Latest news with #Gaels
4 days ago
- Sport
Saint Mary's stuns top-seeded Oregon State 6-4 in nightcap of Corvallis Regional
CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Brian Duroff drove in three runs with a seventh-inning homer and Daniel Guevara Castro struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth as Saint Mary's sent top-seeded tournament host Oregon State to the losers' bracket with a 6-4 victory in the nightcap of the Corvallis Regional on Friday. No. 4 seed Saint Mary's (36-24) will play No. 3 seed Southern California on Saturday. Oregon State (41-13-1) will play an elimination game against No. 2 seed TCU to begin the day. The Gaels, whose only other NCAA Tournament appearance came in 2016, grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first inning off Beavers starter Eric Segura (8-2), who retired just one hitter and was charged with three runs on two singles, a walk and three hit batters. Aiva Arquette had a two-out single in the third off Gaels starter Dylan Delvecchio (7-3) and Gavin Turley followed with a homer to get Oregon State within 3-2. Duroff gave Saint Mary's a four-run cushion when he homered with two outs off Laif Palmer. Trent Caraway had a solo homer and Easton Talt tripled in a run with two outs to cut the Beavers' deficit to two heading to the eighth. Delvecchio allowed four runs on seven hits in 6 2/3 innings with 10 strikeouts. Castro allowed one walk in the final 2 1/3 for his third save. Oregon State has advanced to seven College World Series in 24 NCAA Tournament appearances — most recently in 2018 when the Beavers won it for the third time. They won back-to-back titles in 2006-07.
San Francisco Chronicle
6 days ago
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
How St. Mary's baseball marched to second-ever NCAA regional with zero NIL money
St. Mary's baseball, a program whose history dates to 1872 when it was introduced as the school's first sport, has never played under the lights at home. It isn't a figure of speech. There are literally no lights at Louis Guisto Field. Gaels home games begin no later than 2 p.m. — and 3 p.m. after Daylight Saving Time. When winning seasons became the norm during Eric Valenzuela's first stint at the helm from 2014-19, opposing teams would occasionally make full use of their offensive timeouts, to which the St. Mary's dugout relentlessly exclaimed, 'We don't have lights!' Whether it was a tactic to draw the game past sundown or simply coincidental, Athletics starting pitcher and Gaels alumnus Ken Waldichuk remembers well how the team's favorite chirp emerged as the calling card for good baseball in Moraga. 'We embraced it, honestly,' Waldichuk said. 'Not having lights and being in that situation kind of brought guys together.' Valenzuela left for Long Beach State following the 2019 season after having led St. Mary's to four straight 30-win seasons, by far the most in school history, during a stretch that included the program's first NCAA regional appearance in 2016. Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes and MLB All-Star Tony Gonsolin were starting pitchers for that famed group of Gaels, whose legacy was finally matched last weekend. St. Mary's won the West Coast Conference tournament to automatically qualify for the program's second regional appearance, again under the leadership of Valenzuela, who returned as head coach in the summer of 2023 after four seasons in Long Beach. The feat seems more impressive this time around. In 2016, pay-for-play name, image and likeness (NIL) deals and a practically no-holds-barred transfer portal would not be implemented for another half decade. In 2025, success in college athletics is afforded to those with the deepest pockets. More than half of the NCAA tourney's field of 64 is made up of Power 4 teams (34). St. Mary's is one of a select group of mid-major teams included for winning its conference championship. As a result, Valenzuela and company find themselves as a four seed in a Corvallis, Ore., regional that features No. 8 national seed Oregon State, USC (Big Ten) and TCU (Big 12). It's safe to say all three programs have various levels of NIL backing. The NIL money spread across St. Mary's current roster? A whopping total of $0, Valenzuela told the Chronicle. 