To the consternation of many Colorado and Colorado State alumni, both schools have been without varsity baseball longer than this year’s in-state high school seniors have been alive.
Thanks to athletic department budgetary pressures and other issues, CU axed the sport in 1980, CSU in 1992. But both schools have club programs, and CSU has a dynasty on that level.
The Rams last weekend won their third consecutive National Club Baseball Association World Series championship in Fort Myers, Fla., and the program is continuing to fill at least a participatory void.
Senior catcher Tommy Johnson, a product of Denver’s Mullen High School who transferred to CSU after attending Gonzaga for three semesters, was the tournament MVP. He went 11-for-20 at the plate, with three home runs and eight RBIs in four Series games.
The Rams stormed through the tournament, beating Georgia 18-2, Virginia Tech 16-3 and Arizona 7-2 to make the championship game at the Boston Red Sox’s spring training facility. CSU claimed the title with a 7-1 rout of Penn State, behind pitcher Bobby Moller’s six-hit complete game. Moller, a senior from Highlands Ranch High School, was named the tournament’s top pitcher.
The national championship was CSU’s sixth in the NCBA’s 10 seasons. There are 119 schools in the organization, and most, including all six CSU opponents in the regional and national tournaments, have varsity baseball programs as well. The situation in Colorado is unique, since neither CSU nor CU has an NCAA team, and the opportunities for the state’s high school talent to stick around and play on the NCAA Division I level are limited to the University of Northern Colorado’s Great West Conference program or — with a Congressional appointment and a military commitment — the Air Force Academy.
In 2010, CSU’s club team, coached by chemist Mike Abernathy, was 46-7, primarily against a mix of junior college varsity teams and club teams from other four-year schools. The Rams were 6-2 against CU’s club team.
Johnson recently received his undergraduate degree, but he still has a season of club eligibility remaining if he enrolls in graduate school.
When Johnson was considering transferring to CSU, he talked with club team infielder Reggie Rossi, a former Mullen teammate.
“He told me it was a great team and they were very close, but it really was nothing like what people think of as a club team,” Johnson said. “He told me that if I was thinking and I was just going to come to fool around a little bit at it, it was nothing like that. He said, ‘This is run like a D-1 program, so if you come here, come to work.’ “
Johnson said he’s convinced the Rams’ club team could be competitive with UNC and Air Force, and that the time has come to bring the sport back as an official CSU intercollegiate program.
“I’d be willing to say that in a one-on-one game, with our ace going against anybody else’s ace, we’re the best team in Colorado,” he said. “We are still playing baseball, it’s still a great time, and we still enjoy doing it. But at the same time, we won six of the last seven national championships and we’ve gotten to a point where we can’t go any higher.
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
