The Titans retained their No. 4 status this week by taking two out of
three from the Rebels at UNLV. Fullerton (8-2) had a midweek tune-up in
San Diego prior to coming home to play host to Nevada, Oklahoma and UCLA
this weekend for the Kia Baseball Bash. Fullerton used 19 hits and 18
runs to take care of Tony Gwynn’s San Diego State Aztecs on Tuesday.
Brett Pill was 4-for-5 with a home run and five RBI to lead the team.
THE KIA BASH: The Kia Baseball Bash has been has brought
some of the nations top teams to Southern California over the years with
the likes of Wichita State, Tennessee, Miami, Texas and Tulane coming
to Fullerton for the three days of baseball. The Bash, in its sixth year
brings back last years champion Oklahoma Sooners who went undefeated to
take home the trophy. In the five prior round-robin style tournaments,
Cal State Fullerton has garnered four Most Outstanding pitcher awards
including last years recipient Ricky Romero. Oklahoma has the chance to
become only the second team to win the Kia Bash twice (Fullerton is the
other team) in the tourney’s short existence.
PRIOR MEETINGS: The Titans will have a rare meeting with
a team that has a winning record against them. Oklahoma comes into the
Kia with a 4-3 all-time edge over the Titans with the Sooners taking the
last two games. Fullerton is also 0-1 all time in the post-season, with
the loss coming in the 1975 CWS.... CSF has a 29-7 edge over the Wolf
Pack dating back to 1986. The Titans are riding a modest four-game winning
streak having most recently swept the Wolf Pack in a series at Goodwin
Field in 2003... Against the Bruins, Cal State Fullerton is 41-21-2 in
games dating back to 1975 with Fullerton 2-1 in post-season play. Last
season UCLA took both games from the national champs in their annual two
meetings.
STREAK SNAPPED: Ryan Schreppel’s streak of 16 consecutive
scoreless innings came to an end as Adam Jorgenson and Lauren Gagnier
couldn’t mop up a leadoff single and a walk that he had left for
them in the seventh inning. The scoreless streak dated back to the fifth
and sixth innings of his first start against Stanford on Feb. 5. Schreppel
then posted eight innings of scoreless baseball against Fresno St. on
Feb. 12. So far Schreppel has allowed just 4 earned runs in his 20 innings
of work, good for a 1.80 ERA.
“FLIP” FANTASIA: He’s back. Designated
hitter Felipe Garcia broke out of a 1-for-18 (.056) slump with a 4-for-5
night against UNLV on Feb. 25. Garcia collected a pair of doubles and
singles while driving in a two. He finished the weekend as the Titans’
hottest hitter, hitting .462 (6-for-13), with two doubles, four RBI with
four runs scored. He added to his hot-hitting by going 3-for-5 with three
RBI and 2 runs scored in the 18-8 pounding of San Diego State. In the
last four games Garcia has jumped his overall batting average from .056
to .278.
BACK ON TRACK: Due to the rainy weather in Southern California
the past few weeks, Scott Sarver had missed his last two Sunday starts.
This past weekend at UNLV, he got back on track by pitching seven innings
of shutout baseball, in his longest outing of the year. He retired 10
of the last 11 batters he faced striking out seven. For that performance,
he earned Co-Big West Conference Pitcher of the Week honors.
BASH BROTHERS? Traditionally middle infielders don’t
pack much punch with the stick, but junior second baseman and sophomore
shortstop Blake Davis flexed their muscles this weekend versus the Rebels
at UNLV. “Red” Turner flexed his Saturday afternoon as he
hit two solo blasts out of Earl E. Wilson Stadium. The second of the two
was a “no-doubter” that actually allowed Red to strut his
home run trot. Turner isn’t quite used to making the round trip
as he had one career homer in 498 previous at bats. His double play partner
Davis, blasted his third career home run, and a big one at that. Davis’
homer came in the top of the fifth inning with the bases loaded. Davis
took the Matt Luca offering over the right field wall to give the Titans
a 4-0 lead en route to a 8-0 final score.
STREAKERS: No, not that kind of streaker... Senior Ronnie
Prettyman and sophomore Brett Pill have some modest hitting streaks going
right now. Prettyman has hit safely in the past nine games while Brett
Pill has hit safely in all ten games this year. Both are atop the Titan
leader board in hitting with Prettyman leading the Big West Conference
at .459 and Pill not far behind at .409.
