Cal State Fullerton's Vanderhook Can Relate to Hype Surrounding Gators and Possibilities Ahead
Monday, February 20, 2012 | Baseball, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – From his spot in the visiting dugout at McKethan Stadium over the weekend, Cal State Fullerton coach Rick Vanderhook watched as the No. 1-ranked Gators beat his Titans on Friday and Saturday before they broke through to win the final game of the series on Sunday.
The Gators, their pumped up fans and UF's campus caught the veteran coach's attention in the first meeting between the programs.
“This stadium is about as big as our school,'' Vanderhook said.
Vanderhook was impressed by Preston Tucker's bat and catcher Mike Zunino's arm and closer Austin Maddox's new slider among other things.
In his first season as Fullerton's head coach, Vanderhook imagined one day having a roster as deep as Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan currently has, one that included three freshmen in the starting lineup on opening night.
Perhaps as important as anything to Florida's championship quest, Vanderhook noticed something that can't be discovered in the box score.
“They have continuity on their club,'' he said. “They like each other, you can tell. I watched them up close and they're really focused and they get after their work really hard.”
Prior to making the cross-country trip to open the season against the Gators – ranked No. 1 in all four major polls for the first time in school history – Vanderhook compared Florida's lineup to the 1927 Yankees in one interview.
That might be stretching it, but Vanderhook does know what a championship team looks like and understands the expectations that come with having a loaded roster.
A Titans assistant from 1985-2007 before spending the last three seasons at UCLA, Vanderhook was on former Titans coach Augie Garrido's staff as Garrido built one of the nation's top programs.
In some ways the 2012 Gators remind Vanderhook of the 1995 Titans, a team that featured future major leaguers Mark Kotsay, Jeremy Giambi and Mike Lamb and crushed opponents on its way to winning the College World Series.
Cal State Fullerton lost back-to-back games only twice the entire season. They didn't lose once in the postseason, including winning a regional over a Rice team that featured future major leaguers Lance Berkman and Jose Cruz Jr., and beating a Tennessee team led by first baseman Todd Helton twice in Omaha.
The Titans finished 57-9 and earned a trip to the White House where Kotsay, later named Baseball America's Player of the Decade for the 1990s, presented President Clinton with a Titans jersey to cap a memorable season.
One difference Vanderhook sees in this year's Florida team and the '95 Titans relates to expectations. The Gators open the season in a brighter spotlight.
“I think there was a lot of anxiousness to get the season started,'' O'Sullivan said after Friday's win. “There has been so much talk about expectations.”
A couple of other West Coast teams – Stanford and USC – garnered most of the preseason hype 17 years ago. But Cal State Fullerton eventually overtook both – defeating the Trojans in the CWS championship game.
The Titans slowly made their way to the top thanks to an explosive offense that averaged more than 8.5 runs a game. While they didn't get the preseason hype the Gators have received, the attention eventually arrived.
When it did, Vanderhook said whatever added pressure accumulated was handled seamlessly due to the players' attitude and business-like approach. He saw some of those same intangibles as he watched the Gators.
“Sully has good leadership and we had good leadership in guys like Mark Kotsay and D.C. Olsen on our team,'' Vanderhook said. “[The coaches] didn't have to do anything; they did it. And I'm sure guys like [Nolan] Fontana and Zunino and Tucker can take control of this whole team.”
After back-to-back trips to the CWS, O'Sullivan will rely heavily on the veterans to guide the ship back to what they hope is another trip to Omaha.
Undoubtedly, part of that will be navigating their way around the heightened expectations that come with opening the season No. 1. Facing a talented team like Cal State Fullerton to open the season was part of the plan.
“We need to be challenged right off the bat," O'Sullivan said. “For this team in particular I think we need to play a really, well-coached, talented team. It will make us better in the long run.
“All this preseason stuff doesn't mean anything. As much as you tell them, you've just got to start playing games and you've got to get through a good weekend like this and hopefully play well.”
The Gators passed their first test over the weekend. O'Sullivan said they need to improve offensively. And while the bullpen struggled Sunday – giving up eight runs and losing reliever Steven Rodriguez to an ejection following a home run – O'Sullivan took it all in stride.
It's a long season. He understands that. So do the Gators. While some of the preseason hype made it sound as if the Gators might go undefeated, that was never going to happen.
As the Titans prepared to leave town, Vanderhook took one last look across the field as the Gators cleared from their dugout. The Gators lost a game Sunday, but like those '95 Titans, Vanderhook doesn't see them staying down long.
“They have put together an unbelievable team,'' he said. “You only get to do this every so often.”
