GARY ALDRICH
YR RESULTS
W L
1932
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951 12-3
1952
Coach Dan Dillon Years
1953 8-2 12-3
1954 9-5 12-8
1955
1956 12-2 20-4
1957
1958
1959 8-4 10-10
1960
1961 14-7
1962
1963
1964 8-4
1965 6-6 11-9
1966 5-7 17-14-1
Coach Gary Engelken Years
1967 4-8 14-18
1968 13-15
1969 13-3 24-9 CONF*
1970 11-1 23-10 DIV*
1971 12-18
1972 17-11
1973 17-11 DIV*
1974 4-8 9-14 (Sab.)
1975 18-13
1976 21-15 DIV*
1977 20-15
1978 25-11 DIV*
1979 18-17
1980 18-1 34-7 CONF*
1981 16-22
1982 13-19 DIV*
1983 29-13
1984 29-11
1985 18-16
1986 19-17
1987 19-18
1988 9-11 13-15 (Chiono)
1989
1990
1991
Coach Davis Years
1992 2-28
1993 8-22
1994
1995
1996
Coach Tim Goyd Years
1997
1998
1999
2000 20-21
2001 23-17
2002 24-20
2003 12-29
2004 9-27
2005 9-27
2006 23-20
2007 18-10 26-15
2008 14-14 20-23
2009 14-13 23-18
2010 12-21
2011 12-21
Coach Erick Burns
2012 11-25
Coach Brian Baisch
2013 19-17
Coach Ryan Evangelho Years
2014 16-20
2015 21-16
2016 8-16 10-25
2017 7-14 12-26
2018 7-14 16-25
2019 17-21
Coach Jason Hampton
2020 7-13
2021 7-10
2022 14-26
2023 7-14 9-27
2024 14-21
* denotes championship
GREG BUCK
DICK SEIDEL
.445
.399
.346
.343
.306
.294
.286
.267
.238
.226
.328
BRIAN MADISON
GARY ENGELKEN
Rottman's 160 strikeouts led all college pitchers in the nation and was named to the California All-State team. His 160 and 269 career K's were bested only by Fresno City's Dick Selma during the '62, '63 seasons as the state's all-time J.C. strikeout leader. For the year 1970, the twenty-year-old Rottman compiled a 27-8-1 record including 343 strikeouts in 273 innings pitched with a 1.65 ERA at four different levels of competition. He was 3-0 without allowing an earned run for the semi-pro Twin Cities Giants of the Mexican-American League (10-1 career) before heading to the Canadian leagues where he posted an 11-3-1 record while leading the Dauphin Redbirds of the Manitoba Senior Baseball League to their best season in team history. Rottman received the league's Top Pitcher Award and tossed an unprecedented 2nd 20-strikeout performance in less than two months. Upon returning to California, Rottman joined the Twins of the Bay Area's Peninsula League where he hit .294 as the team's 2nd baseman when not pitching. He posted a 1-1 record with a 1.50 earned run average striking out 16 batters in 16 innings pitched. Rottman has won more games and struck out more batters in Yuba-Sutter history, both in a single year, and most all-time. His 343 k's in a calendar year is the 3rd-most in Northern California baseball history.
1988 FORTY-NINERS
BRIAN MADISON, C/DH .439
ROBERT WILKENS, CF .407
STEVE WEST, LF .383
RICHARD SHINN, C 366
JOHNNY MEJIA, SS/2B .358
PAT MURPHY, RF .343
LOUIS GARCIA, 3B .339
DALE CHASSEY, SS .337
GAUTHIER, 3B .295
TEAM AVG. .330
GREG BUCK, P 9-2 2.02
Yuba College baseball has not won a title of any kind (tournament, league, or division) in the past 42 years (1983-2024) nor hired a local head coach since Gary Engelken's reign ended in 1991 with all head coaches hailing from the Sacramento area since that time. Engelkon was originally from Santa Ana, California before moving to the Yuba-Sutter area after graduating from Chico State and managing the Yuba City High School freshman baseball team to a Sierra Foothill League title. Forty Niner baseball has not produced a winning season in the past nine years (143-230) and has won only two conference championships (1969, 1980) since first fielding a baseball team in 1932, a span of 92 years.
FRANK MICO
JIM McDONALD
"BRUD" PERRY
12.110-2
5-0
3-2
2-1
2-0
0-1
34-7
"HOSS" CARTWRIGHT
STASSI CHIONO WILLIAMS ARMOCEDO PAPPAS ENGELKEN
MERLE ANTHONY
Giving the Heave Ho
YUBA COLLEGE BASEBALL is notable in that several individual players have led the state in various noteworthy categories and some of those records still stand today. Yuba College was founded in 1927 and has fielded a baseball team since the early 1930s. Among the earliest Forty Niner to sign a professional baseball contract was 2nd baseman Merle "Rabbit" Anthony. Anthony, a long-time Marysville Giant and Yuba-Sutter Rebel, was a Yuba infielder (1944, '45) and spent two years in the minor leagues (1946, '48) at the B and C levels where he combined to hit .230 for three different teams. He later became a major league umpire and worked the American League (1969-'75) including the 1974 All-Star game and the '73 ALCS. 1947 Yuba shortstop Clyde "Brud" Perry batted .245 over the course of eight years in the minor leagues with five of those seasons at the AA level. Left-handed Yuba pitcher Gary Aldrich, from Sacramento, Ca., spent five seasons in the minor leagues where he posted a career 36-40 record and 4.74 ERA. His best year was 1961 when he went 12-6 with a 2.58 ERA for the level-D Batavia Pirates of the NY-Penn League. He ended his pro career with an 11-11 record (3.93 ERA) with the Reno Silver Sox of the level-A California League.
