Year of the Ram? Fresno City College baseball ready for title run

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The music is loud. And so are the aluminum bats at batting practice at Fresno City College.

FCC won its 18th conference title in record time under longtime head coach Ron Scott, who credits this team's ability to rely on each other to catapult the Rams to a 27-7 record this year.

"We've worked harder this year than we have in the past years. I think there are some younger coaches out there that kind of spurred me on a bit to get it going. We're getting complacent. I've been here 100 years, you know?" said Scott.

Maybe not 100. But 27 years in once place is certainly no pit stop.

This past offseason, Scott required his players to lift weights three times a week from August to December. It helped guys like ace Connor Brogdon get stronger on the mound in addition to building a stronger relationship with his teammates.

"Great chemistry. I've never been a part of a team that's been this close and we have like group texts going on our iPhones, and we all talk with each other. I've never been a part of this," added Brogdon.

Players here are reminded everyday of two things at Euless Park: the number of state championships on the left field wall, and the number of players to have made it to the major league's out in right.

There's one name Daniel Gardner knows well on that wall. The reigning NorCal Player of the Week would like to see his name there as well, but he'll settle for new paint in left.

"Yeah, you know, we just keep working on the things we've been working on all year. Nothing's different. We still come out here with the same mentality. We were working on bunt plays earlier, as you saw. We're just fine tuning, you know, getting ready to go," said Gardner.

Fresno City is expected to be the second seed in the NorCal Regional Playoffs. And FCC will host this year's state championship.

When the final out is called Memorial Day weekend, the Rams believe the steps they're taking now will lead them to their first state title since 1992.

"All I want to do is put a ball on that wall and win a state championship," said Brogdon.

"We want to take it one game at a time. One inning. One pitch. Because when you start looking ahead, that's when things can go wrong. We're just going to keep looking at one inning at a time and go from there," added Gardner.