What is ailing UCD baseball ? I remember hearing Sochor say that he was concerned about reports that UCSB might try to move its then D-III football program to D-II. At that time UCD was the only choice for D-II athletes who wanted to go to a UC and wanted to play football. As Socher said, "How am I going to get them to come to Davis after they've visited Santa Barbara?"
Personally I like Davis, but for a whole lot of people if you want to play sports at the Big West level, and go to a UC, do you go to Davis? Or to Santa Barbara, Irvine, Riverside and now San Diego? The weather? Proximity to family if you're from SoCal? Chance to play mid-week games at USC, UCLA, SDSU? I assume more exposure to MLB scouts? Disneyland? Tough sell.