'There's absolutely no NIL with this current team at all,' Valenzuela said. 'We're not going to have the luxury of a lot of these programs, even in our conference, that have NIL and have a ton of it. … We're not there just yet.' All told, Valenzuela lost six of nine starters from a 2024 lineup that brought the program back above .500 last season at 34-22 (16-8 WCC) after consecutive campaigns with records of 25-26, 25-30 and 23-28 in his absence. Roster turnover heading into this season was inevitable from what was a senior-heavy team. But the Gaels also failed to retain catcher Bear Harrison (Texas A&M), who started 42 games with a .322 batting average and eight home runs as a freshman, outfielder Dalton Mashore (South Carolina), an All-WCC second-team selection, and 6-foot-11 pitcher Jason Reitz (Oregon), whom Valenzuela said would've likely been a weekend starter. Valenzuela cited internal conversations about potentially establishing an NIL budget and funding more baseball scholarships when the allowable number by the NCAA expectedly increases from 11.7 to 34 as part of the House v. NCAA settlement. What steps may be taken, while valuable, are also unlikely to make St. Mary's baseball competitive in the NIL marketplace overnight. Valenzuela knows any high school, junior college or transfer recruits who land with the Gaels won't be the ones chasing money. 'The times have totally changed,' Valenzuela said. 'You never know what a Tony Gonsolin or a Ken Waldichuk or a Corbin Burnes would have done if they were in this era.' For what it's worth, Waldichuk said he thinks he would've stayed. The development he received in three years at St. Mary's after joining as a preferred walk-on in 2017 was well worth it once the New York Yankees spent a 2019 fifth-round pick on him following his junior season. He said his cost of tuition was almost entirely covered once he was put on a partial athletic scholarship after posting a 2.00 ERA as a true freshman reliever. In his final two years, Waldichuk said he had to pay about $1,000 per semester. Every St. Mary's baseball player pays some portion of tuition, according to Valenzuela, who acknowledged maybe one or two are close to attending the school for free but that 'a lot of them are paying the majority.' Meanwhile, some starters at Power 4 programs, especially in the SEC, not only have their tuition covered — they regularly net money off of NIL deals. The independent variable in Valenzuela's success has been his staff. Associate head coach and recruiting coordinator Daniel Costanza has coached alongside Valenzuela for 12 years. And under hitting coach Jack Meggs, who was retained from the program's previous staff, the Gaels boast a top-50 batting average in the country (.301). Fueling that are All-WCC first-team first baseman Eddie Madrigal, whose average is a team-best .372 with 21 home runs and 77 RBIs, and outfielder Aiden Taurek, who is batting .336 with 10 homers and 45 RBIs in his first year as a starter. 'If I'm a coach at a Power (4) school, I'm looking at schools like ours who found ways to be successful with limited resources — I'm going to try to hire those guys,' Valenzuela said. The deeper the Gaels go this postseason as the Bay Area's only chance at a College World Series berth in Omaha, Neb., the farther they'll be from home. But their future on the grounds of Louis Guisto Field at Brother Ronald Gallagher Stadium will only brighten in the years to come. The town of Moraga recently approved outdoor light fixtures to be installed at the ballpark. Gone are the days of an afternoon first pitch thrown against the backdrop of bleachers marked by the handful of parents who could get off of work early. Valenzuela said he always has believed night games could increase exposure for the program across the broader Lamorinda area, ripe with young baseball talent. To enlighten those who have been in the dark: Since 1967, St. Mary's baseball has fielded 12 teams that won at least 30 games, including the past six coached by Valenzuela. 'If you compare Coach V to probably any other coach in the country, he gets more out of what he has than just about anybody,' St. Mary's president Roger Thompson said.