QUICK NOTE ON THE PEN: The Titan bull pen has only allowed
one earrned run in its last nine innings pitched (since the Saturdaygame
with UNLV) Only one earned run was allowed by John Estes and that cam
in the fourth inning of the San Diego State game on Mar. 1.
TITANS KEPT REBELS GROUNDED: The Titan pitching staff
allowed only two extra base hits on the weekend (both doubles) without
giving up a home run in the long-ball-prone Earl E. Wilson Stadium at
UNLV.
THREE LEFTS MAKE A RIGHT: The three Titan southpaws that
comprise the weekend rotation have been superb up to now. Ricky Romero,
Ryan Schreppel and Scott Sarver have compiled a 6-1 record with an ERA
under three. In 52.1 innings of work the trio has allowed just 17 runs
and struck out 51. Schreppel is leading the group with a 1.80 ERA while
Romero is taking care of the strikeout department, fanning 26 in his 21
innings ... If you take out Sarver’s bad outing vs. Stanford (.1
IP, 5 ER) the three lefties are 6-0 with a 2.08 ERA.
UNANIMOUS: The eight head coaches of the Big West Conference
teams have chosen Cal State Fullerton to take the conference title in
the annual preseason coaches poll. Cross-town rival Long Beach State was
listed as the unanimous
No. 2. The two teams have finished one-two the last two seasons with Long
Beach winning the conference in 2003.
2005 Coaches Poll Results
1. Cal State Fullerton 64 (8)
2. Long Beach State 56
3. UC Irvine 45
4. Cal Poly 35
5. UC Santa Barbara 33
6. UC Riverside 29
7. Pacific 15
8. Cal State Northridge 11
( ) First-place votes
TOURNAMENT TALK: The Titans have made 26 NCAA Regional
appearances in their 30-year Division I history and have not missed the
playoffs since 1991. Their 13-year run is the fifth-longest active streak
in the nation. Only Miami (32), Florida State (27), Clemson (18) and LSU
(16) have longer streaks. Fullerton has advanced to Omaha 13 times, with
College World Series titles in 1979, 1984, 1995 and 2004 .
WALLACE WATCH LIST: Cal State Fullerton junior Ricky
Romero (East Los Angeles, Calif.) has been named one of the 58 baseball
student-athletes on the 2005 Wallace Watch released by the College Baseball
Foundation. The Brooks Wallace Award (formerly the Smith Award) is presented
annually to the national college baseball player of the year in Lubbock,
Texas. Fullerton’s Kurt Suzuki was the 2004 recipient of the Wallace
Award in its inaugural year. The Wallace Watch List will be trimmed to
12 semi-finalists by May 24. Thelist will be narrowed down to three finalists
following the Super Regionals on June 16. The finalists, their head coaches,
and their parents will be invited to Lubbock, TX, for a golf tournament
and banquet. Dedicated to the memory of former Texas Tech shortstop and
assistant coach, Wallace was a slick-fielding shortstop at Texas Tech
from 1977 to 1980. In 1984 he was diagnosed with cancer and fought the
disease courageously until his death on March 24, 1985, at age 27.
CLEMENS WATCH LIST: Ricky Romero leads a list of 42 college
pitchers who have been named to the initial Watch List for the 2005 Roger
Clemens Award. The winner of the second annual honor, designating the
top pitcher in college baseball, will be announced on July 14 in Houston,
Texas. Additional nominees will be added to the ballot based on notable
performances and rankings in the NCAA statistical rankings. The Roger
Clemens Award was named after future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens, who
began his march to stardom while leading the University of Texas to the
College World Series title in 1983. The Roger Clemens Award is the only
award of its kind, honoring the finest pitchers in college baseball. The
second Clemens Award will be presented to the nation’s top college
pitcher at the conclusion of a gala dinner in Houston on July 14. All
Division I head baseball coaches will take part in the voting for the
honor, in addition to a selected panel of national media and all past
winners of the Rotary Smith Award, which was retired after the 2003 dinner
by the committee that is sponsoring the Clemens Award.
PREDICTIONS: Baseball America has looked into they Cal
State Fullerton will repeat as conference champions again in 2005 in their
annual conference preview. They have the Titans coming out on top with
Long Beach State and Cal Poly in tow, with all three teams heading to
postseason play. Junior lefty Ricky Romero's name was thrown around quite
a bit as he was predicted to be Pitcher of the Year as well as on of the
Big West's Top prospects in the 2005 MLB Draft. The preview also named
Titan freshman Jared Clark and junior Trevor Mortensen as Top Newcomers
to the conference with Clark as the Freshman of the Year. Juniors Justin
Turner, Danny Dorn, and Romero along with senior Ronnie Prettyman were
all predicted to make the all-conference team.
