Saturday, Jun. 21, 2008

Dogs' Wetzel playing for mom

Matt James
Fresno Bee

OMAHA, Neb. -- A while back, Fresno State second baseman Erik Wetzel and pitcher Holden Sprague got into one of those great baseball arguments: Whether or not an egg should be classified as meat.

Wetzel said yes.

Sprague no.

The egg/meat argument rallied for some time, Wetzel becoming more and more frustrated, but he finally just gave up and walked away.

Thinking about it now makes Wetzel smile. That's what his mom would have done.

"She was really quiet," Wetzel says. "Not quiet like she was shy, but quiet where she'd like to sit back and just listen to people.

"She was never really a person to stand up to someone and tell them to their face that they were wrong. She wasn't the argumentative type. If you disagreed with her, she'd be like, 'All right. Whatever.'

"I like that," he says, "because I get that from her."

Wetzel's mother, Cathy, died two years ago. It was eventually terminal cancer that took her, though she'd dealt with multiple sclerosis for years.

She would have no doubt been here this week for the College World Series. Even stage-4 cancer couldn't keep Cathy from her son's games. And she would have had plenty to cheer. In the Bulldogs' first two games, Wetzel is 6 for 10 with two RBIs, three runs and a stolen base.

Her son's team is 2-0, one of only two undefeated teams, and trying to become one of the most unlikely NCAA championship teams in history.

"I've thought about her," says Wetzel, brown curls spilling out from beneath his cap. "I wish she could be in Omaha. She probably would have had a blast."

During the 2006 season, Wetzel's parents drove from Southern California to nearly every Fresno State game, even road games, in their motor home. Wetzel was already starting as a freshman.

Cathy wouldn't even get chemotherapy that spring because she knew it would make her too sick to go see her son play ball.

"I'm going there," she told a reporter, pointing up, "and I'm happy with that ..."

She died Aug. 24, 2006, two days after Wetzel left for his sophomore year in Fresno.

"I think last year was the hardest year I've ever had," Wetzel says. "She always sat in the same seat, and I'd look up and she wasn't there. I didn't want to be thinking about that in the middle of the game, but sometimes you just can't help it."

A lot has happened since Cathy's death. Her son hit .346 his sophomore year. This year as a junior, he hit .361 with six home runs, four more than his first two seasons combined. He was recently drafted in the 13th round by the Colorado Rockies.

"It's going to be a tough decision for him," says his dad, Dave. "He knows darn well his mother would have wanted him to stay in school."

Oh, and there's this little College World Series run that no one seems to be able to explain. Wetzel likes this one: "I think about this postseason, and sometimes ...," he says, pausing to imagine how strange what he is about to say will sound. "I wonder if she's struck a deal with someone up there.

"When we beat San Diego in the regional, I knew we could beat 'em, but I was still like, 'Sweet. This is awesome.' Then when we beat Arizona State in the Super Regional, I just thought, 'What the heck? This is unbelievable.' That's when I started thinking about it. I think my mom's done something."

He chuckles.

"She's helped us out. I think about that sometimes."