San Francisco Chronicle
26-05-2025
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
St. Mary's baseball making itself known again with NCAA regional berth
For every autograph signed Monday by a member of the NCAA regional-bound St. Mary's baseball team at University Credit Union Pavilion, a kid who probably already had one or two from, say, star first baseman Ed Madrigal or outfielder Aiden Taurek eagerly asked for another. Neither Madrigal nor Taurek are mainstream names. But they're the closest thing to celebrities in Moraga, a practically stranger-less town where a chance encounter with someone you know is more like a certainty. 'You know everyone around here, everyone knows you,' Taurek told the Chronicle. And because of Eric Valenzuela, everyone knows St. Mary's baseball. In his second stint as head coach of the Gaels, Valenzuela needed only two years to put them back in the NCAA Tournament for only the second time in program history, dating back to its inclusion as the school's first sport in 1872. The college baseball selection show Monday morning slotted St. Mary's in the Corvallis regional as a four-seed, meaning they'll face No. 8 overall seed Oregon State — a longtime baseball powerhouse — in Friday's first round of a double-elimination format. Valenzuela acknowledged to the small group that gathered at UCU Pavilion the rigors of the road ahead, along with the incredible journey they've already trekked. An at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament was out of the question. As a three-seed, St. Mary's needed to win the West Coast Conference tournament to automatically qualify for a regional. The only other time the Gaels were crowned conference champions was in 2016, but with Valenzuela at the helm. He built St. Mary's into a perennial winning program from 2014-19, left for Long Beach State from 2020-23, and in 2024 circled back to Moraga. After an intense stretch of conference tournament games in Las Vegas last week, including a Saturday that began with a 14-inning defeat to San Diego and ended with St. Mary's WCC championship-clinching 9-8 win in a same-day rematch, Valenzuela has the Gaels back to where they were before he left. St. Mary's fell below .500 in every season during his brief absence, save the COVID-abbreviated 2020 campaign, before Valenzuela posted a 34-22 record by the end of his first season back in 2024. A senior-heavy roster subsequently disbanded, in addition to transfer portal losses that included catcher Bear Harrison (Texas A&M), outfielder Dalton Mashore (South Carolina) and 6-foot-11 pitcher Jason Reitz (Oregon), who was set to step into a weekend role for the Gaels if he stayed. Despite the turnover, St. Mary's held a top-50 batting average nationally (.301) with a lineup led by Madrigal (.372) and Taurek (.336), a first-year starter. 'I'm proud of this group because six of our nine guys in our lineup from a very (good) offensive team last year are gone,' Valenzuela said. 'To be able to have a better year offensively and overall was huge.' Madrigal was stripped of his opportunity to shine as a third-year sophomore in 2024 following a season-ending knee injury just several games in. His breakthrough this year, marked by a .372 batting average, 21 home runs and 77 RBI (tied for ninth-most in the country), earned him a microphone moment Monday. He was the only player allowed to address the pavilion, though his words stretched no further than a sentence or two. The All-WCC first-team selection need not overstate what has transpired: St. Mary's College of California, a basketball school, is good in baseball again.
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Scotsman
18-05-2025
- Scotsman
Tour guide hits back at 'gibberish' spoken about Gaelic Scotland
For Coinneach Maclean, it is time to set the Gaelic record straight. Sign up to our History and Heritage newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... A new book is seeking to redress the 'gibberish' shared with tourists about Gaelic history and culture on their travels through Scotland. Coinneach Maclean, of Skye, who trained as a tour guide after retirement, said he wrote Travels in Another Country, A Guide to Gaelic Scotland to counter the 'distortion and invention' surrounding the Gaels, their traditions and stories which are routinely made up, embellished and shared with visitors. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The book journeys through Gaelic speaking areas, past and present, and uses place names, archive material, songs and poetry to illustrate the landscape, the stories and the characters which deeply defined the places through time. He said a lack of understanding of Gaelic culture among tour guides meant that vast chunks of history were often either missed out - or manufactured. Mr Maclean said: 'Often because guides cannot get a grip on Gaelic culture in Scotland, what happens is that people, rather than talk about the landscape in the period that Gaels were there, talk about monuments, Bronze Age monuments, so about 2,000 years of Gaelic history in Scotland is just ignored.