1956 Forty Niners--Coach Dan Dillion's Yuba College baseball teams finished in second place five times during the 1950s while Grant Tech, now American River College, Vallejo College, now Solano Junior College, Santa Rosa Junior College, and the Wolverines of Sierra College took turns winning championships. Yuba's best chance at winning a conference title during the decade came in 1956, despite losing two of their best hitters early in the season when 3rd baseman Harold Swanson and outfielder Jim Warren signed professional contracts with the Sacramento Solons of the Pacific Coast League. Warren was sent to the Visalia Cubs of the class-C California League where he got one hit in three at-bats before getting sent to the Salem Senators of the Class-B Northwest League. There he hit .130 in 18 games after joining Swanson and Marysville High School star Ray Webster. Swanson hit .225 in 111 at-bats and .200 a year later for the Fresno Sun Sox of the "C" California League while the eighteen-year-old Webster hit .253 in 462 at-bats for the Senators.
The 49ers began the 1956 season by reeling off eleven straight victories, Yuba's best start in school history at that time. The streak included a 14-1 pounding of McClellan Air Force Base, 21-2 and 25-1 shellackings of Lassen College, and Roger Stam's 3-0 shutout against the Shasta College Knights. The run ended with an 11-10 loss to the U.C. Davis Aggie J.V's. After losing 8-2 to Vallejo Jr. College, Roger Stam hurled his second shutout of the year by blanking the College of Marin Mariners 6-0 amid another run of five straight wins. The triumph put Yuba at 16-2 for the season and 9-1 in league play, setting up the final two league games--a doubleheader against Grant Tech. Bob Mayfield won the opening game 4-1, however, Bud Linn's 2-0 loss in the second game ended any chance of Yuba winning its first conference title. The Indians of Vallejo Junior College won the championship with an 11-1 league record while Yuba had to settle for second place with her 10-2 league mark and 20-4 overall record.The twenty wins in a season and ten league victories were school records that stood for thirteen years while the team's .833 winning percentage still ranks as Yuba's best all-time.
1969 49ers---Nineteen-sixty-nine marked the greatest year in the history of Yuba College athletics. Five Yuba teams won conference championships including the football team's California Community College State championship with Fred Riley breaking O.J. Simpson's California Junior College rushing record for most yards in a single season. Yuba's baseball team committed 74 errors in 33 games (2.4 errors per game), but in spite of their defensive woes, hit and pitched their way to Yuba's first of only two conference baseball championships in over 85 years of fielding a baseball team -- the other title coming in 1980. Yuba's record-breaking 24-9 season set benchmarks for the record books in both the hitting and pitching departments setting more than 20 school records. Their #7 State ranking (among all Calif. State Community College schools) ranks highest, and their .727 Winning Percentage ranks 3rd-best in Yuba College baseball history. The 24 victories were the most by any Yuba baseball team at that time and rank fifth in school history. They hit .305 as a team and their 231 runs (7.0/gm), 326 hits (9.9/gm), 44 doubles, 18 triples, 15 home runs, and 94 stolen bases (2.8/gm) in 33 games were all-time bests. Several individual hitting and pitching records were also broken. Shortstop Dennis Gallagher set Yuba high marks for Home Runs (3), RBI’s (28), triples (7), and base on balls (26). Dave Rottman set school records for doubles (10) and slugging percentage (.613). His team-leading .357 batting average (minimum 75 at-bats) ranked second all-time behind Danny White’s .378 mark set in 1967.
In the pitching department, the team’s combined 2.02 earned run average is a school record that has withstood the test of time (55 years) and still stands today, as does the pitching staff's five shutouts (shared with the 1984 team). The staff's 266 total strikeouts in 273 innings or 8.77 K's per nine innings is also the school's best ever. Individually, left-handed pitcher John Stam recorded Yuba records for ERA (1.58), innings pitched (108), innings pitched in a career (195), career wins (16), single-season wins (10), strikeouts in a season (115), career strikeouts (208), and most shutouts in a season (3). Only two pitchers in Yuba history have tallied more than 200 strikeouts. Dave Rottman's 10 wins was also a school record and his 1.17 K’s/inning or 10.55 per nine innings (109 in 93 innings) ranked 2nd all-time trailing only Danny Wright’s 1.20 K’s/inning or 10.82 per 9 innings, recorded in 1967. Stam's 115 K's, 1.58 ERA, and Rottman's 109 K's, 1.74 ERA marked the only time in school history where two pitchers with more than 60 innings pitched both recorded earned run averages under two in the same year. The dynamic duo are also the only two pitchers to both strikeout more than a hundred batters in the same season.
