2006 Sierra College Baseball Highlights
- Graduated ALL 16 sophomores
- Advanced to the State Final Four
- 2 JC All Americans
- 2 Pac-10 Scholarship players
- ALL 16 sophomores transferred to a 4-year University
2006 Season Review
Road to the FINAL FOUR
The 2006 Sierra College baseball season proved to be the most successful in school history on two levels. The ’06 Wolverine team won more games than any other team in school history and they advanced farther in the state playoffs than any previous team. The previous school record for most wins in one season was 27 which was beaten by 8 wins; and prior to 2004, no Sierra team had ever advanced past the first round of the state playoffs. In 2004, Sierra lost 3-2 in the Northern California Regional Final which would have advanced them to the state final four. 2006 was not a repeat of ’04 as this team finished off the defending state champions, Santa Rosa Junior College, 9-7 to advance to the 2006 California Community College state Final Four. Sierra finished the inaugural Big 7 Conference in second place. They were seeded 5th in Northern California entering the state tournament and beat Merced in the first round, two straight games at home by scores of 8-2 and 15-3. Sierra would then head to Saratoga and the double elimination Super Regional at West Valley College. Of the 8 teams still alive in Northern California, 4 were from the Big 7 Conference. Along with Sierra and West Valley were Chabot College and Santa Rosa Junior College. West Valley was ranked #1 in Northern California entering the Super Regional. Sierra played a very competitive and highly intense game against Chabot in the opener. Chabot scored first, but Sierra came roaring back with help from their 3 & 4 hitters who both homered. Andy Launier hit a solo homerun and Mickey Weisser crushed a grand slam to lead the Wolverine offense. Starting pitcher Kevin Hammon pitched 8 strong innings to earn the victory.
Sierra held on to beat Chabot by the score of 8-7 and moved to the winner’s bracket against Santa Rosa. The Bear Cubs beat the Wolverines 7-2. This put Sierra in the elimination game vs. #1 seed West Valley. Sierra trailed 3-1 heading into the bottom of the 7th inning but scored three times and held on to eliminate West Valley by the score of 4-3. This set up a rematch with conference foe Santa Rosa to see who would advance to the state Final Four. Sierra would have to beat them twice. In the top of the 5th inning a strong rain storm came and halted play. After both teams waited 1 hour in the dugout the umpires decided there would be no chance of finishing the game at West Valley on this day. After numerous phone calls by both coaches, the site director and the umpires to try and find a neutral site that may be playable; they found Skyline College in San Bruno. Both teams loaded their busses soaking wet and drove 1 hour to Skyline. This was a Sunday, so finding a coach at home and someone willing to open his field was difficult. Dino Nomicos (head coach at Skyline College) was that person and we appreciate his efforts. Skyline’s field is “field Turf” which is synthetic grass and drains very well. The game would resume at approximately 5:30pm, four hours after being halted. Sierra held a 4-2 lead in the top of the 9th inning with two outs. Santa Rosa hit a very dramatic grand slam to put them ahead 6-4 entering the bottom of the 9th inning. The Bear Cubs then brought their closer (by his stats, the best closer in the state) to finish the game. Sierra rallied for three runs in the bottom of the 9th inning and shocked Santa Rosa for a 7-6 victory. The game winning hit came with two outs from Andy Launier. There were many heroes in the 9th inning as almost the entire batting order reached base. The game ended near 8:00pm which meant that we would need another day to complete the regional. Santa Rosa informed the site director that they would not be able to play on Monday due to many of their player needing to take final exams. The Wolverines arrived at the park at 8:00am and were waiting for a decision at 10:00pm, making it a 14 hour day in their uniforms. After three hours of discussions by Coach Willson with the Sierra College Athletic Director and the State Tournament Directors, the game was moved to Tuesday. On Tuesday in Vacaville, the Wolverines beat Santa Rosa by the score of 9-7 to advance to the state Final Four. Starting pitcher Kevin Hammon was one of the heroes for Sierra as he pitched a complete game and earned his second victory in four days. Eric Deragisch homered to start the scoring for the Wolverines.
Sierra opened the State Final Four with Long Beach City College and were defeated 7-4 by the eventual state champs. They then lost 11-8 to Sacramento City College to end their season. The very successful season was highlighted by three players receiving all Big 7 honors. Pitcher Kevin Hammon, Designated hitter Mickey Weisser and shortstop Josh Thompson were selected All-Conference 1st team. Chris Hopkins and Andy Launier were voted to the second team. Weisser and Thompson were also voted to the JC All-American team. Leading the transfer list were Mickey Weisser (UCLA) and Chris Hopkins (Oregon State). Also receiving scholarships to division I schools were Cory Kahn (Univeristy of Hawaii), Travis Kirkman (Sacramento State), and Rod Scurry (University of Nevada).
OVERALL, IT WAS A VERY SUCCESSFUL AND FUN SEASON. A TOTAL TEAM EFFORT!