SONOMA STATE SEAWOLVES
Sonoma State baseball has high hopes

The 2011 NCAA West Region Championship team.

With nine league championships since 1990 and two trips to the College World Series in the past four seasons, the Sonoma State baseball team is recognized regionally and nationally as one of the top NCAA Division II programs in the country.

It wasn't always like that. As it turns out, the Seawolves' ride to prominence has more dips, twists and dives than the Giant Dipper in Santa Cruz.

A consistent bottom feeder for the first two decades of its existence, Sonoma State had fallen on particularly hard times in the mid-1980s. From 1981 to 1985 the team compiled a record of 42-169-1. It reached double digits in victories just one time in that span, during a 15-33-1 campaign in 1984.

In 1986, change arrived with the hiring of a young high school coach named John Goelz. Goelz's first season would not be cause for celebration by most standards. On the surface, 18 wins in 50 games isn't the kind of success a coach would hang his hat on. However, it was the best season since a 20-21 mark in 1973. The next year, Sonoma State went 30-20 on its way to a second-place finish. The rest is history.

Since that breakthrough 1987 season, the program has recorded a winning season in 21 of the past 25 years. SSU has reached 40 wins six times and has surpassed the 50-win plateau three times, in 2001, 2007, and 2008. During that remarkable 2007 season, Sonoma State was ranked No. 1 in the nation for the first time, but an upset loss at the NCAA Regionals ended what was, by all accounts, the best season in school history. Because for all the success Sonoma State had enjoyed over the past two-plus decades, one milestone had been eluding the program. The team had never been to the Division II College World Series.

Sonoma had been the No. 1 seed in the west region on multiple occasions, but due to a less-than-adequate home facility, they were always shipped out of the area to play in a regional they should have been hosting. Losses came in the regional championships in Texas, Kansas and Colorado. Frustration had set in. Had the Seawolves hit their ceiling?

Enter 2008. Led by a stellar pitching staff, phenomenal defense and one of the best offenses in program history, the Seawolves were simply too good to be stopped. They rolled through the conference playoffs and the NCAA Regionals on their way to a third-place finish at the College World Series. Sonoma State had arrived on the national stage.

Just three years after that memorable 2008 run, the Seawolves were back in the World Series again last year. Instead of being the heavy favorite, the team played the role of underdog, taking the fourth seed in the four-team regional, getting hot, and going on to shock the nation's top team in the World Series.

Does Sonoma State have enough magic left in the tank to make another run in 2012? Gone are four all-region players from a year ago. They've taken the path of nearly 100 players since '86 and moved on to the professional ranks. In their place is a young group of players, buckled in and ready to write their own story. Only time will tell if the 2012 season will be remembered for its bumps and dips, or for its thrills. But, hey, that's why the ride is so much fun.

Follow the Seawolves throughout the season at sonomaseawolves.com.