The '69 Forty Niners began the season winning five of their first eight games including John Stam's 2-0 shutout over the Chico State J.V.'s before winning 16 of their next 17 games including a record 12 in a row. The hot-streak included their signature 4-3 comeback win at San Francisco City College against the Rams and four straight victories in the Golden Valley Conference Tournament where the 49er's scored 36 runs and allowed only two. Stam tossed his third shutout of the year, breaking his brother Roger's record set in 1956, by blanking the Knights of Shasta College 2-0 while Jimmie Ohrt whitewashed College of the Redwoods 2-0 in the final.
While John Stam was tossing shutouts, Dave Rottman was racking up the strikeouts. Shortly after the halfway mark of the schedule, Stam had a 7-1 record with a 1.06 ERA including 64 strikeouts in 59 innings while giving up 39 hits and 22 free passes. Rottman posted a 6-1 record with a 1.01 ERA with 77 strikeouts in only 53 innings. He was averaging 13.1 K’s per game while giving up just 26 hits, 16 walks and only six earned runs. Rottman opened up the second half of the league schedule by tossing a one-hit shutout against arch-rival and the second place Wolverines of Sierra College. It was a match-up against Sierra’s ace and All-Conference pitcher Gary Forgard who set records at Del Oro High School in Rocklin before attending Idaho State and later pitching at Fresno State. The 5-0 shutout was Yuba's fifth of the year.
After pounding Lassen College 17-4 and 19-1, including Rottman's third two-hitter of the season, the 49’s found themselves in the record books once again after whipping the Chiefs of Napa College twice in a doubleheader. Stam’s 9-3 win in the first game tied the all-time Yuba team record of 20 wins in a season equaling the ’56 Yubans who finished at 20-4. Rottman's 10-4 victory in the second game was the record-breaker as Yuba improved to 21-4 on the season. A 1-0 and 3-2 doubleheader loss at Sierra College forced a deciding game or triple-header to determine a South Division champion. Jimmy Ohrt took a 7-0 lead into the last inning before needing relief help from John Stam to claim the 7-4 win and the Southern Division title. After taking 2 of 3 games from College of the Redwoods in the Golden Valley Conference finals, Yuba's 1970 season came to an abrupt halt at De Anza College of Cupertino in the 1st round of the California State Community College playoffs when Stam and his 49ers were shut out by the Dons 6-0.
John Stam moved on to pitch two seasons for the Chico State Wildcats. His 2.26 ERA in 1970 remains the school's 12th best and his career 2.54 ERA remains 8th best all-time. In 1968, Stam was named Yuba College Male Athlete of the Year and was 2nd-team All-State in football with his nine interceptions as a defensive back. Yuba catcher Gary Howard was drafted in the 24th round of the 1968 June Amateur Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals from Yuba City High School. He was again drafted in the '69 January Draft-Secondary Phase from Yuba College by the Houston Astros. He hit .261 in 23 at-bats as an outfielder for the 1969 Williamsport Astros of the class-A New York-Penn League. A year later, Howard hit .214 for the class-A Cocoa Astros of the Florida State League.
ALL-STATE
KANSAS
FRANK MASCARO
Yuba returned home and promptly blasted Cosumnes River 17-0, improving their BVL record to 9-5 and 20-7 overall. Jim McDonald pitched his 3rd shutout of the year and the team's 4th. The 49ers finished the regular season by winning 5 of their next 7 league games including a 14-13 win over Los Medanos and Cooper Amyx's 3-1 win against Napa Valley. Amyx improved to 4-0 with a 1.76 ERA. Yuba ended the regular season at 25-9 and 14-7 in BVL play, good enough for 3rd place. College of Marin took top BVL honors while Los Medanos finished 2nd. In an unusual format, Yuba and seven other invited-teams entered a wild-card tournament known as "The Shaughnessy Playoffs" in order to determine a 4th team that would qualify for the state division ll championship tournament. League winners Marin of the BVL, College of the Siskiyous of the Golden Valley Conference, and Hartnell of the Coast Conference received automatic berths. Yuba defeated Solano 8-3 in the opening round and Cosumnes River 6-2 in game two with Amyx picking up the win. Jim McDonald defeated Skyline College 4-2 in the final which sent the 49ers to the state baseball championships for only the 3rd time in school history.
A rested Jim McDonald shutout the Eagles of Siskiyous College in the opening round 7-0 with a complete game 4-hitter. The Eagles entered the game on an 18-game win streak with ace pitcher Andy Smith and his 12-0 record taking the mound. Light-hitting Yuba shortstop Jeff Lawrence, batting 9th in the batting order with his .267 average, broke up a scoreless pitcher's duel when he blasted a 3-run homer in the 8th inning. Yuba added four more runs in the 9th and McDonald took care of the rest. The shutout was McDonald's 4th of the season and set a new record for shutouts in a single season which still stands today. It also marked the team's 5th whitewash of the year tying a team record for shutouts in a season set 15 years earlier in 1969. The win pushed the 49ers into the winner's bracket against Hartnell College of Salinas, California after the Panthers defeated Marin in the other first-round game.
