Humboldt County is going to have a chance to…
Humboldt County is going to have a chance to welcome another national champion soon.
By Ray Aspuria and The Times-Standard |
PUBLISHED: June 27, 2008 at 12:00 a.m. | UPDATED: July 30, 2018 at 8:32 a.m.
Fresno State bomber Steve Detwiler, who played with the Humboldt Crabs in 2007 and went 4-for-4 with two homers and driving in all the runs in the Bulldogs' 6-1 win over Georgia during the Collge World Series championship game on Wednesday in Nebraska, is anxious to return to the county.
"As soon as I can — I'm going to have (thumb) surgery on Monday — I'm coming to Humboldt," Detwiler said over the phone. "The Crabs are awesome and the fans are great. I'm hoping to get out there; within a month I'll be up there."
His memories as a Crab run deep and Detwiler is excited to soak it all in again upon his visit.
"(I love) everything," he said, "The atmosphere, everyone knows your a Crabs boy and the fans made it so much fun."
Detwiler injured his thumb while trying to steal second base during a game with Long Beach before the regionals.
"I was going to second from first and my thumb hit the bag and popped the ligaments," he said.
The injury, however, had little to no effect during the Bulldogs' storybook run to the national championship. With some help from his power and key coaching advice, Detwiler abused Georgia pitchers on Wednesday.
"I like to think I had power all the time," Detwiler said with a laugh, "but the guy left the ball up and the coaches taught us to look for those."
After hitting his first homer of the afternoon in the second inning, Detwiler described his three-run bomb — that ended up three-quarters of the way up in the bleachers — as a senseless feeling.
"It was the best feeling, but you don't really feel anything," he said.
But there was no doubt in his mind his towering shot was gone before it left his bat.
And if going perfect from the plate wasn't enough, Fresno State put a fairy tale ending to the storybook run that fell into Detwiler's glove.
"It was kind of ironic," Detwiler said, "My teammates came up to me and told me I was going to catch the last out."
"I put the ball into my back pocket," Detwiler added. "I'm hoping to get all my teammates' autographs and a picture and put it in a case."
Ray Aspuria