Cinderella wears cleats

Historically, college baseball hasn't exactly been a sport where parity reigns. From 1995-2007, a span of 13 seasons, only 7 different schools won the College World Series. Compare that to basketball, where 11 different schools have claimed the last 14 titles, and football, where in the 10-year history of the BCS championship, only LSU has more than one title, and it's easy to see that college baseball has been relatively predictable, a sport where the powerhouse programs have ruled.

And then, the Fresno State Bulldogs came along.

I'll admit I didn't watch one pitch of the College World Series -- but boy, I wish I had. Because according to those in the know, Fresno State just put together one of the greatest Cinderella runs in the history of college sports. There are people who say this one one tops George Mason's run to the Final Four in 2006, as well as NC State and Villanova's miracle championship wins of the 80's. And really, when you look at Fresno State's story, those people just might be right.

This was a team that began the season 8-12 and that finished the regular season with 27 losses, just six games over .500. With a putrid RPI of 89, the Bulldogs' only route into the 64-team NCAA Tournament was to win the WAC conference tournament -- which they did, thanks to a come-from-behind effort in the title game.

Then it was on to Long Beach, Calif., where Fresno State drew the fourth seed out of 4 teams (the equivalent of being seeded somewhere between 13th and 16th in a college basketball tournament) in a Regional bracket stacked with three top-17 teams. Right off the bat, the Bulldogs proved they belonged, knocking off the top seed, 11th-ranked Long Beach State, in the tourney opener.

Two days later, however, it looked as though Fresno State had come back to earth. The Bulldogs suffered a 15-1 shellacking at the hands of second-seeded San Diego that represented their worst loss of the season and forced them into a must-win scenario against the same Toreros the next day. But Fresno State responded, upending a team to whom they lost by 14 runs just 24 hours earlier to advance to the Super Regional round.

From there, it was more of the same for Fresno State: first put itself in a precarious position against a powerhouse team, and then overcome the odds. It happened against No. 3 Arizona State in the best-of-three Super Regional, when the Bulldogs dropped the first game by a convincing 12-4 margin only to come back and win the next two games -- both elimination games, both in come-from-behind fashion -- to earn a spot in the College World Series.

It happened again against No. 2 North Carolina, when Fresno State split the first two games of the series, found itself in its fourth do-or-die game of the tournament (there would be more still to come), and pulled off a 6-1 shocker against the best pitching staff in the nation.

And it happened once more against No. 8 Georgia in the championship series. First, Fresno State dropped Game 1 despite having a three-run lead in the eighth inning. Then they found themselves trailing 5-0 through 2.5 innings of Game 2, where a loss would end their Cinderella ride. But once again, as soon as their backs hit the wall, the comeback was on; over the next 7 innings, Fresno State equaled the largest comeback in a College World Series finals game and won 19-10 to force a third and deciding game.

The next night, thanks to a 6-RBI performance from sophomore outfielder Steve Detwiler, who was playing through a torn tendon in his thumb, and an 8-inning gem from junior pitcher Justin Wilson, who found the energy to throw 129 pitches on 3 days' rest, the Bulldogs sealed the deal, becoming the lowest seed in any sport to win an NCAA championship.

In case you lost count, here's the shortened version of Fresno State's run: 6-0 in elimination games, victories over 5 conference champions, and victories over 4 nationally-ranked schools -- all this for a squad that didn't have any first-round draft picks and whose ace, second-round pick Tanner Scheppers, missed the entire tournament with a shoulder injury.

The Bulldogs ended the year with 31 losses, the most by any national champion in NCAA history. By comparison, the previous two Div. I champions had lost a total of 34 games, and this year's Div. II and Div. III champions combined for 7 losses.

Heart and grit are two of the most overused words in sports. But in this particular instance, is there really any other explanation for what happened? I only wish I had seen it for myself.