JIM STASSI
GVC--MVP
Dave Rottman established 20 school records during his two years at Yuba College, 10 of which have withstood the test of time and still stand today. For the second year in a row, Rottman was named MVP and took home both the hitting and pitching titles, Yuba's only player ever to do so. He set school records for batting avg. (.380), On Base % (.492), (Doubles (10), SLG (.613), Stolen base % (15/15), Innings Pitched in a season (130), Career Innings Pitched (223), Career Victories (22), Career Win% (.759), Most Wins in a Season (12), Most Strikeouts in a Game (20), Most Strikeouts in a Season (160), Most Career Strikeouts (269), K's/9inn. (11.1), Career K's/9inn. (10.9), Complete Games (26), and playoff records for Wins (2), Strikeouts (26), and Innings Pitched (25.3).
PETE DEARBORN
1972 49ERS --Yuba third baseman Frank Mascaro led the State of California in hitting and ranks as only a few California Community College players ever to top the .500 mark during the wood-bat era. A major sports journal listed his average as among the best in the nation. Mascaro's .529 average is a Yuba College and Golden Valley Conference record that still stands today and ranks among the state's all-time best. His .777 slugging percentage and .588 On Base % also remain as all-time Yuba records. Mascaro's 16 doubles set a school record that stood for thirty years even though metal bats were introduced in 1975 and schedules increased during the mid-seventies. Mascaro, son of former Sacramento Solon Frank "Moose" Mascaro, was named All-State and won consecutive batting titles as his .351 average led the 49ers a year earlier. His .436 career average (2 yr.) is also a school-best as is his .600 Golden Valley Conference league average. Mascaro holds six major Yuba records that stand to this day and arguably, would be considered the greatest hitter ever to don a Yuba College baseball uniform. After hitting .302 his junior year at Fresno State, Mascaro turned humanitarian. He gave up baseball, graduated from FSU cum laude, and cared for disabled children for several years before founding and becoming head pastor at the Westside Christian Church in Roseville, California. The preacher could swing the bat.
Jim Bravos hit .397, Bill Bravos .400, and All-State first baseman Steve Gledhill hit .400 including seven doubles, seven triples and three home runs with a slugging percentage of .673. As a team, the 1972 Niners set school records for doubles (74), triples (19), runs per game (7.96), slugging percentage, runs/game (7.96), and team batting average (.334, third-best all-time); but the pitching staff couldn't pitch as they compiled a team 4.04 ERA, twice as many earned runs allowed per nine innings as the 1969 team allowed. The '72 49ers had to settle for a second-place finish in the Golden Valley Southern Division and a 17-11 record overall. The team's signature game was a 10-0 blanking of the Napa Valley Chiefs and their All-Conference pitcher Warren Brusstar. Mascaro led the barrage with a 5-5 performance including a double and two-run homer. Brusstar went on to star at Fresno State before spending nine seasons in the major leagues including a stint with the World Champion Phillies. The slider/sinker-ball pitcher compiled a 28-16 record with a 3.51 ERA during his major-league trek. In 1973, Mascaro and Brusstar became teammates for Bob Bennett's Fresno State Bulldogs.
BIG MAC
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A HISTORY OF YUBA COLLEGE BASEBALL
Individual and Team Stats, Records, Achievements
YUBA COLLEGE BASEBALL
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BASEBALL CALIFORNIA BASEBALL HISTORY
FRANK MASCARO
CALIFORNIA JR. COLLEGE BASEBALL
MARYSVILLE BASEBALL HISTORY
YUBA-SUTTER BASEBALL
STEVE GLEDHILL
GARY ENGELKEN
Cartwright K's 20 in
10-inning, 2-1 playoff
win over Redwoods
MARK CARTWRIGHT.
1970 49ERS---Yuba began the season with five straight wins including an 8-0 shutout over the Renegades of Ohlone College and captured the championship of the Santa Rosa Baseball tournament which fielded some the top Junior College teams in Northern California. Dave Rottman pitched in all four games as he stopped Santa Rosa (eventual winners of the Camino Norte League) 5-3 in the opening round, picked up a save with three innings of relief work in a 7-4 victory versus College of Marin, lost 2-0 to San Mateo in the semifinals, and then picked up another save in Yuba's 3-2 win in the finals against the same Bulldogs, ranked #5 in the state at that time. After losing a doubleheader against Ohlone College, Yuba went on another 5-game win streak including a 5-0 shutout over the Napa Valley Chiefs and 7-1 and 5-3 wins over arch-rival Sierra College. In an attempt to win the Golden Valley Conference tournament for a second straight year, Yuba started pitcher Dave Rottman for the third time in four days. After complete-game victories against Napa College on Saturday and College of the Siskiyous on Monday, he took the mound again on Tuesday against College of the Redwoods. Rottman lasted two innings surrendering a grand slam, his only home run allowed at the college level, as Yuba fell 7-3, ending the first half of the season with a 12-6 record, 4-0 in league play. The 49ers ended the regular scheduled season by winning 10 of their next 12 games including a 30-6 whipping of Lassen College. The 30 runs scored remains as a 49er school record.
