OMAHA, Neb. -- It was the luckiest torn ligament in College World Series history.
When Fresno State right fielder Steve Detwiler ripped a muscle in his left thumb on April 1, though, fortune wasn't on his mind. It was pain, lots of it. Three months ago -- in the middle of a then-forgettable Fresno season -- Detwiler completely tore the ligament in that thumb. The Bulldogs right fielder has been wincing ever since.
|
|
| Steve Detwiler and Fresno State battle through their hindrances to win an unlikely national title. (AP) |
Those days are over, at least until next season. Detwiler stood amidst the delirium of Rosenblatt Stadium with the game ball and a national championship in his back pocket. The ball, caught by Detwiler for the final out, is going home with him. The national championship -- Fresno State's first in a men's sport -- will be shared by the San Joaquin Valley and all the little guys who aspire to get this far.
"When Boise State won it, I said it felt like a national championship," WAC commissioner Karl Benson said recalling the magic Fiesta Bowl victory against Oklahoma in January 2007. "This is a national championship."
This is how all-the-sudden Fresno's run came upon us: Benson drove 7½ hours from the conference headquarters in Denver in his Navigator to be here because he couldn't find a flight when it became evident his team was going to be here awhile.
There was no need to gas up the SUV three months ago. Fresno sat at 16-13 the day the thumb was mangled while Detwiler was sliding into a base against Long Beach State. The lucky part was that a complete tear allowed the former 40th-round draft pick of the Astros to keep playing if he could stand the pain. Strangely, a partial tear would have shut him down.
What happened next after the injury should tell you enough about why Fresno State ended up in a Bulldogpile here at the CWS.
"I came up for the next at-bat and pretty much got up there with one hand and got a base hit," Detwiler said. "It was an advantage because it couldn't be hurt any worse. Why not? Suck it up."
That was a different team ago. Suck it up? That defined that last national champion on the NCAA calendar. Sporting that same torn ligament, Detwiler helped the underdogs-turned-Wonderdogs to a 6-1 victory against Georgia in the deciding game of the championship series.
Detwiler went 4-for-4 in Game 3, hit two home runs and drove in all six runs. In the three CWS championship games, he went 8-for-13, knocked in nine runs and hit three home runs.
This is going to sound strange -- since that fateful April 1, his average actually went up from .241 to a season-ending .269.
"I had too much adrenaline," he said Wednesday night. "I couldn't feel anything."
