Feather River Baseball Season Was One for the Books
The Feather River College baseball program has a trophy case full of accomplishments over the past few decades. Now, add two more milestones to the list.
The Golden Eagles won their first 3C2A State Championship game, and in doing so can claim King of the North status (both firsts). At the Final Four in Irvine, they defeated Ohlone College 11-9 to officially claim third place in the state.
That was the final chapter of the season, but there was much more to celebrate prior to that.
FRC finished 37-16 on the season and were 21-4 in the Golden Valley Conference, clinching the league title almost a month before the end of the regular season. It was FRC's 16th GVC championship in head coach Terry Baumgartner's 19 seasons. The Dirty Birds also now have 11 regional titles and four Super Regional championships under Baumgartner's leadership.
Ironically, when FRC began the year 4-6, Irvine was the furthest thing from Baumgartner's mind.
"I saw glimpses of the potential in between all the sickness and injuries we had to deal with throughout the season," Baumgartner said. "I knew we had the guys but with all we had to deal with throughout the season I just didn't know when it would click. So when we went on the 18-game winning streak in the middle of the season that gave our guys the confidence to succeed."
Yes, the 18-game run. After that 4-6 start, Baumgartner and the Golden Eagles righted the ship, running off 18 consecutive wins. In a span that covered 45 days, from February 12 to March 24, they did not lose.
During that run, and at many points during the season, the Dirty Birds showed this uncanny knack to rally back from deficits to win ball games late.
"This team had the ability to never give up," Baumgartner said. "They always put their heads down and found a way to win. We found several different ways to do that throughout the season and it started in the first weekend when we were down 13-0 to Merced in the fifth inning and came back to win that game. You kind of knew right then that we could have a special group and then it carried over in to the first half of conference play with the winning streak."
After clinching the conference title early, the challenge was to maintain the momentum into the postseason, which began a stretch of three straight weekends at the Eagles Nest in Quincy.
Each weekend was no walk in the park. The first series of games was a three-team slate versus Monterey Peninsula and American River, which FRC triumphed after dropping one of those games, putting their backs against the wall. The next weekend (May 7-9), they won two of three from Hartnell and then captured two of three against West Valley to earn the trip to southern California.
At the Great Park in Irvine, FRC lost to Palomar (6-2), defeated Ohlone (11-9) and ultimately lost to Santa Ana (12-3).
"This has to be one of the best all-time teams in FRC history" said Baumgartner, who has coached 19 FRC teams and assisted on another. "We had great chemistry with this group and they played hard for each other and found ways to win each week. I am super proud of what this group accomplished, capping it off by winning a game at the Final Four and being the last team in Northern California standing.
"My coaching staff did a great job preparing this group on a weekly basis. The support we received throughout the year from our administration, faculty, and staff at FRC was amazing all year long as well. And then you add in the parent support to this program and we really have something special going on at Feather River."
That "something special" included a 2026 team that helped further cement a winning foundation at the school in the mountains of northern California.
"This team lets all future teams know that anything is possible and even though we are a small town team we can play with anyone in the state," he added. "These players will never be forgotten as they etched their mark in Feather River Baseball history."