UC Santa Barbara head coach Andrew Checketts works in the dugout before the start of their baseball game against UC Riverside on Friday, April 26, 2013 in Riverside. (Stan Lim/Staff Photographer)
Congrats to former UC Riverside pitching coach Andrew Checketts, whose UC Santa Barbara team won its first NCAA tournament game since 2001 today.
I’m sure Checketts remembers his last time in the NCAA tournament with UCR. It was 2007 in an elimination game against Nebraska and head coach Doug Smith was ejected for arguing balls and strikes on the very first Husker batter. Assistant Randy Betten took over and was ejected the next inning for arguing a call at first base.
That left Checketts in charge. UCR went on to lose what turned into an ugly game. I’m not sure if Checketts was officially charged with the loss, but he should get credit for lasting the remainder of the game, an 11-1 loss.
