OMAHA, Neb. -- Let's just say life didn't suck out there in Cameron, Mont., on Mike Mayne's ranch. A ranchette, he called it, only 40 acres. Only? His days were filled mostly with golf, horses and fly fishing. For a change of pace, Yellowstone Park was a short drive away.
If these are the golden years, bring 'em on.
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| Clayton Allison returns in time to stymie North Carolina and get Fresno State into the finals. (AP) |
Mayne knew he didn't have to take the call last summer. There were two sons and five grandchildren to dote on. One of those, Brent, had followed a long major-league career with one as a successful businessman. Baseball in Mike's rearview mirror was comfortably replaced by a view of the mountains out the back door.
But Mike Mayne always liked Mike Batesole as a person and loved him as a player. As the baseball coach at Orange Coast College from 1976-92, Mayne had recruited the tough-minded kid from Garden Grove (Calif.) High School. Batesole didn't come but would return from Oral Roberts in the offseason and work out at the Costa Mesa, Calif., juco. Didn't everybody?
"There were days on that field there was an all-star team," Mayne said, ticking off the names of Southern California major leaguers who worked out at his complex. "Mark McGwire, Eric Davis, Darryl Strawberry, Frank Tanana, Mark Clear."
Batesole would stay longer, though, and work with Mayne's hitters in the cage. When his minor league career ended, Batesole knew where to go to ask for a coaching job. Sure, Mayne said, as long as you get your degree. When the time came, Mayne recommended his assistant coach for a move up to a similar position with Cal State-Northridge.
That's basically why Mayne took that phone call. Last summer, Batesole, now in his sixth year as the Fresno State head coach, had lost his pitching coach. Mayne hadn't coached baseball in 16 years but Batesole knew exactly who he wanted to run a staff that could be something special.
So special that deep in his heart, Batesole thought the Bulldogs could get to their first College World Series in 17 years. Mayne wanted a day to think about it, discuss it with his golf buddies, but his family practically pushed him out the door. They knew he couldn't sit still. Even after retiring as baseball coach at Orange Coast, Mike stayed as an assistant football coach and taught for 12 more years.
"They said, 'Go for it,' " Mayne said. "That was it, basically. There was no commitment past this year. After this season, I'm done."
The season, as all of college baseball knows by now, will continue. That was Mayne, still gray and now 62, celebrating with a bunch of kids Sunday night after Fresno State advanced to the CWS championship series.
This group is long past being Bulldogs. The sign in the stands at Omaha's Rosenblatt Stadium last week read: From Underdogs to Wonderdogs. Mayne took a staff into the CWS that was missing its top two pitchers and got to the mountaintop, or at least that crest of a hill on 13th Street where Rosenblatt sits.
Ace Tanner Scheppers has been out for six weeks because of a slight tear in his rotator cuff. The injury likely cost Scheppers his position in the first round of the draft. Who knows, it might cost him his career (although Scheppers was taken in the second round by the Pirates)? No. 2 Clayton Allison hadn't thrown in two weeks because of tendinitis -- until Sunday night. Allison then got the win in Fresno's 6-1 victory against North Carolina that put the Bulldogs into the best-of-3 championship series.
