USD Magazine, Summer 2002

One more rime, the players climbed aboard the roller coaster ride char was their season. They dropped the first game by a single run, bur roared back to rake the next game, 13-4. Confidently heading into the final game and needing a win to clinch the division ri rle, the Toreros were srunned to find themselves trailing 8 to O in the ninth

Toreros rhe West Division title. 0 n the weekend of the May 17-19 series, players huddled around their computers, scouring the Internet for updates, rooting on LMU, saying silent prayers. On Saturday, the baseball gods smiled - LMU topped Portland 8-5, and the Toreros had won the ride.

The fo llowing Tuesday the ream assem– bled at Cunningham Stadium to go back We didn't have a lot of superstars on this to work. The cham- team, so everyone had to contribute. - Senior Joe Lima pionship was at hand.

inning. Donning their rally caps, they scored five runs and had the eying run at rhe plate when rhe roller coaster broke down. USD lose, 8-5 . The Toreros had come a long way back from the brink, bur the ream's destiny was our of their hands. They finished tied for first place with Portland. Loyola Marymo unr University was scheduled to play its final three games against Portland, and by win– ning just one game LMU could drop Portland into second place and give rhe

No Torero player was better equipped to ride the emotional roller coaster of the 2002 season than David Bagley. The sophomore fin ished the season tied for third in the conference in both batting average and RBI, and led USD in home runs and slugging percentage. But a year earlier, the Rancho Bernardo High grad was wondering if he would ever play baseball aga in.

"The doctors never figured it out," Bagley says of the virus that ravaged him throughout the 200 l season, sapping his energy and causing him to lose 30 pounds. "At first I figured it was the flu , but after a while it was obvious something was pretty wrong ." For 14 months, Bagley struggled to attend classes, let alone play baseball. He was given a medical exemption by the team while he worked to regain the pounds, downing high-carb meals and spending long hours in the weight room - but to no avail. "There were times it got pretty scary," he says. "I kept wondering what was wrong and why doctor after doctor couldn 't help. Sometimes I didn't even worry about baseball, I just wondered if I would ever be normal again ." Incredibly, throughout the ordeal, Bagley made virtually every practice, even when his participation was limited to Cann izzaro hitting him a few ground balls on the side. lt(!)JW SWED !l IS Coach Rich Hill gave himself a few minutes to celebrate the championship with kids Lindsey and Robbie before getting back t o work.

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