THIS WEEK
Fri. at UC Riverside @ 7:00 p.m. Listen(No
GameTracker)
Sat. at UC Riverside @ 6:00 p.m. Listen
| (No GameTracker)
Sun. at UC Riverside @ 1:00 p.m. Listen(No GameTracker)
CAL STATE FULLERTON BASEBALL
Current Record (40-13 overall, 15-3 Big West Conference)
Record Last Week: 3-1
Current Streak: Won 1
Record Last Five Games: 4-1
Record Last 10 Games: 8-2
LAST WEEK'S RESULTS
Win, 5-4 vs University of San Diego on May 17 at Goodwin Field
Win, 7-2 vs. No. 10 Long Beach State on May 20 at Goodwin Field
Loss, 1-5 vs. No 10 Long Beach State on May 21 at Goodwin Field
Win 10-0 vs No. 10 Long Beach State on May 22 at Goodwin Field
TITANS ON THE AIR: Cal State Fullerton
baseball games will be broadcast live on www.titansports.org. Follow the
play-byplay action with Justin Alderson, Todd Reeves and Mel Franks for
the remaining three games of the regular season. Due to insufficient
phone lines, GameTracker will be unavailable for this weekend’s
series.
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For the 14th consecutive season, the No. 1-ranked Titans are going to
the NCAA Championship Tournament where they will try for the third time
to advance to Omaha to defend a national championship (the 1985 team failed
to make the playoffs). They clinched the NCAA berth last Sunday with a
10-0 win over No. 10-ranked Long Beach State. They will learn this Sunday
if they are hosting and on Monday morning in which four-team bracket they
have been placed.
The Titans need one more victory or a loss by Cal Poly SLO to capture
outright the Big West Conference championship, of which they already have
claimed half. By virtue of a 2-to-1 series win over Cal Poly, Fullerton
clinched the automatic NCAA berth. Fullerton plays at UC Riverside while
the Mustangs are facing off with UC Irvine this weekend.
After the 1979 national title, the 1980 Titans were eliminated in a regional
tournament at Arizona. After the 1995 championship, the 1996 Titans were
eliminated in a regional tournament at Wichita State.
TOURNAMENT TALK: The Titans will be making their 27th
NCAA Regional appearances in their 31-year Division I history and have
not missed the playoffs since 1991. Their 14-year run is the fifth-longest
active streak in the nation. The only schools with longer current streaks
of consecutive NCAA post-season play are Miami (32 times prior to 2005),
Florida State (27), Clemson (18) and LSU (16). Fullerton has advanced
to Omaha 13 times, with College World Series titles in 1979, 1984, 1995
and 2004.
UC RIVERSIDE HIGHLANDERS: UC Riverside is trying to salvage
a winning season in its first year under Coach Doug Smith, who is completing
his first season after a long tenure as an assistant to the venerable
Jack Smitheran, who retired after last season. The Highlanders are 25-26
overall and 9-9 in the Big West, in a tie for fourth place with UC Irvine.
Two years ago, UCR swept the No. 1-ranked Titans in Riverside by scores
of 13-3, 4-3 and 5-1. The Titans went on to win 12 of their remaining
17 games to finish in a tie for third at the College World Series with
an overall record of 50-16 while the Highlanders were eliminated in the
NCAA Regional Tournament at Stanford and finished 41-17. UCR is coming
off a series loss to Cal Poly, 4-7, 8-2, and 6-16 in San Luis Obispo.
PRIOR MEETINGS: The Titans have a 15-9 all-time record
against the Highlanders since their first meeting in 1978. The two squads
have never met in the postseason. The Highlanders are currently leading
the Titans 5-4 in meeting in Big West play. The Titans took two-of –three
in 2002 (Riverside’s first year in the Big West), were swept in
2003, then won the series 2-1 in 2004.
LAST WEEK: Fullerton last weekend avenged its only series loss
of the 2005 season by beating Long Beach State twice in a 3-game Big West
series that drew a Goodwin Field record of 10,355 fans and included sellouts
of 3,554 on both Friday and Saturday nights. Ricky Romero (11-4) out-dueled
Caesar Ramos (10-6) in the Friday night contest for a 7-2 win. Justin
Turner's 2-run single was the big blow. On Saturday, Marco Estrada and
three relievers handcuffed the Titans for a 5-1 win by the 49ers.
