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The University of California baseball team's run in the College World Series came to an end Thursday, with an 8-1 loss to the University of Virginia. The defeat, however, doesn't overshadow a magical postseason for the Golden Bears, who began the 2011 campaign believing the season might be the last in program history.

The baseball team was one of five at the school that was cut in September as part of a plan to deal with state-wide budget cuts. But in April, more than a month into the season, the coaches and players learned that the program had been saved by a massive fundraising effort that brought in $9 million.

"It's been a year that has really taught them, as well as myself, a whole lot about human spirit," Head Coach David Esquer told the Associated Press following the loss to Virginia.

In other college news:

•Big Ten Conference Commissioner Jim Delany feels college baseball's current setup is unfair for northern teams. Some of Delany's ideas for leveling the playing field include adopting a national start date in March or April and continuing the season deeper into the summer, devaluing the RPI, and abandoning the current method of national seeding and returning to regional qualification for the College World Series.

Last summer, Delany even proposed increasing the College World Series field from eight to 10 teams, with the additional two spots reserved for cold-weather schools. The proposal was rejected. He's even shown interest in forming a new division for northern schools that competes for a separate national championship.

"It's a national pastime sport," Delany told the Omaha World-Herald. "But the college part of it is really not alive and well in the cold-weather parts of the country."

•For the first time in NCAA history, the individual national champions in men's and women's golf came from the same school. Louisiana State University freshman Austin Ernst won the women's title in Bryan, Texas, on May 21. She was then followed by senior John Peterson, who took the men's championship in Stillwater, Okla., on June 2.

"I couldn't believe that," Peterson told ESPN.com. "When someone told me that's never happened before, I was so surprised. There's not many things left that no school has done, and that's one of them. Austin and I have that to be proud of, for sure."

•A baseball player at Kecoughtan (Va.) High School was ejected from a game last month for wearing a necklace, leading to questions of whether the proper procedure for an ejection was followed. The school argued that the field umpire did not issue a warning to Head Coach Chad Ochsenfeld, which is required by NFHS rules. The player, Jake Cave, was warned directly and later ejected from the contest after he failed to remove the necklace.

But the head of the Peninsula Baseball Umpires Association, Gerald Compton, said the umpire's instructions to both coaches during the pregame meeting at home plate counts as a first warning.

"Both coaches were told all jewelry should come off," Compton told the Daily Press. "This is part of our standard (procedure) at the plate before any game. That serves as the first warning, because we have told them to make sure all jewelry is off."

Cave was also suspended for one game as a result of the ejection. He appealed the suspension, but was denied. Compton, Kecoughtan Principal Rashard Wright, and Susan Tilley, Principal at Woodside High School, Kecoughtan's opponent in the ejection game, each had a vote to overturn the suspension. Needing a unanimous decision, Wright and Tilley voted to overturn the ruling, but Compton voted to maintain the suspension.

"I felt that with the support of my colleague, Susan Tilley at Woodside, there was a clear indication that the voting parties thought a mistake was made," Wright told the Daily Press. "I'm just disappointed Compton didn't rule appropriately."

Mike Phelps is an Assistant Editor at Athletic Management.