Rottman won game two of the best-of-three conference playoffs against College of the Redwoods 3-2 before entering the second game of the doubleheader from his second base position during the middle of the fourth inning with his team trailing 7-2. After putting out the fire, he notched six shutout innings, sending the game into extra innings before tiring in the 11th and absorbing the tough loss. For the day, Rottman pitched 16 and a third innings, striking out 15 while going 6-10 at the plate in the doubleheader and 4-6 in the final which vaulted his average to .380, setting a new 49er record. Although nicknamed "Animal" for his base-running style, "Workhorse" would have been more appropriate as he accounted for more than half of Yuba's 23 victories and logged 130 of the team's 266 innings pitched. He pitched most of the season on two days rest or less and played 2nd base when not pitching. Rottman is the only Yuba pitcher to record two seasons with 10 or more victories (10, 12), record back-to-back seasons with more than a hundred strikeouts (109, 160), and Yuba's only pitcher to record ERA's under two in consecutive years--1.74, 1.86 (min. 100 inn.).
Dennis Gallagher received a scholarship from Southern California's Chapman College where he hit .345 his senior year and signed a contract with the Kansas City Royals after being drafted in the 26th round of MLB's 1972 June Draft. He hit .229 for the Billings Mustangs of the Rookie Pioneer League before batting .251 with five HR's in 167 at-bats for the Tri-City Triplets of the lower-A Northwest League a year later. During the summer of 1970, Gallagher played 2nd base for the Halstead Cowboys of the semi-pro Victory League in Kansas. He was named to the All-Kansas state team where his Cowboys reached the state finals before bowing to future New York Yankee great Ron Guidry and the Liberal BeeJays who went on to finish 3rd at the National Baseball Congress semi-pro World Series in Wichita. Gallagher and his Cowboys also competed at the National tournament. The following summer Gallagher suited up with the prestigious Bellingham Bells of Washington state before returning to Orange, California for his final year at Chapman.
Jim Fisher, from Reno, Nevada, with his 4-1 record, albeit 6.75 ERA, was pitching his and Yuba's most important game ever when he took a 2-1 lead into the 9th inning. With one out and the bases loaded, coach Gary Engelken made an unusual move when he brought in Bob Acey from his left-field position to pitch while left-handed pitcher Tim Grant, 4-0, 5.83 ERA, was warming up in the bullpen. Acey, who had only pitched nine innings all year in relief appearances, promptly gave up a grand slam. The game was lost as relievers gave up an additional two runs and Yuba fell 7-2. The loss set up a rematch with College of the Siskiyous as the Eagles had earlier eliminated College of Marin with a 3-2 victory. Yuba's Cooper Amyx took the mound boasting his 5-0 record and 3.26 earned run average, however, the tides had turned, and the 49er's season came to a grinding halt as Siskiyous prevailed with a 10-5 victory. The Hartnell Panthers became the State's Division ll champion after defeating Siskiyous in the final.
Yuba finished the season at 29-11. The 29 wins remain 2nd most in school history shared with the 1983 team (29-13). Their .725 winning percentage remains 4th best all-time. As a team, the '84 Niners averaged 8.33 runs per game, a school record and hit .349, an all-time record shared with Yuba's 2002 team. The 49ers also turned 54 double plays on the year, an all-time record which more than doubled the previous mark. It could be contributed to Jim McDonalds 90 mph low sinking fastball, the great defensive work of infielders Jeff Lawrence, Ray Emerald, and All-State player B.J. Moore, but also to the fact that a lot of base runners were allowed to reach base creating the opportunities.
The main reason for Yuba's success in 1984 would have to be the Herculean effort of Jim "Big Mac" McDonald. He pitched nearly half of the team's total innings pitched. His 157.7 innings pitched and four shutouts led the state and stand as all-time Yuba records as well as his 14 victories and two 1-hitters in a single season. McDonald's career 237.3 innings pitched is a 49er record and his 1.31 earned run average lasted 22 years and ranks 2nd all-time to Ryan Zaft's 1.28 mark set in 2006 after Zaft spent the '03 season at Yuba and the '05 season at Sacramento City College. "Big Mac" struck out 118 batters in 1984, only the 5th Yuba pitcher ever to record more than 100 K's in a season when he averaged 6.73 K's per 9 innings. McDonald's single-season and career innings pitched could stand today as state records.
Jim McDonald received a scholarship from the University of Arizona where he posted a 7-0 record and four saves with a 4.50 ERA in 1985. He was a member of Arizona Wildcat teams that competed in the College World Series in '85 and '86, winning the College championship in 1986. McDonald was drafted by the Montreal Expos in the 26th round of the 1986 MLB Amateur June Draft. He pitched one season as a professional with the Jamestown Expos of the New York-Pennsylvania League (lower class A) where he pitched 34 innings posting an 0-3 record and 4.15 ERA.
