest level when the trials begin this summer.”

Nick Ramirez-P/1B & P-Tyler Pill-Cal State Fullerton

Ramirez

Both Pill and Ramirez are coming off seasons that earned them freshman All-American status in 2009 and come into the 2010 campaign as preseason All-Americans.

Pill (2009: 11-3, 4.06 ERA, 74 K, 13 BB) is likely to be the Titans’ Sunday starter on the mound again in 2010, and is the front-runner to be the starting right fielder when he is not pitching.

Also performing double duty in 2010 will be Ramirez (2009: .287, 10 HR, 31 RBI / 3-1, 2.61 ERA, 7 saves, 30 K, 10 BB) who will play first base and then serve as the Titans’ closer on the mound.

Pill

Cal State Fullerton head coach Dave Serrano will serve as Team USA’s pitching coach this summer.  Utah’s Bill Kinneberg is the manager, while Nino Giarratano (San Francisco) and Ed Blankmeyer (St. John’s) round out the coaching staff.

Collegebaseball360.com will continue to follow 2010 Team USA Trials invitees as they are announced by their schools.

Cal Poly Gets Its First NCAA Tournament Bid

Larry Lee's Mustangs earned the program's first NCAA bid in 2009.

bid.

It’s not like Cal Poly plays in a cream puff conference.  The Big West includes such teams as perrenial College World Series participant Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine (2007 CWS) and Long Beach State.  But competition like that can be both a blessing and a curse- good competition means a good strength of schedule and RPI numbers, but too many fourth-place conference finishes can be just too much to overcome when the field of 64 is ultimately announced.

Larry Lee’s squad had dipped even lower when they finished 2008 with a 24-32 overall record and a 7th place finish in the nine-team Big West conference standings.  2009 was going to be different though.

The season started with a bang when Cal Poly hosted and won two out of three games from 2008 CWS team Rice.  The Mustangs dropped the opener 10-7, but they managed to score 7 runs in just 4 2/3 against the 3rd ranked Owls’ Ryan Berry, who finished the season with 7-2 record and 2.42 ERA with 4 complete games.

Cal Poly jumped out to a 6-0 lead in game two en-route to a 10-3 romp, and then rallied from an early 6-2 deficit to win the series finale 7-6.  J.J. Thompson doubled home Bobby Crocker with one out in the bottom of the 9th for the walk-off win. Thompson ended the season as one of seven Mustangs to collect at least 41 RBIs.

The series win over one of the top teams of the current decade helped fuel Cal Poly’s 17-4 start to the season.  It was the program’s best start since the 1997 team that opened with an 18-2 mark, but even the ’97 team didn’t get to the postseason.

Larry Lee’s Mustangs would go on to win 11 of 14 series during the ’09 regular season.  They took both games they played from defending National Champion Fresno State, and on March 31 they posted their first win over USC in 34

Adam Buschini's .422 average led the Big West in '09.

years.

By season’s end Cal Poly led the Big West in nearly every offensive category including: batting average (.324), slugging percentage (.495), on-base percentage (.409), runs (468), hits (655), RBI (420), home runs (61), and total bases (1,001).  Mustang pitchers also led the conference in strikeouts (391) and fewest walks allowed (235).

Adam Buschini led the Mustangs with a .422 batting average, 11 home runs, 61 RBIs, and a 1.091 OPS.  Reliever Eric Massingham led a solid pitching staff with 7-3 record with a 3.07 ERA and 6 saves in 25 relief appearances.  Both were drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies last June.

Despite the statistical success Cal Poly finished third in the Big West regular season standings.   With a 37-19 overall record and no postseason conference tournament to try to earn an automatic NCAA bid,  Lee’s team would have to wait to see if its name was called on selection Monday.  The Mustangs did earn their first berth when they were announced as the #3 seed in the Tempe Regional which also featured #1 Arizona State, #2 Oral Roberts and #4 Kent State.

The Mustangs lost their two NCAA games to Oral Roberts and Kent State, while Arizona State advanced all the way to the College World Series.

