College baseball opens with remembrance of 9

The Bay Area baseball coaching tree is a paragon of Marquess’ influence on the national pastime. Current Stanford head coach Dave Esquer not only played for Marquess on Stanford’s first national championship team in 1987, he went on to take over the Cardinal baseball program when Marquess retired after 49 years on campus, three as a player, five as an assistant coach, and 41 as the field manager from 1977-2017.

“He literally was like a father to me,” Esquer said to a pool of reporters at Virtual Bay Area Baseball Media Day. “We spent a lot of time together. My son’s middle name is Mark in honor of him. So, he’s been a big part of my life since I stepped foot on campus here, and I think he’s been a big part of every decision I’ve made since I’ve been in college. ... He was a great coach, he was a better man, he treated me like a son, I loved him like a father.”

Santa Clara University head coach Rusty Filter was deeply affected by Marquess’ passing, as well. Filter previously worked as a pitching coaching at Stanford, serving eight years on Marquess’ staff. When Filter took over at Santa Clara in 2018, Marquess took a role alongside him as bench coach of the Broncos for two seasons.

Filter summed up the passing of Marquess quite eloquently: “We lost a great man.”

“The outpour of support has been tremendous in the college baseball community,” Filter said. “My relationship with him ... is extremely personal. ... I got to raise my children on the campus Stanford University, and really learned a different way of toughness from him. Attention to detail and integrity are second to none.”

Marquess’ coaching tree extends beyond just one degree of separation. Cal head coach Mike Neu took over the Golden Bears when Esquer left to take the Stanford job. And Saint Mary’s head coach Eric Rodriguez was coached by Esquer, when Esquer was an assistant coach at Pepperdine in the late 1990s.

Today, we conclude a two-day overview of Bay Area college baseball with a preview of local Atlantic Coast Conference and Mountain West Conference teams.

Cal Golden Bears

Neu enters his ninth year as field manager of the Golden Bears. With Cal and Stanford switching to the ACC last year in the wake of the breakup of the Pac-12, Cal struggled by finishing in the cellar of the 16-team power conference.

“It’s a really good league,” Neu said. “There’s a lot of great players, there’s a lot of great coaches. There’s teams that are going to be battling to go to Omaha every year. There’s a lot of high-level draft guys. And that’s where we want to be.”

Despite going 9-21 in conference play, Cal finished 24-31 overall — going 15-10 in non-conference play.

Cal has 19 freshmen on roster, including redshirt freshman Josh Hanson, a transfer from USC. Hanson grew up in San Bruno and San Francisco, but took his high school career across the nation to play at the prestigious IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.

“Josh kind of has a second chance here,” Neu said. “He was at USC and didn’t get a lot of opportunity there. What Josh has ... he’s unbelievably talented. He can catch balls in the outfield like he’s sleepwalking through it. It’s easy for him. He’s athletic, he’s got power, he can run, and the opportunity is right in front of him.”

Neu took over the Cal program from Esquer, who took over the program from renowned coach Bob Milano, a former Burlingame High School coach before leaving to take an assistant coaching post with the Golden Bears in 1974. Milano went on to serve as field manager at Cal form 1977-99. Milano also died in the offseason, Sept. 15, 2025, of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 85.  

“Obviously, closer with Coach Milano just because he did spend a lot of time here,” Neu said, “and I got to see firsthand the impact he had on so many guys lives.

“Coach Marquess, I got a chance to coach against him, and ... I was telling our coaches last year: ‘You know, he’s at Santa Clara and he’s one of the most legendary coaches of all time, and the guy’s in the batting cages picking up balls, and moving screens and taking notes.’ There’s not secret to why he was successful. He was so humble and such a hard worker, and just willing to sacrifice anything he could do to be great and just hold himself to that standard.”

Stanford Cardinal

It took the Cardinal some time to acclimate to the ACC last season as well. While Stanford finished 27-25 overall, Esquer’s squad settled for 13th place with an 11-17 conference mark.

“I think a year ago we found out what a great conference that is,” Esquer said. “And if you add Cal and Stanford to that conference, we’re talking the top two conferences in the country being the SEC and the ACC.”

High-profile international slugger Rintaro Sasaki returns for his draft-eligible sophomore year, this after being selected in Nippon Professional Baseball as a first-round draft pick by the SoftBank Hawks. The right-handed hitting first baseman slashed .269/.377/.413 in his first season stateside in 2025.

“I think he experienced just a normal path in transition,” Esquer said. “If every freshman hit .280 with seven or eight homers, they would be pretty happy with that, as far as having a freshman season. So, he’s a better player than he was a year ago, he’s more acclimated not only to American baseball, but ACC baseball.”

San Jose State Spartans

The Spartans have composed a remarkably regional roster, with 35 players from California. More remarkable, none of those 35 rostered players are from San Mateo County.

San Jose State settled for sixth place in the eight-team Mountain West last season with a 13-17 mark, while going 29-30 overall. The Spartans return All-MWC second-team selections, senior infielder Rocco Caballero and junior right-handed pitcher Tyler Albanese.