NCAA Championships: Live Video | Bracket
CARY, N.C. -Â Joining Angelo State as the only other repeating regional champion this year, Cal Poly Pomona captured the West Region crown on Monday with a 7-6 win over top-seeded Cal Baptist.
Having arrived in Cary, N.C., for the NCAA Division II Championships, the Broncos are preparing for their first matchup against 14th-ranked and Midwest Region champion Southern Indiana. First pitch on Saturday has been
moved to 10:30 a.m. Pacific (1:30 p.m. Eastern). With rain in the forecast for Sunday, the NCAA will look to play the four opening games on Saturday, instead of two on Saturday and two on Sunday.
CPP's Saturday opponent - the Screaming Eagles (37-19) - have won four regional titles in the last 10 years and captured national titles in 2010 and 2014.
Making their 10th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the Broncos have won three national titles: 1976, 1980 and 1983. CPP has posted a 40-17 record this year and is featured at No. 16 in the latest Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll, ranking at No. 7 out of the eight teams in Cary. The eight-team event has a double-elimination format.
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Sixth-year head coach
Randy Betten led the Broncos to the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) South Division title this year and the team took a No. 1 seed into the conference tournament. Despite going 2-2 there in Stockton, CPP carried a No. 3 seed into the West Regional hosted by Cal Baptist in Riverside. The Broncos went 4-0 at the regional, capturing an extra-inning walk-off victory on Saturday (May 21) with an RBI off a hit batter and then a dramatic comeback capped off by an eighth-inning grand slam to win the title on Monday (May 23).
Betten owns an overall record of 211-116 and that winning percentage of .645 moves him into the top 25 among active Division II coaches while remaining the leader in the West Region for that category.
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Through the team's five games in Cary last year, CPP averaged 7.8 runs per contest. Although the 2016 Broncos have a top offense once again, the approach is a bit more balanced through the lineup. Seven of the nine starting hitters maintain a batting average above .300 and five of those have collected at least five homeruns each.Â
Broncos in the Pros
There are nine former Broncos playing in the minor leagues and many from that group send video messages to the 2016 team, wishing the Broncos all the best in Cary. Two former Broncos are playing at the AAA level: Travis Taijeron for the Mets at the Las Vegas 51s affiliate and Geoff Broussard of the Angels at the Salt Lake Bees. Other CPP minor leaguers include
Cody Ponce,
Kyle Garlick, David Armendariz,
Christian Kelley,
Chris Powell, Steven Farnworth,
Richie McWilliams and Austin Boyle.
Quite the Streaks
Designated hitter
Caleb Romo, a senior from Walnut, is taking a 12-game hit streak into Cary. This season, he has 14 multi-RBI games and 10 homeruns after only hitting one homer last year.Â
Leftfielder
Jared James also owns an impressive streak, having reached base safely in each of the last 23 games. In fact, he has reached base safely in 52 of the 55 games this year. James is a senior from Sacramento who transferred from Long Beach State.
Busy Week
The Broncos start their Cary trip with a Friday morning practice, which will also include a ceremonial flag raising at the entrance to the USA Baseball Complex. CPP will then participate in a community service trip before concluding the day with a championship banquet at PNC Arena, home of the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes. Follow the Broncos on Twitter for updates:
@cppbroncos.
Live Conference
In addition to full NCAA.com broadcasts of each game, the postgame press conferences will also be streamed for fans to see. Those live video links can be accessed at the host
Mt. Olive's web site.
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