That set the stage for Sunday's rubber game. A Long Beach win would have
pulled the 49ers to within a half game of the Titans and forced Fullerton
to win at least two games at Riverside to prevent Long Beach from capturing
the automatic NCAA berth. Instead, the Titans got the win that eliminated
Long Beach from contention for both the automatic berth and the conference
title. Scott Sarver (9-2) came through in a "huge" game for
the fourth time in 12 months (two NCAA elimination games in 2004 and the
rubber game at Cal Poly) and the offense exploded on Jared Hughes, who
had limited the Titans to 4 hits in a complete-game victory in the friendlier
confines of Blair Field back in late March. Danny Dorn drove in four runs
and joined Sergio Pedroza and Blake Davis in the 2-run home run club for
the day. Vinnie Pestano pitched the final two innings and ran his scoreless
streak to 19 innings to secure Sarver's sixth consecutive conference victory.
ROMERO A SEMI-FINALIST FOR THREE NATIONAL AWARDS: The
field of candidates for the Brooks Wallace Award, the Roger Clemens Award
and the Xanthus-Dick Howser Trophy were reduced to a semi-finalist list
this past weekend with Cal State Fullerton pitcher Ricky Romero (East
Los Angeles, Calif.) included on all three lists. Romero is currently
11-4 with a 2.57 ERA and is coming off of a huge win this weekend over
No. 10 Long Beach State. His 11 wins tie him for the conference lead in
wins while posting a 4-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (120-to-29).
The Wallace Award, in its second year, was narrowed down to 13 semi-finalists
who are vying for the award given to the nations top collegiate baseball
player by the College Baseball Foundation based in Lubbock, Texas. Three
finalists will be announced following the Super Regional on June 16 with
the winner of the award being named in a televised ceremony on the Fox
Sports Network on June 30.
Also created in 2004, The Clemens Award honors the nation’s top
college pitcher and is awarded by The Greater Houston Baseball Association
based out of Houston, Texas. The Clemens watch list was reduced to 10
semi-finalists on May 20 and will be reduced again before the winner is
chosen on July 14.
The Xanthus-Dick Howser Trophy is in its 19th year of existence and celebrates
the nation’s top college baseball player based on his performance
on the field, leadership, moral character and courage. The award given
by The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association will be announced
at the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska on Jun 17.
PAIR OF TITANS NAMED PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Justin Turner and Scott
Sarver have earned conference Player and Co-Pitcher of the Week respectively
based on their outstanding athletic efforts this past week.
Turner, a junior form Lakewood, Calif., was as hot as any Titan this year
over a four-game period hitting .647 (11-for-17) en route to the 3-1 week
over San Diego and No. 10 Long Beach State. “Red” had five
more hits than his next closest teammate in the four games. Turner pinch-hit
for the injured Felipe Garcia on Senior Day and finished up as the designated
hitter, his first time in that role this season. He did nothing but go
4-for-5 including three doubles, a single, a sac-bunt and a stolen base
against the Torero pitching staff to lead the Titans to a 5-4 non-conference
victory on Tuesday afternoon. Turner was instrumental in the Titans series
win over Long Beach State going 7-for-12 with three RBI and two stolen
bases over the weekend. Turner contributed greatly with his glove as well
helping a solid Titan defense with numerous dazzling defensive plays leading
to a 1.000 fielding percentage in 19 touches of the ball.
Sarver, a senior form Covina, Calif. picked up his sixth straight conference
win on Sunday afternoon working seven scoreless innings of four-hit baseball
striking out two to help the Titans clinch at least a tie for their 21st
Big West Conference championship and improve his record to 9-2. Sarver
was dominant in the strike zone, using just 78 pitches to take care of
No. 10 Long Beach State for the title on his home field. On Senior Day,
on May 17, Sarver started the game working two additional scoreless innings
on a designated “staff day” allowing just one hit in the Titans’
win over San Diego. Sarver’s .818 winning percentage is tops among
Fullerton starters.
