Gators third baseman Gavin Haimovitz (7) reacts after arriving safely to second base after hitting a double in the bottom of the third inning during a baseball game between the SF State Gators and the Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros at Maloney Field in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, March 24, 2023. (Aaron Levy-Wolins / Golden Gate Xpress)
(Aaron Levy-Wolins)
Gators third baseman Gavin Haimovitz (7) reacts after arriving safely to second base after hitting a double in the bottom of the third inning during a baseball game between the SF State Gators and the Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros at Maloney Field in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, March 24, 2023. (Aaron Levy-Wolins / Golden Gate Xpress)
The SF State baseball team had its playoff run cut short after a strong regular season that resulted in a school record of 10 players earning all-conference honors.
The Gators finished the regular season with a 27-22 record but lost five of their last six games to make the fifth seed in the California Collegiate Athletic Association tournament. The Gators fell short with a first-round loss to Cal Poly Pomona.
“It was successful [the season]. I’m extremely proud of the group, I’m going to miss the seniors dearly,” said Head Coach Tony Schifano. “I’m going to miss the leadership but they’ve left a precedent for this next year’s group to go after for sure.”
The Gators’ 10 CCAA honors are a far cry from the two they had last season. The 10 honorees include outfielder Nick Upstill, who was the first Gator named to the first team since 2018.
Upstill said this accomplishment is a testament to how they’ve become stronger on the field and off compared to past seasons.
“I think a big part was just our team staying together. We had a lot of returners that came from the team last year. I think just everybody sticking together and trusting the process and trusting that you’re going to get good things out of trusting the process and staying together as a team,” said Upstill.
Gators center fielder Sammy Gonzales (10) reacts after beating out the throw to first base in the bottom of the fifth inning during a baseball game between the SF State Gators and the Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros at Maloney Field in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, March 24, 2023. (Aaron Levy-Wolins / Golden Gate Xpress) (Aaron Levy-Wolins)
Among the other honorees were Daniel Santos and Michael Cunningham on the second team and Kody Gardner, Justin Clark, Nathan Shinn, Matt Sugden, Gavin Haimovitz, Sammy Gonzalez and Gary Grosjean as honorable mentions. Gardner, first baseman and senior, said the switch flipped for the seniors at the beginning of the season.
“I think that was right at the beginning of the season because we, all the returners, knew that last season didn’t go as planned at all,” said Gardner. “No one really thought that was going to happen, but it did. So then I knew going into the season let’s make this better. Everyone embraced that, the new guys embraced it, the old guys embraced it and it was a very good collective team effort.”
“Keep Going” was the saying in the locker room for the team. Schifano said that it was holding on to this saying that got them through the phases of the season.
Upstill wrote it on red tape around his wrist before every game.
“There are some times during this season when I would have a game that didn’t meet my expectations and I would get really frustrated. The next game I would come out and do great,” Upstill said.
Upstill said it’s a saying that he’s gonna take and apply in every aspect of life.
“That’s what I noticed, this year was a big indicator for that, is just to keep going because you just can’t let the bad experiences get the best of you,” Upstill said.
“We were never out of a game, we always fought, [this is a] very, very gritty team with just a lot of love for each other, with very good team chemistry and everybody had each other’s backs. I think it was a great year and it makes me very optimistic for SF State baseball in the future too,” Upstill said.
Destiny Walker (she/her) is the online editor for Golden Gate Xpress. She is majoring in Journalism and minoring in Labor and Employment. She is from Sacramento, California, born and raised. This semester her beat will be about sports, but when she is not writing about sports she’s probably playing them. She grew up watching and playing sports so she loves to be active, whether that's a pickup basketball game or adventuring the great outdoors.
Aaron Levy-Wolins is a senior photojournalism student who specializes in portraiture. He has spent multiple semesters with the Golden Gate Xpress newspaper, working as a photographer. San Francisco Bay Area born and bred, his work has been published in SFBay, El Tecolote, and Broke-Ass Stuart. While his passion is photography, he loves watching movies and cooking. He plans to freelance and travel after graduation.
