95 and 01...

#2
#2
We were good. I thought we had more talent in 94, but a better team in 95. I remember when we lost the Regional in 94 to ASU, we decided that wasn't happening in 95.
 
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#3
#3
That Fullerton team was not losing to anyone.
It was a shame that Tennessee was on the same side of bracket.
Miami and Florida State were seeded 2 and 3 due to name only
Southern California made it to the final game after losing their first game to Miami 15-0 but beat them twice in Semis.

I went to the 2001 series. That was the hurricane storm surge of the live bat era and those live bats made the entire tourney a crap shoot. Tennessee was unseeded since they were road super regional winer. They assumed ECU's #7 seed. Some of the scores from that tourney

13-3
11-5
21-13
19-12
11-2
10-2
12-6
12-1

I'm surprised they could find pitchers to put on all tournament team. Miami was the 2 seed behind Fullerton
 
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#4
#4
How many times did Helton pitch in that Series? I. remember that Dickey waa awful! Delmonico over pitched him that season.
 
#5
#5
jasonvols2.2 said:
How many times did Helton pitch in that Series? I. remember that Dickey waa awful! Delmonico over pitched him that season.
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Helton was the surprise starter against Clemson in game #1.
If memory serves, Clemson had tons of left-handed bats in the lineup and Delmonico's best leftie was Helton.

To be fair, Helton through absolute junk that was very effective in a closer's role after a team had become used to the dominating stuff our starters had. Clemson couldn't touch Helton as he either shut them out or only gave up 1 run in a complete game. Dickey was shelled in game #2 against Fullerton

I'm not sure if Helton closed the 3rd game or appeared in the blowout to CSF in game 4. Fullerton scored like 7 or 8 runs in 1st inning of that semifinal game
 
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#6
#6
BTW, everyone remembers Mark Kotsay but no one remembers pre-Moneyball and pre-steroid Jeremy Giambi on the Fullerton team

Dickey was a machine. His freshman year in 1994 he lost the first game at Miami and the last game against Arizona State only.
In 1995 and especially in 1996 after Helton left, Dickey would start on Friday and likely close on Sunday
 
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#9
#9
fryeguy93 said:
BTW, everyone remembers Mark Kotsay but no one remembers pre-Moneyball and pre-steroid Jeremy Giambi on the Fullerton team

Dickey was a machine. His freshman year in 1994 he lost the first game at Miami and the last game against Arizona State only.
In 1995 and especially in 1996 after Helton left, Dickey would start on Friday and likely close on Sunday
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If you haven't read Dickey's book, order it now. The guy got through a lot.
 
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#11
#11
StarRaider said:
I remember when RA dropped in the draft due to missing an arm tendon, that was unbelievable to me
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He was actually drafted #18 in the first round by the Rangers with an $800k signing bonus pending physical. After the physical, Rangers rescinded the bonus and gave him $75k. What a kick in the balls.

His early life was very rough. Parents were alcoholics. He would sleep in vacant houses to get away from them. Sexually abused as a child. It's a crazy story.
 
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#12
#12
fryeguy93 said:
Helton was the surprise starter against Clemson in game #1.
If memory serves, Clemson had tons of left-handed bats in the lineup and Delmonico's best leftie was Helton.

To be fair, Helton through absolute junk that was very effective in a closer's role after a team had become used to the dominating stuff our starters had. Clemson couldn't touch Helton as he either shut them out or only gave up 1 run in a complete game. Dickey was shelled in game #2 against Fullerton

I'm not sure if Helton closed the 3rd game or appeared in the blowout to CSF in game 4. Fullerton scored like 7 or 8 runs in 1st inning of that semifinal game
Click to expand...

Clemson had Shane Monahan as their star that year. Earlier in the season he hit a long hr off Helton when they beat us at their place. Monahan was an amazing player but cocky and talked plenty of smack. If you look at that opening game, Todd's first pitch to Monahan was a side arm curve ball that Monahan hit for a single. That pitch was meant to fool Monahan and maybe look silly to get him back from the hr earlier in the season. I don't remember exactly, but Clemson didn't do much more after that lead off single.

Yours truly came in from the pen in the CSF first game whooping. I think I relieved RA. Kotsey hit a 9 iron off his toes off me. That dude didn't miss anything that tournament.

And yes, Helton wasn't successful pitching because he over powered. He had pin point control and a change up he could spot anywhere he wanted, at any time. His ability to never give in and attack hitters is why he was so successful on the mound.
 
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#13
#13
txbo said:
He was actually drafted #18 in the first round by the Rangers with an $800k signing bonus pending physical. After the physical, Rangers rescinded the bonus and gave him $75k. What a kick in the balls.

His early life was very rough. Parents were alcoholics. He would sleep in vacant houses to get away from them. Sexually abused as a child. It's a crazy story.
Click to expand...

Evidently, the Rangers noticed a problem in RA's elbow based on an Olympic team photo where his elbow was cocked at an odd angle.
Man threw a bazillion innings and was born without one of the elbow ligaments. Don't think he every had Tommy John. So with a weaker elbow joint; he was tougher than all the guys lining up for TJ now.

RAD.jpg
 
#14
#14
fryeguy93 said:
Evidently, the Rangers noticed a problem in RA's elbow based on an Olympic team photo where his elbow was cocked at an odd angle.
Man threw a bazillion innings and was born without one of the elbow ligaments. Don't think he every had Tommy John. So with a weaker elbow joint; he was tougher than all the guys lining up for TJ now.

View attachment 370053
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That’s right. Amazing story.
 
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