DENNIS GALLAGHER
ENGELKEN
ROBERT WILKENS
DAN DILLON
PLAYER BA
C JIM STASSI
1B BOB NOREEN
CF MONDELL WILLIAMS
LF STEVE ARMOCIDO
SS LON KUYKENDALL
3B JIM PAPPAS
DH JOHN CARRION
OF MARK BOOMGAARDEN
2B CLINT GIVENS
RF TERRY ROBINSON
TEAM TOTAL
PITCHING RECORD ERA
P MARK CARTWRIGHT
P DAVE CHIONO
P GREG SPEARS
P CHUCK ROJAS
P JOHN HOELTER
P JOHN ONKEN
P JOHN WOODS
TEAM TOTALS
ALL-TIME RECORD-BREAKING
DOUBLE PLAY COMBO
1980 49ERS---The '80 Forty Niners would be considered the greatest baseball team in Yuba College history. The Prospectors won 34 games, most in school history, and their 34-7 record (.829 winning percentage) ranks 2nd all-time, trailing only the 1956 team with their 20-4 mark or .833 winning percentage. The 1980 team set several team and individual records with four members named to the Division ll All-State Team--Mark Cartwright, Jim Stassi, Mondell Williams, and Bob Noreen (1st team All-State) while four players were drafted by major league organizations. Catcher Jim Stassi was named Golden Valley Conference MVP.
The 49ers opened the season with a 13-1 trouncing of Napa Valley College on the strength of Dave Chiono's nine strikeouts in five innings and a Jim Pappas home run. Mark Cartwright picked up the victory in game two of the doubleheader while Lon Kuykendall hit a grand slam. A New York Yankee scout in attendance clocked Cartwright's fastball at 91 mph. After beginning the season with a 3-2 non-league exhibition record which included a 9-3 loss to Sacramento City, later rated as the #2 team in the state, the Forty Niners began Golden Valley Conference league play with John Hoelter tossing a complete game 3-hit shutout besting Lassen College 2-0. The victory started a 21-game winning streak which stands today as an all-time Yuba record for most wins in a row. Included in the streak was John Onken's 1-0 shutout over the Sonoma State JV's and the team's three, one-run victories while capturing the Napa Invitational Tournament. Dave Chiono picked up the 4-3 win against the American River-Placerville Eagles (not to be confused with the Division l American River Beavers) in the final while Mark Cartwright garnered the save with four innings of relief work. Jim Pappas and Bob Noreen homered. Most of the other victories during the hot streak were double-header lopsided blowout victories against league opponents Lassen, Siskiyous, Mendocino, American River-Placerville, and Sierra College. Hard-throwing freshmen right-handers Mark Cartwright and Dave Chiono handled most of the pitching while sophomore catcher Jim Stassi led the hitting barrage at the plate. The streak finally ended when Chiono suffered a tough 3-1 loss to the California Berkeley Bears JV team. Yuba gained a bit of revenge when Cartwright gained an 11-4 victory in the 2nd game of the double-header.
DAVE CHIONO
1988 FORTY NINERS--The Yuba College Athletic Department first began compiling and posting baseball statistics and records in 1967, the year Gary Engelken took the helm as head baseball coach. Exceptions were 1974 and 1988 when coach Engelken went on sabbaticals. In 1988, Engelken was hired by the Montreal Expos as a minor league coach and left for Bradenton, Florida leaving Yuba pitching coach Dave Chiono in charge for the '88 season. Chiono hired Bobby Lee as an assistant coach and after a 3-20 fall league, hired Dave Rottman as the team's hitting instructor. The '88 Forty Niners didn't win a championship, nor finish with a winning record. What's notable about the 13-15 team is that several records and accomplishments were not recognized and never posted.
Greg Buck, a right-handed split-fingered fastball specialist from Reno, Nevada led an otherwise dismal pitching staff with his 9-2 record and 2.02 ERA. His .818 winning % is among Yuba's top five all-time although he was supported by an offense with eight starters that hit over .300 and hit .330 as a team (4th-best all-time). The offense hit 74 doubles, tying a school benchmark set by the 1972 team and averaged better than seven runs per game. The club also hit 19 home runs in 29 games or .655/game (top-5 all-time). Senior C/DH Brian Madison from Yuba City led the potent attack by hitting .439 with seven HRs, two triples, and 17 doubles which broke Frank Mascaro's long-standing record of 16 in a single season set in 1972. Madison's .772 slugging % ranks 2nd all-time behind Mascaro's .777 mark, also set in '72. In Yuba's 16-8 thrashing of eventual Division champ Cosumnes River, Madison hit a school-record three home runs while going 5-6 on the day with 14 total bases (also a Yuba record). The team collected 22 hits including five HR's which is a 49er record.
Yuba ended the regular scheduled season with an 18-1 league mark, a school record for league victories and winning percentage. They ended the scheduled season at 31-5 after thrashing league foe College of the Redwoods 18-7 and 6-3 in a doubleheader. The triumphs set the stage for a rematch in the GVC league's best two-out-of-three championship series. Mark Cartwright tied a school record for most strikeouts in a game when he fanned 20 Corsairs in 10 innings as Yuba took game one by a score of 2-1. The 20 K's stands alone as the most strikeouts by a Gold Digger pitcher in the post-season and may very well stand as a state post-season record. Dave Chiono followed with a 10-0 shutout in game two, thus sending Yuba to the California Community College Division ll, or small schools State Championships. Other schools in the double-elimination tournament included Ohlone College of Fremont, MiraCosta College of Oceanside (formally known as Oceanside-Carlsbad Junior College), and Merced College coached by the legendary Butch Hughes.