AMAZING DEPTH The Titans have been atop the national
polls for the fourth consecutive week showing the tremendous depth of
27 returning players from a national championship team a year ago. Fullerton
has climbed to the top and stayed there despite losing five players for
extended periods of time due to injury. Bobby Andrews was lost for almost
an entire month with a hamstring injury and just played his first game
back Friday night versus Long Beach State. Fullerton has also gone without
three former Freshman All-Americans for a good portion of the year. Dustin
Miller and Clark Hardman both out for the entire season with shoulder
injuries were joined for approximately five an a half weeks by Ryan Schreppel
who missed six starts with a knee injury suffered covering first base
at Long Beach State back in March. Felipe Garcia, a member of last year’s
College World Series All-Tournament Team, broke his foot prior to make-up
games with USC on April 20. Garcia was scheduled to get his cast off Monday
in hopes to be activated for the weekend series with UC Riverside. Schreppel,
Garcia and Andrews are presumed healthy and are scheduled to make the
25-man playoff rosters.
AROUND THE HORN:
• A Winning Tradidtion: Fullerton, with its 30th win of the year
on Sunday Apr. 24 against UC Davis, marked the 31st Div. I season in a
row that the Titans have reached the 30-win plateau. Fullerton has never
had a losing season since 1975 with a 30-27 overall record by Larry Cochell’s
1989 Titans being the lowest win total in the program’s history.
With two victories last weekend versus Long Beach, the Titans captured
their 21st 40-win season.
• With a win on Sunday versus No. 10 Long Beach State the Titans
clinched at least a tie for the Big West Conference championship with
Cal Poly and will advance to the NCAA tournament with the automatic berth
having beat the Mustangs two out of three in their season series. It is
the 14th consecutive year that Fullerton has reached the NCAA tournament.
This marks the 21st conference title for Cal State Fullerton.
• Ninth-year Head Coach George Horton picks up at least a share
of his sixth conference championship with the series victory over No.
10 Long Beach State. Horton, 51, is just four wins shy of his 400th career
victory.
• Sophomore catcher John Curtis is last in batting average among
everyday players, hitting at just .244 in 53 games. But his RBIs seem
to pack a punch, as the Titans are 17-1 when Curtis drives in a run.
• The Titans have played just two extra inning affairs all season.
Coincidentally the two games that needed extra frames were against teams
from San Diego. On May 3 the Titans won a 4-3 game against Tony Gwynn’s
Aztecs of San Diego State on ESPN 2 in eleven innings. May 17, Fullerton
played its longest game of the year when they took the University of San
Diego 13 frames before pulling out the 5-4 win in just under five hours.
• The Titans are winners of 14 of their last 16 games going into
their final series this weekend against UC Riverside. Over that 16-game
period, the team has out-scored their opponents 109-48 by hitting .285
overall. Justin Turner leads the team in hitting (.419), Hits (26) doubles
(6), RBI (13), slugging (.581) and stolen Bases (26). From the mound,
Both Ricky Romero and Scott Sarver have been a perfect 4-0 (8-0 combined)
allowing just 7 earned runs in over 60 innings of work, with Vinnie Pestano
tossing 19 consecutive scoreless innings out of the pen with 18 strikeouts.
• Fullerton, with three games televised this past weekend, improved
their regular season TV record to 5-2 after taking two-of three from Long
Beach State this past weekend. KVMD (FRI), CSTV (SAT) and Fox College
Sports (Sun) televised the weekend series. The Titans‚ other wins
have come against Tulane (COX), UC Davis (COX) and San Diego State (ESPN
2) with their other loss coming to USC (KVMD).
• Since April 20 Vinnie Pestano has been almost un-hittable. In
19 innings of work the side-armer has allowed only four hits not allowing
a single run to cross home plate. Last week the reliever made three appearances
lasting six innings, giving up just one single. In a majority of the games
during the streak, Pestano has appeared in games that are either tied
or within 1-to-2 runs. Prior to his scoreless three-inning outing versus
San Diego on May 17, Pestano had quite the week (May 3-8), getting three
opportunities to shine, he managed them all with dominance. Pestano pitched
his longest outing of the year on May 3, on national TV. He went a season-high
3.2 innings of scoreless baseball earning the win as Evan McArthur singled
in the winning run in the bottom of the 11th. Pestano then notched his
ninth and tenth saves on Friday and Sunday in both Titan 3-1 victories.
