Cal State Fullerton Athletics Weekly
Update May 25-30, 2005
Titan Sports Calendar
Fri., May 27 Track & Field, at NCAA Western Regionals,
Eugene, OR,
Baseball, at UC Riverside, 7 p.m.
LIVE audio on the internet
Sat., May 28 Track & Field, at NCAA Western Regionals,
Eugene, OR,
Baseball, at UC Riverside, 6 p.m.
LIVE audio on the internet
Sun., May 29 Baseball, NCAA Regional Site Selections, ESPN,
12:15 p.m.
Baseball, at UC Riverside, 1 p.m.
LIVE audio on the internet
Mon., May 30 Baseball, NCAA Regional Site Brackets, ESPN,
8:30 a..m
Baseball (40-13, 15-3)... 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
Sunday with a 10-0 win over No. 10-ranked Long Beach State. They
will learn on 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.
The only schools with longer current streaks of consecutive NCAA post-season
appearances are Miami (32 times prior to 2005), Florida State (27), Clemson
(18) and LSU (16).
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.
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 and proudly proclaimed, "Who's No. 1 Now?" on their website.
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.
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) outdueled 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 victory. Fullerton now has totaled 40
or more wins 21 times.
On the accolades front, Romero gained the semifinals ballot for the Wallace
Award and the Xanthus-Dick Howser Trophy, each of which is presented to
the nation's top collegiate player, and the Roger Clemens Award, presented
to the top pitcher. Sarver and Turner earned Big West pitcher and
player of the week honors, respectively.
Outdoor Track and Field... The Titans will send only six athletes although seven are eligible
for the NCAA Western Regional Track and Field Meet at Eugene, Oregon,
on Friday and Saturday. Pole vaulter B. J. Vandrovec has a hand
injury that will keep the pole vaulter out of action.
Representing Fullerton on the men's squad will be long jumper Kurt Weber,
5000 meter runner Jordan Horn and high jumpers Jonathan Golden and Matt
Turner. On the women's side it will be 400 intermediate hurdler
Destany Cearley and pole vaulter Jennifer Clarke. The top 12 finishers
in each event plus high-ranking regular season qualifiers will advance
to the national championships at Sacramento on June 8.
Last week the Titans’ track and field program scored a “victory”
of sorts. Head Coach John Elders’ name was drawn on Saturday at
the baseball game from the hopper in the athletic department’s opportunity
drawing for a 2005 Nissan Titan pickup truck. The event netted the department
about $25,000.
Softball (30-21, 14-7)... The Titans came within one victory on Sunday of advancing to
the new Super Regionals format in the first year of a revised NCAA Tournament
format. Instead, the Titans will have to relish a 12-game
improvement over the 2004 season when they failed to gain post-season
play.
Fullerton was the No. 3 seed in the Regional Tournament at UCLA and the
Titans promptly upset No. 2-seeded UNLV, 5-4, on Friday. After squandering
a 4-0 lead built on home runs by Ashley Van Boxmeer and Crystal Vieyra,
the Titans got a second home run from Van Boxmeer in the sixth inning
for the decisive run. Marissa Marzan allowed only two earned runs
in getting the complete-game victory that advanced Fullerton into the
winners' bracket against top-seeded UCLA.
Saturday's game was scoreless through 10 tense innings before UCLA got
a two-out home run for a 1-0 lead for pitching star Anjelica Selden.
But the Titans rallied in the bottom of the inning. A hit batter,
a walk and a bunt single loaded the bases. Selden wild pitched the
tying run home and Katie Gollhardt's single produced the game-winning
tally two batters later.
UCLA needed a pair of victories on Sunday and got them as Selden regained
her form. The freshman struck out 22 and allowed only 5 hits over
14 innings and UCLA posted 6-0 and 3-1 wins to advance to the Super Regionals
against Georgia. Van Boxmeer's RBI double in the seventh inning
of the second game was the only damage the Titans' offense could do to
the scoreboard.
University Village Athlete of the Week... Junior second baseman Justin Turner (Lakewood / Mayfair HS) batted
.647 (11-for-17) last week as the Titans beat San Diego in a single
game and won two out of three against Long Beach State. Turner had
five more hits than any other Titan for the week and also played flawless
defense. He was 4-for-5 with three doubles vs. USD and went 7-for-12
in the Big West title clinching series win over the 49ers.