Yuba's Mark Cartwright opened the tournament pitted against MiraCosta's highly regarded Dick Seidel who entered the contest with a 10-1-1 record and 1.34 earned run average, however, Yuba's potent offense prevailed by pounding out 16 hits including home runs by Jim Stassi and Jim Pappas. Cartwright picked up the win but lasted only six innings giving up six earned runs on eight hits and six walks. The 49ers coasted to the 16-9 win, registering the school's first of only two victories ever in a state tournament. Less than a month later, MiraCosta's Seidel was drafted in the 28th round of major league baseball's 1980 annual June draft, however, he opted to attend the University of Arizona, and a year later was drafted again, this time in the 2nd round of the 1981 June Secondary Phase. He again declined and pitched at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse before signing with the New York Yankees. Seidel spent two seasons in their minor league system at the A level where he posted a career 8-6 record with a 4.09 ERA while striking out 103 batters in 101 innings.
The win against MiraCosta moved Yuba into the winners' bracket against the Blue Devils of Merced College with Yuba's Dave Chiono and his 10-1 record facing off against Merced's Bill Mooneyman (12-2, 1.67 ERA). The Devils had advanced with a 20-5 win over the Ohlone College Renegades. Merced had won six of the last eight California Division ll State championships including the last four in a row, however, Yuba was ranked #1, and favored going into the tournament. MiraCosta won the title in 1975 and had appeared in the state tournament in four of the last five years. Merced featured All-American second baseman Mickey Williams, plus four players who would move on to the professional ranks including their two All-Conference pitchers--Mike Evans and Bill Mooneyman. Evans pitched five years in the Seattle Mariners organization where he posted a career 12-15 record with a 2.89 ERA and advanced as high as the AA level with the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern League. Mooneyman pitched nine years professionally, mostly in the Oakland A's organization at the AA and AAA level. He advanced to the major leagues in 1986 where he posted a 4-5 record for the Oakland Athletics with a 4.52 earned run average.
Merced shortstop Bret McAffe homered on the second pitch of the game off Yuba's Dave Chiono, and the Devils added three more long balls while winning 9-4 sending Yuba into the loser's bracket for a semi-final's rematch with MiraCosta. Cartwright again took the mound and led 3-2 entering the 8th inning however the Spartans tied the game with a single run in their half of the inning and won it with a run in the 9th for a 4-3 victory. In the State final, Merced bested MiraCosta to win their 5th straight title and 7 of the last 9 before moving up to the Division l ranks.
1984 FORTY NINERS:The early 1980s marked the beginning of a trend whereby several of Nevada's top ballplayers from the Reno area would begin their college baseball careers at Yuba College. They might as well have called Yuba's '84 team the Yuba-Nevada 49ers as three members from Nevada played key roles. Jim McDonald, from Sparks, Nevada, set school records that still stand today and was named co-MVP of the Bay Valley League; All-Conference center fielder Frank Mico hit .405 and was named to the All-State team; and Jim Fisher pitched the game of his life in California's Division ll Community College state tournament. The 49ers began the 1984 season by scoring 30 runs in a doubleheader against the Ohlone College Renegades winning 15-0 in the opener, and 15-11 in game two. Jim McDonald and Tim Grant shared the shutout in game one. The run production and shutout in the opener, and huge runs allowed in the second game would be signs of the future. The Prospectors reeled off five straight victories to open the '84 season before falling 7-5 to College of the Redwoods in the second game of a twin bill. Yuba won the first game 17-1. The Miners followed with another 5-game win streak improving to 10-1 on the season which included Jim McDonald's 3-0, one-hit shutout over Cosumnes River College. After using nine pitchers in an 8-6 win over American River-Placerville, coach Gary Engelgen used six more in a 13-12 loss versus Napa Valley. On the 31st of March, McDonald, or "Big Mac" as they called him, turned in a stellar 10-inning performance against league-leading College of Marin only to suffer a 1-0 loss, his first of the season. Yuba rebounded by defeating the Mariner's 2-1 with Tim Grant winning game two of the doubleheader. The following week, Yuba led AR-Placerville 13-8 entering the 9th inning only to give up six runs and lose 14-13. Jim McDonald closed out the first half of the season by tossing a one-hit shutout, blanking Sierra College 7-0.
During spring break, the 17-6 Forty Niners ventured south and entered the West Los Angeles Baseball Tournament. Other teams in the tourney included Butte College, Santa Barbara College, Pierce College, Moore Park College, Los Angeles City College, Santa Ana City College, and West Los Angeles College. Yuba opened the tournament with a 16-5 victory over the host 19-7 West Los Angeles Wildcats, then topped the Butte College Roadrunners 17-6 in the semifinals. Gary Peterson and Pete Dearborn homered in the first game while Cooper Amyx picked up the mound victory in a relief role. Dearborn later suited up with the semi-pro Davis Red Sox. The Niners tallied 20 hits in both games raising their team batting average to .364. The win sent the 49ers into the tournament final pitted against the state's #1 rated Division 1 team, the 25-2 Dons from Santa Ana College. Yuba's ace pitcher Jim McDonald pitched eight innings and suffered a tough 8-7 loss as the Niners threatened in the 9th, only to strand runners at 2nd and 3rd. Bob Acey led the tournament in hitting by collecting eight hits in three games while Joe Slaven added three triples. Yuba scored 40 runs with 52 hits during the tournament and turned 10 double plays which tied a school record with 25 for the season.
