Over at the hot corner, third baseman Francisco Zapata looks to rebound from an off year. Hill attributes Zapata's struggles last season to "a lot of stuff going on off the field," but expects the former JC Ail-American to come back strong this year, saying "This year is his year, along with Watkins, Taclas, McDaniels, and Hernandez, and Pasero. Those seniors, senior position players, it's time for them to step up," he adds. "This is their time. Zapata can have a year to remember, right, Z?" "Exactly," agrees Zapata, who has wandered into the office. "Great year, coming up."
But third year head coach Rich Hill doesn't want to think about "what-if's"; even if they pull off a sweep of San Diego, they will fall one win short of the school record 32 wins in 1971. "That's what's admirable about this team, their mental toughness," Hill said. "We could have folded after that tough loss to Loyola or that tough loss to Saint Mary's, but it made us stronger and made us come together." If they split this weekend in San Diego, they will be guaranteed at least fourth place and as high as third if they sweep the third place Toreros. "We made our own bed," Hill said. "The first three series we knew were going to be the toughest, but we had the chance to win three more games. We aren't going to make any excuses, we just didn't get it done in those games." But what college athletics may be all about is what Hill is most proud of. "The thing that hit me the other day, was talking to Francisco Zapata and the other guys from my first (recruiting) class full of junior college guys, and every one of those guys is going across Saint Ignatius Church," Hill said. "Wins and losses are nice but I think seeing that is what it really is all about (TheFoghorn).
