Longhorns hope to end season right

Vagt picked a great time to host the event. With an overall record of 18-28 entering Wednesday's action, the Longhorns aren't having the best season in team history. However, since Nor-Cal is the host squad, it gets to bypass the league and state playoffs and go straight to the Western Regionals, a stage it has never reached.

The Longhorns received some additional good news when the draw for the Western Regionals came out. The double-elimination, five-team tournament starts next Friday at two sites -- games will be played at Canada and Menlo College -- and Nor-Cal was the only team to receive a first-round bye. That means the Longhorns -- who open up tournament action next Friday at 1 p.m. at Canada -- will be going up against a team that has to play earlier in the day. Only the winner of the tournament advances to the World Series in Huntsville, Texas.

"It would be an incredible thing if we made it," Vagt said. "I would love to see it for the program, the coaches and all the players and past players who have come through here."

Although the Longhorns won't be favored to advance, they've shown signs lately of putting things together. Nor-Cal actually went through a program-worst 14-game losing streak this season and started 0-8 in league play before reeling off 10 straight to close out the league season. They've played pretty much all the powerhouse teams from Northern California and have fared well against them.

"So we'll be familiar with some of the teams in the field," Vagt said.

Despite the team's mediocre record, Vagt said his team has a shot of winning the regional because of its deep pitching corps. In Brendon Arada, Adam Koontz, Andy Hennessey and Dan Rhodes, Nor-Cal has four pitchers who have performed well for most of the season. The key, Vagt said, is whether his team can produce with the bats.

"We're hitting .222 as a team, and that's just dismal," Vagt said. "Pitching-wise, I'll take my guys over anybody. But we've got to hit. It's kind of been like the (San Francisco) Giants the last couple of years, where we're getting good pitching but you just don't know if or when when they're going to hit."

The team's top hitters have been Jesse Madrid and former Half Moon Bay High standout Barney Evans, who are batting .419 and .333, respectively. Once again, the majority of the Longhorns' roster consists of players from the Bay Area, including some top talents from Canada, College of San Mateo and Skyline. However, Vagt said a number of players who excelled during the junior college season are finding things tougher playing in an all-wood bat league.

Adjusting to wood, along with a lack of motivation, plagued the team for most of the season. When Nor-Cal dropped to 0-8 in league play after a 9-1 loss to the Oakland Expos on June 18, the normally mild-mannered Vagt ripped into his team with a postgame, expletive-laced tirade.

"I just went ballistic after that loss," Vagt said. "The guys were going through the motions saying, "Hey, its' only summer ball.' And that's when I unloaded on them. We were getting spanked and I went 'nuclear,' as some of the players like to describe it. After that, they changed their persona (and started to play better). But I should've never told the guys they had already qualified (Western Regionals). They knew they were going to be there regardless of how they played. Now you just hope they can turn it on when the time comes."

It would be a reward for Vagt, who has spent the last two months preparing for the tournament. As the tournament host, Vagt is responsible for making sure everything runs smoothly, from setting up hotel accommodations for the teams to securing the fields and umpires to ordering special patches for the players to wear on their uniforms. For the last three weeks, Vagt said he's often been up until 4 a.m. in preparation for the tournament, but he's not complaining.

"There's 25 different things to do in running this tournament," he said. "It's just one thing after another, but this is a great event."

Still, why go through all the headaches?

"It's a great opportunity to host a tournament like this," the 57-year-old Vagt said. "I'm not in the best of health and this was a chance to put ourselves on the map. How many teams say they've had a chance to host the Western Regionals? It's a special deal, and hopefully we can make some history."