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He said one of the 'worst offenders' was the Isle of Skye, given the many tales surrounding some of its most popular attractions such as the Fairy Pools, Fairy Glen and the now-magical waters that flow under the Sligachan bridge that used to connect the island to the mainland. Mr Maclean said there had been 'so much invention' that visitors may be unable to separate 'fact from fiction'. Mr Maclean, who trained in archaeology and latterly worked in the heritage sector, said: 'Skye is one of the worst offenders. In 1979 they replaced the old Telford Bridge and it now sits in the landscape as a feature. People have had to invent a tale about the waters underneath the bridge. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'You see people there dipping their heads into the pools because if you do that, come out and let the sun and the wind dry your face, your beauty will be retained eternally. Where did that come from? 'Of course it is utter gibberish. There are no associations with anything at that location other than droving in the 1820s and 1830s.' Stories and the new folklore surrounding the bridge have then escalated to include a potion - or maybe even tears - being added to the water by the supposed lover of Cù Chulainn ('Culann's hound'), best described as a Gaelic mythological demigod. Some believe the Cuillins, where he is said to have hunted, were named after him. Mr Maclean added: 'It gets worse and worse and worse. After creating the nonsense in the first place, you have to add yet further information to justify why the waters have become so important in preserving the beauty of people. It goes on and on and on." Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mr Maclean said the Fairy Pools on Skye only became known as such in the past 20 years or so. When he was growing up, all the stories around the Glenbrittle beauty spot, now a major tourist draw, were related to the last clan battle between the Macleods and the Macdonalds in the early 1600s. He added: 'A book written in the early 1900s writes of four locations where fairies could be seen on the isle of Skye - none of them were the Fairy Glen or the Fairy Pool. No reference is made to them. 'You say that to people and they say 'don't let the truth get in the way of a good story.' 'There are many many traditions associated with those locations but what happens is that people overlay it with this stupid glop which has no reference and no connection with the culture and traditions of the Gaelic people. The Gaelic narrative has been obliterated.'
The Star
10-05-2025
- Sport
- The Star
Swedish club not skirting around shorts issue as they back Irish camogie players
Camogie - Stockholm Gaels players pose with hurling sitcks - Stockholm, Sweden, May 10, 2025 Stockholm Gaels players pose with their "caman" (hurling stick) in solidarity with the Ireland Camogie players after the ban on the use of shorts for women REUTERS/Michelle Cotter (Reuters) -Camogie players in Sweden have turned the clock back by wearing a kit from a bygone age in a show of solidarity with colleagues in Ireland currently protesting for the right to wear shorts. The Irish sport hit the headlines this week for all the wrong reasons with players, tired of a rule outlawing the wearing of shorts, ramping up protests, ultimately leading to the late postponement of Saturday's Munster final. Camogie is the female version of hurling, a ball sport played with wooden sticks, often likened to a mix between lacrosse and hockey, with a little rugby thrown in because of its physicality. Wherever you go in the world, from Uganda to Vietnam, you are likely to find people playing Ireland's national sports. Sweden is no different, and Irishwoman Michelle Cotter set up the hurling and camogie teams at Stockholm Gaels. "The goal was to do something over here to show the players back home that their impact is reaching much further than the island of Ireland," Cotter told Reuters. The Camogie Association of Ireland's rules state that playing gear must include skirt, skort or divided skirt, but a recent survey showed that 83% of players want the choice to include shorts. The Stockholm club, which includes not only Irish players and local Swedes but women from Australia, Austria, the U.S., Britain, France and Spain, took things back to even before the days of skorts, when players wore skirts down to their ankles. The first set of camogie rules, drawn up in 1903, stated skirts should be worn no more than six inches from the ground and, while things have improved, two motions to introduce shorts were defeated at last year's Camogie Association congress. "Given none of us even own skorts, we togged out for training in skirts and dresses," Cotter, who also coaches and plays on the team, said. "It felt every bit as ridiculous as it looked." There is still hope for change following all the media attention and controversy of the past week, after the association agreed to hold a special congress on May 22 to vote again on a motion to allow the wearing of shorts. (Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Ken Ferris)
