By Jeff Dahn

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- It just wasn't the time, not quite the right moment. On a cold, snowy early February Saturday morning in eastern Iowa, no one wanted to hear any worn-out cliché about "California Dreamin'."

But, man, it was tempting.

The scene unfolded at Hennessey Recreation Center on the Mount Mercy campus, and the Mustang baseball team was readying to board a bus for Minneapolis where the next day it would play its season opener against Morningside at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the former home of the Minnesota Twins.

There are 16 native Californians on the 2010 Mount Mercy roster. And as the left-coasters mingled with teammates, joked with coaches and prepared to climb on a bus that would take them even farther north from their hilltop Mount Mercy campus, California was far from their minds.

Just ask center fielder Matt Mercier, a senior out of Inglewood, Calif., by way of El Camino College (Calif.), how he ended up landing in Cedar Rapids and how feels about being here.

"It was kind of last minute," Mercier said. "It was about a month before school started and I got a call from Coach (Desi) Druschel and I'm here now."

His wide smile told the whole story about how happy he is.

"I like it out here. I like the school, the people are nice," Mercier said. "I just like the city -- minus the winters."

Mercier should know this winter has worn even the Iowa natives raw. But with about two weeks until pitchers and catchers report to major league spring training camps and college seasons already under way, baseball fans are beginning to feel the blood pulsing through their veins.

And this could be a breakthrough season for the Mustangs, who for the first time are picked by league coaches to win the Midwest Collegiate Conference championship after finishing as runner-up two out of the last four years. Mount Mercy qualified for the NAIA regional tournament seven times since 1999, but last won a conference title in 1992.

Coach Desi Druschel, a 1998 Mount Mercy graduate from Vinton who is in his fifth year as the Mustangs' head coach, is taking an optimistic but somewhat guarded approach to the season.

"We're excited about being picked to win the league," Druschel said. "It's nice to be picked, but at the same time we haven't won anything. But if I had to choose between being picked first or last, I would definitely want to be first, and we feel like we're building on something that has been going on for a few years now."

Mount Mercy finished 27-24 last season (16-7 MCC) and returns four first-team all-conference picks from that team. That includes junior right-handed starting pitcher Derrick Weber of Waterloo, one of 12 Iowans on the roster.

Weber earned NAIA All America honorable mention recognition last season after going 9-1 with a 2.72 ERA. He was named to the NAIA Baseball Preseason All-America Team in November, a team that included 17 players and was selected by the NAIA All-America Selection Committee.

"It's a pretty special honor, but I'd rather get the recognition at the end of the season than at the beginning of the season," Weber said. "I just have to make sure that I try my best that I'm listed at the end of the season, as well."

Weber leads the pitching staff, and he will be joined on the field by a team that is extremely strong up the middle, thanks to that California connection. With Rey Lopez at catcher, his twin brother Ryan Lopez at second, and Mercier patrolling center, Druschel can start three returning all-conference players at those three integral positions.

Ryan and Rey Lopez are natives of El Segundo, Calif., and like Mercier found their way to Mount Mercy coming out of El Camino College. Ryan Lopez is a slick fielding second baseman who was named to the 2009 Rawlings-NAIA Gold Glove Team after committing only four errors in 230 chances last season.

"To me, I'd play defense every inning. I'd rather not hit -- I don't really care," Ryan Lopez said. "I like defense with nine guys (out there) rather than just one guy being out there on offense all the time."

Rey Lopez, a senior like his twin brother, is one of the top catchers in NAIA. He is proud of the work relationships he has developed with the Mustang pitching staff.

"They all listen really well, they trust me, they trust Coach." he said. "We practice a lot together, we've (faced) a lot of live hitters together. I like working with them. They're fun, they're smart, they know what to do and they train real hard."

Rey Lopez was the Mustangs' top hitter last season, batting .365 with five home runs and 36 RBI. Mercier hit .329 with a pair of home runs, 24 RBI and 24 stolen bases.

Players like the Lopez brothers and Mercier are just three examples of how successful Druschel has been in mining the California junior college system. That system produces more high quality players than their home state can absorb and the juco baseball programs in California are separate from all the other juco programs in the country.  They even have their own "world series."

"There are a lot of good baseball players in their junior college system," Druschel said. "There's not even close to enough four-year seats on (college) baseball teams. So guys who are pretty serious about baseball and who are pretty good, they have to travel out of state. There just isn't enough room out there for everyone to stay in-state."

That doesn't mean Druschel ignores his home state. His roster includes senior infielder Peter Dietrich from Mount Vernon and junior outfielder/pitcher Eric Bearbower, who was a teammate of Weber's at Waterloo Columbus High School.

The Mustangs were originally scheduled to open their season Jan. 31 in Austin, Texas, but games against 14th-ranked Wayland Baptist (Texas) and Huston-Tillotson (Texas) were cancelled due to heavy rain in Austin. They instead opened play with a doubleheader against Morningside at the Metrodome, and split the twin-bill.

Mount Mercy won't play again until it travels to Chickasha, Okla., for a pair of games against Science & Arts (Okla.) Feb. 19-20. Upcoming spring trips include bus rides to Branson, Mo.; Baldwin City, Kan.; St Louis, Mo.; Henderson, Tenn.; Jackson, Tenn.; and Pulaski, Tenn.

The Mustangs open MCC play March 27 against Iowa Wesleyan at Mount Pleasant. Mount Mercy plays its home games at Cedar Rapids Xavier High School.

The season holds promise.

"We have high expectations," Mercier said. "We have a lot of people coming back from last year so we basically have the same team from last year, and we had a pretty good year. We're just trying to go out and have the season we know we can have."