College Digest: Season over for Cal State Stanislaus baseball

Cal State Stanislaus’ best baseball season in years has ended.

The Warriors (34-18) were not selected to the six-team field for the NCAA Division II West Regionals. They lost their chance after falling to UC San Diego and Chico State, the California Collegiate Athletic Association’s top two teams, at the CCAA Championship last week in Stockton. Chico State eventually beat UC San Diego for the league title.

Stanislaus held out some hope due to its No. 5 regional ranking going into last week. But its first two-game losing streak in over a month scuttled its chances.

Air Force star’s hitting streak stopped – Air Force senior Adam Groesbeck, the Falcons’ centerfielder and leadoff man, had his 30-game hitting streak ended on Sunday during their 17-5 loss to San Diego State on Senior Day. The day before, Groesbeck – a Turlock High graduate – stroked his sixth homer to extend the streak.

Groesbeck, a four-year starter for Air Force (25-24, 12-17 in the Mountain West Conference) , was batting .406 going into Tuesday’s game against Northern Colorado.

Track

MJC men 5th at NorCals – Modesto Junior College’s Dante Berggren leads seven qualifiers to the State Championships on Friday and Saturday at American River. Berggren placed second in the long jump (23 feet, 8 inches), fourth in the 200 (21.26) and third in the 4x100 relay with teammates Windsor Jamison, Shakur Lewis and Taariq Chestnut-Davis. Modesto placed fifth in the team standings at the NorCals last weekend at De Anza.

Holmes advances to state – MJC sophomore Sydney Holmes will be MJC’s only women’s athlete at state after she placed fourth in the pole vault (personal-best 10-8) and fifth in the triple jump (36-2) at NorCals. Holmes also qualified in the heptathlon but dropped that event to concentrate on the other two.

Randolph bouncing back from injury – Cal State Stanislaus senior Gary Randolph, slowed this season by a foot injury, is ranked seventh in the hammer throw and is likely to make the trip to the NCAA Division II Championships. Last year, Randolph placed sixth in the hammer, seventh in the shot put and eighth in the discus at the nationals.

Randolph logged provisional marks in the discus and shot put last weekend at a last-chance meet, but they probably won’t merit an invitation to the nationals later this month at Bradenton, Fla. Before his injury, he threw the hammer 203-2 to put him on the national list.

Golf

Pirates finish 8th in state – The Pirates placed eighth among eight teams during the season-ending State Championships at Cypress Ridge in Arroyo Grande. MJC shot a two-round total of 824 and were led by Nick Sharp (76-82 – 158), who finished 20th individually. Canyons won with a 761.

Handball

Bustos named All-American – Downey graduate Luis Bustos, a freshman at Minnesota State, was named an All-American by the United States Handball Association. Bustos, who has won 12 age-group national titles, will try to win an unprecedented third straight 19-under doubles title at the upcoming junior nationals.

This story was originally published May 16, 2017 at 2:14 PM with the headline "College Digest: Season over for Cal State Stanislaus baseball."