While this blog is ostensibly about the Nationals and the MLB in general, sometimes the definition of what’s worthy of inclusion has to be stretched.  Last night’s final game of the College World Series and, indeed, the entire post-season run of the Fresno State Bulldogs merits not only mention but kudos as well.  Never before have the phrases “CalState Fresno” and “National Baseball Champion” been uttered together. 

Over the last several weeks Fresno State has flown completely under the radar of the national sports media while completing a triumphant out-of-nowhere run to the national championship.  Last night in Omaha, Nebraska Fresno beat Georgia in the Battle of the Bulldogs, 6 – 1.  

Fresno was a baseball backwater and needed to win the Western Athletic Conference tournament just to get into the nationals.  Like the better known NCAA basketball tournament, 64 teams compete for the baseball championship.  Unlike March Madness, there are 16 regions in the college baseball tournament.  Were the baseball tourney set up in a manner similar to basketball, Fresno would have been a 13-seed; the baseball equivalent of Siberia.

Naysayers might claim they got lucky and had a relatively easy tournament.  Not so.  Fresno had to beat North Carolina (seeded second nationally) twice and Arizona (seeded third nationally) twice in addition to other baseball powerhouses Rice and, the last to be vanquished, Georgia.    

The Bulldog’s victory is lesson, and a beacon of hope, to all who yearn for a championship.  Or, in the case of the Nationals, a .500 season.