University of San Francisco Athletics

Richard George Stevens was born in San Francisco and raised in the outer Sunset district. He attended St. Gabriel’s Grammar School, and Riordan High School. He played baseball at both and was selected Player of the Year annually from the championship teams in grammar school, and he earned All-City and WCAC honors at Riordan. He attended USF and played under Coach Dante Benedetti.

USF’s baseball teams during the late 60s were comprised of walk-ons who were highly competitive and played against regional teams such as Cal, Stanford, Santa Clara, St Mary’s, and other members of the Pac–8 and WCAC. Stevens' college summers were filled with playing baseball for the Cincinnati Red’s Instructional League team on the west coast, selling shoes at Sears, and working on the BART construction project, tunneling under the streets of the City and Bay waters.
 
Stevens graduated from USF in 1969, obtained his CPA license in 1972, attended a variety of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Programs, and those offered by Stanford Law School. He founded Hunter Stevens LLC, a Management Consulting and restructuring firm in Menlo Park in 1995, and Menlo Atherton Capital in 2005.  Previously, he was a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young. 
 
Over the years, he has served as Commissioner of Alpine Little League, President of St. Raymond’s Men’s Club, Chair of The Easter Seals Society of San Francisco, Head of the City of Menlo Park Environmental Committee, as well as other not-for-profit organizations in San Diego and Greenwich, CT. He now resides in Menlo Park, CA.
 
This year saw an increased interest in frosh baseball as the squad grew to twenty-six players. Coach Benedetti was very pleased with the spirit and hustle shown by the team. Although the pitching was weak due to lack of experience, the defense was strong.

The team brought together many outstanding ball players: catchers Bill Mustonich, Frank Zbacnick, and Fred Fegan: shortstops Mike Delanus and John Seeronen; infielders Ron Belli, Bill Hudson, Mike Laurel, and Rick Stevens. The outfield was covered by Grant Steer, Daryl Siria, Scott Tandy, Tom McMullen, Dave Worthen, Steve Taylor, Tom Georgi, Bob Spratt, Bunkey Read, and Dennis Quesenberry. Hurlers Ron Dinslag, Bob Kokley, Jim Armstrong, Steve Bail, Rick Hinkle, and Bill Cline rounded out the team. With the frosh teams strong defensive ability and developing pitching talent, the Hilltop can look forward to exciting baseball action (TheDon).

The Dons dented the scoreboard first with two runs in the top half of the third. Catcher Frank Zbacnik led off the inning with a single, was sacrificed to second by Rich Hinkie, and then stole third. Second-sacker Mike Laurel, up next, hit a bounding ball to the right side of the infield with Zbacnik scoring ahead of the throw. Laurel then stole second where he scored on Rick Stevens' single. 

Hinkle started on the mound for the Dons and threw seven innings of shutout ball before the Gators got to him in the eighth. A single followed by a triple and a sacrifice fly accounted for two runs and tied up the game. Mike Delagnes took over for Hinkle in the ninth and finished the game, giving up only two more hits in registering his fourth win of the year. The big inning was, of course, the eleventh. Gator pitcher Jack Bresnahan walked Stevens to open the frame and, with Bill Hutson laying the ball down for the sacrifice. Bresnahan overthrew first base and the runners ended up on second and third. Slugger Grant Steer was purposely walked to load the bases and bring up first-baseman Ron Belli, who drilled Bresnahan's fast ball through second base for two runs and a 4-2 lead.

Three hits, two errors, and six runs later, the fatal inning was over and the Don's went into the top of the ninth trailing 9-6. But USF just wouldn't play dead. Mike Laurel led off the ninth with a walk, and Rick Stevens got on via an error.

The USF freshman baseball team, sparked by the hitting of Fred Fegan, Grant Steer, and Bill Hutson, and the clutch relief pitching of right-hander Rick Hinkle, burst out of their six game losing streak with a thrilling 6 to 5 victory over the University of California last Tuesday. Fegan, who entered the game in the top of the fifth for injured catcher Frank Zbacnik, had one of his best days of the year. Besides calling a fine game behind the plate, Fegan collected a single and a double, was hit by a pitch, and scored two runs, one of which was the tying run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Steer broke out of his stump in a big way with a perfect 3 for 3 and two stolen bases. Scott Tandy and Bill Hutson each had two hits in the Don's 11 hit attack, with Hutson's second hit chasing Rick Stevens across the plate with the winning run in the ninth. Big Mike Delagnes started on the hill for the fledgling Don's and pitched well until he ran into control problems in the fourth. Hinkle took over at that point and, after surviving a shaky 2-run fifth inning, proceeded to retire 13 of the last 14 batters to face-turn and pick up the victory. Going into the bottom of the ninth the Don's were trailing by a score of 5 to 4. After striking out Tandy to lead off the inning, left-handed Holmes got into trouble with his control. He hit Fegan with a pitch, and walked Stevens and Laurel to load the bases with only one out. With third-baseman Hutson at the plate, Holmes served up a wild pitch which allowed Fegan to score from third with the tying run, and allowed Stevens and Laurel to move up to third and second respectively. Then, with the infield drawn in to cut off the run at the plate, Hutson slashed one of Holmes' deliveries up the middle of the diamond and the Dons were home free (TheFoghorn).