Sat., June 12, 7:05 p.m. PDT
Windsor (10-4, 1.95) vs. Bogusevic (9-5, 3.70)
ESPN College Grand Slam (ESPN2)
KWRM AM-1370 | Listen Live
| Live
Stats
Sun., June 13, 6:05 p.m. PDT
Romero (11-4, 3.17) vs. Crowel (8-2, 3.33)
ESPN College Grand Slam (ESPN2)
KWRM AM-1370 | Listen Live
| Live
Stats
Sun., June 14, 4:05 p.m. PDT*
Martinez (8-2, 4.06) vs. tba
ESPN College Grand Slam (ESPN2)
KWRM AM-1370 | Listen Live
| Live
Stats
Cal State Fullerton (40-21) will host Tulane (41-19) in a best-of-three
NCAA Super Regional this weekend (Saturday-Monday) with a trip to the
College World Series at stake. The Titans have been to Omaha 12 times,
but will be trying for back-to-back trips for just the second time (1994-95).
Fullerton has won 14 of its last 17 home postseason games and has won
its last five postseason “rounds” at home: regional and super
regional titles in 2001 and 2003 and a regional title this year. The Titans
have won all three super regionals they’ve played in. Tulane will
be trying for its first trip to Omaha since 2001 (when they were eliminated
from the CWS by the Titans).
TITANS IN THE TOURNEY: Fullerton is making its 13th consecutive NCAA Tournament
appearance, the fifth-longest active streak in the nation. Only Miami
(32), Florida State (27), Clemson (18) and LSU (16) have longer streaks.
The Titans have missed qualifying for the tournament just four times in
their 30-year Division I history. They have advanced to Omaha 12 times
– including in three of the past five seasons – and captured
College World Series titles in 1979, 1984 and 1995. Last year, the Titans
came up one win short of advancing to the inaugural best-of-three championship
series. Fullerton is 101-54 (.652) all-time in the tournament and 6-2
(.750) in the super regional round.
IN THE POLLS: The Titans are nearly back to their No. 4 preseason ranking
after spending 10 weeks out of the polls. Baseball America has tabbed
Fullerton at No. 6 in its weekly poll, up three spots in one week. Fullerton
jumped eight spots to No. 5 in Collegiate Baseball and is 16th in the
Sports Weekly/ESPN coaches poll. Tulane is ranked 18th (Baseball America),
14th (Collegiate Baseball) and 25th (Sports Weekly/ESPN coaches).
ON THE AIR: All of the Titans’ NCAA super regional games will be
carried on ESPN2. Viewers in Southern California and Louisiana will see
all the action live while viewers outside of the area may need to purchase
the network’s College Grand Slam Package. Rich Cellini and Mike
McFarland will call the action for ESPN. In addition, each super regional
game will air live on KWRM AM-1370, a Corona-based station with a signal
that reaches well into North Orange County and the Inland Empire. Rob
Buska, formerly the voice of the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (an A-level affiliate
of the Anaheim Angels), will call the action. Additionally, every Titan
postseason game will be webcast over the Internet via QuickTime Player
at www.TitanSports.org. Fans and media can access the official Fullerton
Regional web site at http://www.titansports.org/baseball/2004/superregional.html.
REGIONAL IN REVIEW: For just the second time in the program’s 30-year
Division I history, the Titans won twice on the final day of a regional
to advance to the next round. The second-seeded Titans pounded No. 4 Pepperdine
on championship Sunday, outscoring the Waves, 31-4, in a pair of must-win
games. It was Pepperdine, however, that sent the Titans to the loser’s
bracket. After beating Minnesota, 7-1, in the opener behind Jason Windsor’s
seventh consecutive complete game, the Titans were stunned by Pepperdine,
which was twice down to its final strike. The Waves got a two-out, two-strike
single to tie the game in the ninth and Cory Brightwell hit a walk-off
homer in the 10th after Fullerton had scored twice in the top of the inning.
The Titans came back to hand Arizona State, the No. 7 national seed, just
its third shutout in 10 years with Mike Martinez going the distance. Scott
Sarver also went all nine in the first championship game, only to be outdone
by Windsor, who pitched six innings in the final game to bring his 48-hour
total to 15 innings. Windsor was named the regional’s Most Outstanding
Player and was joined on the team by five other Titans, including Kurt
Suzuki, who blasted a pair of homers and drove in seven runs in the two
games on Sunday.
BOYD’S WORLD: Cal State Fullerton is ranked seventh in iterative
strength ratings (ISR’s) and 19th in ratings power index (RPI) according
to Boyd’s World (www.boydsworld.com), a web site that publishes
pseudo-RPIs and other ratings for college baseball. The ISR’s are
the results of an algorithm designed to measure the quality of a team’s
season to date by combining their winning percentage with the difficulty
of their schedule. Fullerton trails only Stanford, Texas, Arizona State,
Long Beach State, Miami and Washington in ISR’s. Fullerton’s
strength of schedule is rated seventh by the web site.
FROM THE TRAINING ROOM: Preseason All-American pitcher Dustin Miller underwent
arthroscopic surgery earlier this year and has missed the entire season.
Miller began experiencing shoulder pain during the winter.
