Though constantly on brink this season, Cal does not blink

OMAHA  In what has become the most improbable season imaginable, the California Bears keep finding a way to extend it. Thursday night they face top seed Virginia in a win-or-go-home showdown at the College World Series. But when your program has stared extinction in the face and not blinked, what's another elimination game?

California has fielded a team since 1892 and won two national championships. But baseball was axed by budget cuts in September. Coach Dave Esquer spent the ensuing months coaching his team, working to save the program and looking for schools for his players after this season.

By April, a determined fundraising effort by alumni raised enough to restore the program. The team responded by advancing to Omaha for the first time since 1992, winning four elimination games in the regionals, including one in which it was down to its final strike.

The Bears fell to Virginia 4-1 in their CWS opener. But a few hours after Esquer learned he had been named Coach of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association on Tuesday, the Bears bounced back to beat Texas A&M 7-3 and earn another shot at Virginia.

"It's been a really, really gratifying and humbling day," Esquer said. "I remember mentioning to our guys (in the regionals) that some teams look for one hero to take them the distance. We need 27 heroes. We need everybody playing their role and piecing it together, because that's who we are."

Tony Renda and Derek Campbell were perfect examples of that against A&M. Renda was the Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year this season, but a sore leg muscle has limited him to designated hitter duty in Omaha. That thrust freshman Campbell into the starting lineup at second base.

They teamed for four hits in seven at-bats against the Aggies, scoring two runs and driving in three.

"I'm going to try to get back out there, but I have a lot of confidence in Derek," Renda said. "We've been down all year and we've had to fight back. We were down as a program. We were down in this tournament. We know you've got to come back against very good teams or else you're going home."

That was the point Esquer drove home after the loss to Virginia, a game that tilted toward the Cavaliers only after the teams were scoreless through the first six innings. Esquer was the starting shortstop on Stanford's 1987 national championship team. He is now the 14th man to play and coach in the CWS. He thought the Bears were pressing.

"I was a little angry, because I thought we were just trying too hard," Esquer said. "I told them, 'Let's act like we belong here. We're here to prove something, not just participate. If you're happy just to be here, you'll be going home soon.'

"If you have to grind one out playing average, that's fine. If you have to grind one out poorly, that's fine. Maybe you can play long enough to get a chance to play well. Winning was what we came to do and I tried to relay that to the team."