Back on Top: Titans are Unanimously No. 1 Mar. 22, 2005– Fullerton, CA
The defending national champion Cal State Fullerton baseball team has
jumped to the top of all three major polls after taking two out of three
from No. 9 Arizona last weekend. It is the first time since season’s-end
2004 that the Titans have held the top spot.
Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and Sports
Weekly/ESPN Coaches’ polls have unanimously granted Fullerton
(16-4) the top spot, previously held by Texas, which was swept by Baylor
last weekend.
Fullerton has won all five series they have played this season, and have
taken all three series’ played against ranked teams (Stanford, Tulane
and Arizona).
The Titans are hitting .355 with 26 home runs as a team with Ronnie Prettyman
(.442, 4 HR, 17 RBI, 6 SB), Sergio Pedroza (.361, 7 HR, 20 RBI, .736 SLG%),
and Brett Pill (.360, 5 HR, 24 RBI) leading the way offensively.
The Titans are scoring just over 9 runs per game by way of just over 13
hits per game. The Titans have been held to fewer than 11 hits on just
four occasions in their 20 games this season.
Southpaws Ricky Romero and Ryan Schreppel are dominating from the mound
going a combined 9-1, with 81 strikeouts in 82.1 innings. Romero’s
1.70 ERA leads the Titans with Schreppel right behind him at 1.80.
Fullerton’s pitching staff has allowed only a .217 batting average
against them while striking out more than twice as many batters as they
have walked (168:71)
No. 1 Cal State Fullerton is set to play cross-town rival Long Beach State
in a non-conference series this weekend (Thursday, Friday and Saturday
at 6:30 pm) at Blair Field before opening up Big West Conference play
against Dave Serrano’s UC Irvine team the following weekend at Goodwin
Field.