Despite Yuba's failure to win a state title, the 1980 team recorded several milestones and accomplishments. First baseman Bob Noreen hit safely in 25 straight games, an all-time Yuba record and became Yuba's only player to be named to the All-State team twice, while third baseman Jim Pappas recorded 41 base-on-balls, also an all-time record. Jim Stassi set several Yuba records -- Most Runs Scored (51), Most RBI's (41), Most Hits (69), Most AB's (155), while his eight triples are shared as an all-time Yuba record. His .716 slugging percentage ranks as Yuba's third-best of all-time. Mark Cartwright's 12 single-season victories tied a school record while his .923 winning percentage remains as Yuba's best all-time. His 20 strikeouts in a playoff game is a Yuba record and could be a state record for a postseason game. His 105 strikeouts in 96 innings or 1.09/inn. (9.84/9inn.) ranks as Yuba's 5th best. He is one of only three Yuba pitchers to win two postseason games.
Yuba's lead-off batter Mondell Williams was drafted out of McClatchy High School of Sacramento in the 27th round of the 1978 annual June Draft and again in the 1st round of the 1979 January Draft-Secondary Phase while attending Sacramento City College. After attending Yuba, Williams enrolled at the University of Nevada at Reno and later played semi-pro baseball for the Boomtown, Nevada Truckers where he was named Top Hitter at the prestigious Kamloops International Baseball Tournament, one of North America's top semi-pro tourneys.
Pitcher Dave Chiono was drafted in the 2nd round of the 1980 January Draft-Regular Phase and again in the 1st round of the June Draft-Secondary Phase. He opted to attend the University of California where he posted an 11-11 record over the course of two years and was a was a member of the 1981 Santa Maria Indians who qualified for the National Baseball Congress semi-pro World Series in Wichita, Kansas. The Indians won the National tournament in 1982. Chiono ended his playing career pitching three seasons with Castenaso (4-7, 3.72 ERA in 1984) in the Italian Leagues and was a member of the Italian National team that competed in the 1986 Olympics.
Mark "Hoss" Cartwright was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 2nd round of the 1980 January Draft-Regular Phase. He spent five stellar seasons at the minor league level advancing as high as AA before a fluke off-season knee injury limited his professional career. He combined to win 46 games, losing only 25 for a career .648 winning percentage while posting a career 3.23 earned run average. Cartwright's best years as a professional came in 1981 when he posted a 15-4 record with a 3.37 ERA for the class A Greensboro Hornets of the South Atlantic League at age 20, and in 1982 when he went 12-2 with a 3.04 ERA for the Visalia Oaks of the class A California League where he was a roommate of Kirby Puckett in the Minnesota Twins organization. Cartwright spent one final season pitching as a pro in Italy.
GARY HOWARD
Roger Stam---Harold Swanson
Dist. 4 Legion Champs, 1953
MONDELL WILLIAMS
ALL-TIME BEST
TEAM AVERAGES
YR. AVG. RECORD
1984 .349 29-11
2002 .349 24-20
1972 .334 17-11
1988 .330 13-16
1980 .328 34-7
IRON MIKE
DENNIS GALLAGHER
YUBA ALL-TIME STRIKEOUT LEADERS
K'S/9INN. YR. SO
DAVE ROTTMAN 11.08 1970 160
DAN WRIGHT 10.86 1967 107
DAVE ROTTMAN 10.55 1969 109
MARK CARTWRIGHT 9.84 1980 105
JOHN STAM 9.58 1969 115
JIM McDONALD 6.73 1984 118
JOHN STAM
BOB NOREEN
BILL MOONEYHAM
2.53
2.92
2.70
2.83
2.11
0.98
8.90
2.79
DAVE ROTTMAN
COACH ENGELKEN
WARREN
BRUSSTAR
Yuba catcher Jim Stassi accepted a scholarship to the University of Nevada at Reno where he compiled a career .381 batting average (2nd best all-time) with 15 home runs during his two years at Reno. In 1981, Stassi hit .362 and set school records for At Bats (229), RBI's (62), Games Played (61) and was named Northern California Baseball Association MVP. That summer, Stassi suited up for the semi-pro Humboldt Crabs and competed in Wichita, Kansas at the UBC Nationals. In 1981, he hit .403 for the Wolfpack (6th best all-time) and a year later, was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 17th round of the 1982 June Draft. At age 23, Stassi hit .270 with 189 at-bats for the Fresno Giants of the class-A California League. The following season, Stassi began at Shreveport of the AA Texas League where he hit .273 before advancing to the AAA level where he hit .278 with 97 at-bats. During his 2-year career with the Giant's organization, Stassi hit .273 with four home runs in 300 at-bats. Stassi is one of only three 49er's, and the only non-pitcher ever to reach the AAA level. No Yuba baseball player has ever reached the major leagues.
DAVE ROTTMAN
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