Pestano finished the week with 7 scoreless innings pitched, eight strikeouts
while surrendering just two hits. Over his 19-inning scoreless streak,
Vinnie is 1-0 with five saves with opponents hitting just .069 against
him.
• Getting Results: Senior Scott Sarver has strung together seven
impressive outings improving his record to 9-2 – actually a better
winning percentage (.818) than Ricky Romero. In his last seven starts,
Sarver has gone 6-0 with a 1.29 ERA. In 42.0 innings of work he has given
up just six earned runs while striking out 24. His only no decision came
on Tuesday, May 17, versus San Diego where he pitch only 2.0 innings due
to a pre-determined “staff” effort on Senior Day. In his last
two outings, Sarver has downed both Long Beach State and Cal Poly in key
rubber-match games to help lead the Titans to the automatic NCAA berth.
• Evan McArthur is Coach Horton’s ace in the hole as he is
hitting .467 (7-for-15) coming off the bench as a pinch hitter for Coach
Horton. Justin Turner and Blake Davis, normally starters have also come
through when coming off the bench. Turner is 3-for-4 (.750) while Davis
is 3-for -5 (.600).
• The Titans are 15-3 in conference with two Titans standing out
offensively in conference play. Blake Davis and Sergio Pedroza have skippered
the offensive ship with their .448 and .444 respective batting averages.
Davis (30) has collected six more hits than Pedroza (24) over the 18-game
span knocking 5 doubles and 4 triples. Pedroza has also hit five conference
doubles, but has also blasted 4 home runs to tie for the team lead. Both
Davis and Pedroza have done their share of scoring runs as they share
the team-lead with 20. From the mound, the starting pitching has been
fabulous going a combined 14-3 between Ricky Romero (5-1), Wes Roemer
(4-2) and Scott Sarver (5-0) who leads the starters with a 1.38 ERA. Romero
has struck out 45 hitters in 46.2 innings to lead the Titan staff that
carries just over a three-to-one strikeout to walk ratio. Fullerton’s
team ERA in conference is 2.35.
BIG WEST STATISTICS
• Fullerton leads the conference with a .309 team batting average
followed by Cal Poly (.299) and UC Irvine (.294).
• Cal State Fullerton’s 3.34 team ERA is good for second in
the conference behind the 2.42 ERA that Long Beach State carries to lead
the nation.
• Sergio Pedroza is fourth in conference with a .350 batting average
while he leads the league in RBI with 48. Pedroza also ranks third in
home runs (13), third in total bases (116), third in walks (30), second
in slugging (.655), second in on base percentage (.482), and second in
getting hit (16).
• Blake Davis is second, one shy of the lead behind Cal Poly’s
Brandon Roberts in Triples, with 7.
• Danny Dorn is tied for the conference-lead in walks (39)
NATIONAL STATISTICS:
• The Titans have the tenth-best fielding percentage in the nation
with a .975 average. In 53 games the Titans have committed just 51 errors
as a team.
• Blake Davis is tied for 17th in triples with his seven three-base
hits, good for .13 triples per game. Large-in-part to Davis’ efforts,
the Titans as a team rank 11th in the country in triples.
• Ricky Romero is tied for 6th in victories with 11. Both he and
Cal Poly’s Garrett Olsen hold the No. 6 spot in the country.
• Reliever Vinnie Pestano is tied for 24th in the nation in saves
with 10.
CHALLENGER CLINIC: On April 27 the entire Cal State Fullerton
baseball team participated in a two-hour clinic featuring the Yorba Linda
Challenger Little League. Between 50-100 disabled youngsters came to Goodwin
Field to go through drills (hitting, fielding, pitching, throwing catching)
and share a pizza dinner with all the players and coaches. KOCE-TV (Channel
50 in Orange County) aired a report on the clinic Friday night (Apr. 29)
at 6:30 and 11 pm with Rick Mielke reporting. The Orange County register
was also there covering the event for Saturday morning’s edition.
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
PREDICTIONS: Baseball America has looked into their crystal
ball and have predicted that 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 one 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,
who dropped out of the Top 25 for the first time since 1993, 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 Division 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... In 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 Fishel, 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 Rice. 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.