LarryLee

Press play to listen to a podcast interview with Cal Poly head coach Larry Lee.  The interview was recorded just after the Mustangs learned of their first NCAA bid.

Other Top Moments Of 2009

10.  Kansas’ Field of Dreams: Kansas, Kansas State & Wichita State all get NCAA bids

11.  Stephen Strasburg Strikes out 17 in a no hitter

12.  Ohio State’s Alex Wimmers No-hits Michigan

13.  Kansas Sweeps #1 Texas

14.  Bryce Brentz Has An April To Remember

15.  Clemson’s Kyle Parker Does Double Duty

16.  #1 Arkansas Beats #1 Arizona State

17.  Rhode Island Beats Miami And Oklahoma State

18.  Kansas State’s A.J. Morris beats Arizona State’s Mike Leake

19.  North Carolina’s Mike Fox Wins His 1,000th Game

20.  Illinois Shocks #1 LSU In Baton Rouge

21.  Alabama’s Kent Matthes Launches Longballs

22.  Freshman Levi Michael Starts In North Carolina’s Season Opener

23.  LSU Opens The New Alex Box Stadium

24.  Oregon Brings Back Baseball

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. ­ Eleven games against Pac-10 Conference teams and three-game home series against USC, Houston, California, Long Beach State and UC Irvine highlight the 2010 Cal Poly baseball schedule announced Tuesday by head coach Larry Lee and director of athletics Alison Cone.

Full 2010 Cal Poly Schedule (PDF)

The Mustangs will open the 2010 campaign, Lee’s eighth as head coach at Cal
Poly, with a three-game set against the Southern California Trojans on Feb.
19-21 in Baggett Stadium.

Cal Poly also hosts the Cal Bears on March 19-21, visits UCLA for a
three-game series March 25-27 and will play Arizona State and Oregon State
in the Coca-Cola Classic hosted by the City of Surprise, Ariz., in Surprise
Stadium, the spring training home of the Texas Rangers and Kansas City
Royals.

The Mustangs will host four Big West series, including Long Beach State on
April 30 through May 2 and UC Irvine on May 7-9. In all, Cal Poly will play
29 of its 56 games in Baggett Stadium.

The schedule also includes 10 midweek games against some of the best teams
from the West Coast and WAC conferences.

“Our 2010 schedule will be very challenging with 11 games against the likes
of the best the Pac-10 has to offer and strong midweek games versus
Pepperdine, Fresno State and Loyola Marymount,” said Lee.

Other three-game sets at home include non-conference games against Houston
and Cal State Bakersfield and Big West series against UC Santa Barbara and
Pacific. The Mustangs also host Northern Illinois for two games March 9-10.

The 2009 Cal Poly baseball season will go into the Mustang record book as
one of the most successful campaigns, thanks in large part to the
achievement of its first NCAA regional playoff berth at the NCAA Division I
level.

The Mustangs won 37 games (one shy of the school’s Division I mark),
finished third in the Big West Conference, compiled a .325 team batting
average, posted their fifth winning season in the last six years, cracked
the 30-win mark for the seventh time in the last 10 seasons and earned a
spot in the national polls for 13 consecutive weeks.

Lee is now 223-175-2 overall in seven seasons at the helm of the Cal Poly
program.

The Mustangs, who finished third in the Big West, produced a pair of
eight-game winning streaks last season, another six-game string of victories
and a national ranking as high as No. 12 by both Baseball America and
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. The Mustangs, who won 11 of 14 weekend
series.

Cal Poly won eight of its first nine games and 17 of 21 for its best start
since the 1997 squad went 18-2 to open the year. The Mustangs won 13 more
games than they did in all of 2008 and were 20 games above the .500 mark
three times last season — 30-10, 32-12 and 37-17 — and only the fourth
time since moving to Division I 15 years ago. The 2004 squad was 33-13-1 in
mid-April. Twenty is still the school’s Division I record.

(Courtesy Press Release)