Maybe Matt den Dekker can ask his new USA National teammate Tommy Mendonca exactly how they did it.
In case you weren't watching, Mendonca's Fresno State Bulldogs became the 2008 College World Series champions on Wednesday night.
…Who?
I wouldn't blame you if you had trouble (like some of my less CWS-savvy friends) finding the Bulldogs on a map - it's California, for the record.
This is a pretty big deal. Some are calling it the greatest Cinderella story in the history of NCAA athletics - maybe even in any sport, ever.
Fresno State was the lowest-seeded team in any NCAA Tournament to ever make it to the finals, let alone win it. They were the fourth-seeded team in their regional, ranked 89th in RPI before the NCAA Tournament began. Mighty Florida Gulf Coast was ranked higher than that.
In the words of Bulldogs closer Brandon Burke, they were "the worst team to win ever."
Yeah, that's pretty accurate.
They stumbled out of the gates at 9-15, had a spectacularly ordinary season and had to win the WAC Tournament just to make the field of 64.
Then all they did was beat college baseball powerhouses Long Beach State, Arizona State, UNC and Rice on the way to the title. They faced elimination six times and won every game.
Do you realize just how improbable this was? It's akin to Bethune-Cookman emerging from the Miami Regional to win the whole shebang. It just doesn't compute.
All the more impressive was the way they won. Fresno State didn't have a Buster Posey or a Joshua Fields. Their ace Tanner Scheppers had been sidelined since May with a shoulder injury, and the pitching staff was throwing on fumes and held together by duct tape. Everyday players like Mendonca were playing through injuries.
They were a mangled team full of nobodies. And yet they did it.
Fresno State showed that winning doesn't center on star power. You don't need the shiny national ranking or a slew of top draft picks and stars to reach college baseball's Promised Land. Heck, you don't even need to be fully healthy.
Maybe UF can learn a little something from that.
If den Dekker, a UF outfielder, asked, Mendonca's response might be something like this: a little bit of luck, and a whole lot of guts, grit, desire and faith in each other. Sure, that's all pretty trite and cliché, but anyone who watched this Fresno State team saw the textbook display of what a team is supposed to be.
When it came down to the wire, when it was win or go home, the Bulldogs turned it up a notch and won against teams they had no business beating. Players gave clutch performances and stepped up when called upon.
That is something that has been missing in UF's play since 2005. The Gators have the talent. They just need to borrow some of the quiet confidence Fresno State exuded throughout the CWS.
So maybe den Dekker and Mendonca can have a little chat. And maybe, just maybe, we'll see some of that magic in Gainesville next season.
