Keith Torres had his bags packed and his itinerary set to begin playing junior college baseball in Texas.
Then came a phone call with a Sacramento area code.
“Honestly, I had missed the call and had no idea who it was, but then my travel coach called and said the head coach at Sacramento State was interested in me,” Torres said. “‘You need to call him back right now.’ ”
The 2017 Saint Louis alumnus and first-team All-State shortstop returned that call and, when it was over, a new itinerary was needed.
Torres was headed to Sacramento State; the only Division I baseball program to offer even a fraction of a scholarship has been rewarded ever since.
A second-team All-Western Athletic Conference selection as a freshman, Torres has started more than 100 games in two years, including all six victories in four days last week to win the WAC tournament championship and earn a berth in the NCAA tournament beginning Friday.
The Hornets open with host Stanford in an All-California regional that includes Big West champion UC Santa Barbara and Mountain West Conference champion Fresno State.
“We got like three powerhouses along with us,” Torres said. “It’s a big challenge for us but it’s baseball. Anything can happen.”
It did happen in the WAC tournament when the Hornets pulled off an improbable run after losing their opening game as the No. 3 seed to sixth-seeded Utah Valley.
Sacramento State won six straight games, including four in two days, capped off by a 5-4 victory over Grand Canyon in the final.
That win came after the Hornets went extra innings in both of their victories on Saturday — a 6-4 nail-biter over New Mexico State in 10 innings and a 4-3 squeaker over Grand Canyon in 11.
“Playing four games in two days is definitely a grind but it’s fun,” Torres said. “As a player everyone was ready to go. No matter how we felt, we were going to give it all we had. We used a story from a coach who said fatigue is just a mind-set and we don’t need to have that mind-set. We came out and did our thing and that’s kind of how we went at it.”
As the team got further and further in the tournament, Torres said he noticed other teams tightening up trying not to lose.
“After we lost the first game we just went out there trying to have fun and we played loose,” Torres said. “Other teams weren’t doing that.”
With so many games in such a short time, the Hornets had to empty their bullpen. It included left-hander Nick Tabura, a Kapaa graduate who was coming off Tommy John surgery in 2018.
Tabura, a 6-foot-3 junior who transferred from Lower Columbia (Wash.) Community College in 2017, had pitched only nine innings all season. But with the Hornets trailing Grand Canyon 2-0 after two innings, Tabura was called upon in the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader. He yielded one run in 31⁄3 innings as the Hornets rallied to tie it at 3-3 in the fifth inning before a walk-off win in the bottom of the 11th.
“We needed every arm possible,” said Torres, who is roommates with Tabura. “I told him, ‘hey Tabura, you’re going to do something big-time for us in the tournament.’ He believed that and came in and really shut (Grand Canyon) down and helped us out big-time there.”
The Hornets have won the WAC tournament three times in the last six years. They lost both games in the Stanford regional in 2017 but eliminated Arizona State in their other regional appearance in 2014.
They have never advanced to a super regional.
“When we got back to (Sacramento, after the WAC tournament), our coach told us we had done something unbelievable,” Torres said. “Everyone is confident now and like I said, anything can happen in baseball.”
The Hornets are proof of that.
Other players with Hawaii ties in the NCAA tournament:
>> Loyola Marymount right-hander Codie Paiva (Kamehameha ’15) will start the Lions’ first NCAA tournament game since 2000 against Baylor on Friday at 10 a.m. in the Los Angeles Regional. Paiva, the staff ace and West Coast Conference pitcher of the year, is 7-5 with a 1.71 ERA in 14 starts this season. The 6-foot-5 right-hander has struck out 84 in 95 innings with 17 walks and 90 hits allowed. LMU is the No. 3 seed in the regional hosted by UCLA.
>> Auburn junior outfielder Everett Lau (‘Iolani ’16) has played in 19 games and made eight starts for the Tigers, who are the No. 2 seed in the Atlanta Regional and open their third consecutive NCAA tournament against Coastal Carolina on Friday at 6 a.m. Lau is hitting .250 (10-for-40) with two doubles, a homer and eight RBIs in his first year with the Tigers after transferring from College of San Mateo (Calif).
>> Arizona State catcher Keolu Ramos (Mililani ’16) redshirted for the Sun Devils this season in his first year after transferring from College of San Mateo. ASU is the No. 2 seed in the Baton Rouge Regional and opens against Southern Miss.