REPEAT OF 2004?: In a preseason survey of 160 Div. I
head coaches by Baseball America, 21 said that Cal State Fullerton would
repeat their 2004 performance and win the 2005 College World Series. The
Titans finished second in voting behind Texas who got 47 votes (almost
30 percent of the votes), including one from Titans skipper George Horton.
Stanford team came in third place with 20 votes.
WEARING RED WHITE AND BLUE: Junior Ricky Romero (East
Los Angeles, Calif.) went 3-1 with a 1.57 ERA in five starts as a member
of the 2004 USA Baseball National Team - helping the United States earn
a gold medal at the 2004 FISU World University Baseball Championships
in Tainan, Taiwan this past August.
RETURN of ROMERO: Preseason All-American Ricky Romero's 14 wins in 2004
is tops among returning Div. I pitchers. He is one of only eight returners
with 12 or more wins returning to help their team in 2005.
CLASH OF THE TITANS: Juniors Ricky Romero and Ryan Schreppel
combined for seven scoreless innings and eleven strikeouts as the 2005
baseball team defeated the Titan Alumni 4-1 on Jan. 29 at Goodwin Field
... Romero looked sharp going four innings allowing only two hits, one
of which came from former teammate Kurt Suzuki in the third inning. Romero
also stuck out the first four batters of the game including Reed Johnson
(Toronto), Mark Kotsay (Oakland) and Aaron Rowand (Chicago White Sox),
all current Major Leaguers... Bobby Andrews and Danny Dorn both went 2-for-2
with Andrews knocking in one of the Four Titan runs. Freshman Jared Clark
added a two-run single in the seventh inning to solidify the 2005 squad’s
lead ... Other current Major Leaguers on hand were Phil Nevin (San Diego),
Mike Lamb (Houston) and Chad Cordero (Washington) who pitched a scoreless
ninth inning...
DID YOU KNOW?: The Titans have never returned to Omaha
the season following a national championship. In 1980, the team lost two
games to Gonzaga at the Regional at Tucson – host Arizona went on
to win the national championship that year ... 1985 Fullerton won the
PCAA South and had to meet the winners of the North – Fresno State.
Fresno took two games in a row to win the conference and the automatic
bid to the Regionals ... That 1985 team saw the likes of seven Major Leaguers
(Mike Schooler, Mike Harkey, Larry Cassian, Jose Mota, John Fischel, Shane
Turner, and Kevin Reimer)... The 1985 team also had the No. 2 all-time
passer in professional football history in pitcher Damon Allen. He is
the No. 1 passer in CFL history... The 1996 team started off the season
with a bang taking the first 34 of their 42 games before hitting an inexplicable
slump that saw them lose 12 of their last 19 games. They snuck into the
Wichita State Regional by NCAA berth but were eliminated with losses to
Wichita State and Deleware. That team had three major leaguers (Mark Kotsay,
Jeremy Giambi, and Mike Lamb)...Cal State Fullerton has also never made
it to Omaha three consecutive years. And with trips to Nebraska in 2003
and 2004 for the big dance under their belt, 2005 would mark the first
time any Titan team would have accomplished that feat.
INJURY REPORT: 2003 All-American Dustin Miller will be
out most of, if not the entire season after undergoing shoulder surgery
to clean and tighten his right shoulder. He underwent the procedure in
November and will be out from six to nine months...Catcher Jon Wilhite
is still recovering from a collision with infielder Blake Davis in practice
where he was diagnosed with a contused spleen and a broken rib. Wilhite
is due for reevaluation any day now.
ATTENDANCE:
Home Attendance 11,066
Home Average Attendance 2,213
Home Dates 5
Away Attendance 4345
Away Average Attendance 869
Away Dates 5
Total Attendance 15411
Total Average Attendance 1541
HONOR ROLL: National Player of the Week
Louisville Slugger/Collegiate Baseball • Feb. 14
LHP’s Ricky Romero and Ryan Schreppel
Big West Pitcher of the Week
Scott Sarver • Mar. 1
Pre-season All Americans
Baseball America:
Ricky Romero, second team
Collegiate baseball:
Ricky Romero, first team
Felipe Garcia, third team
NCBWA:
Ricky Romero, first team
Justin Turner, third team
Danny Dorn, third team
