USA vs France and Opening Ceremonies Photo Gallery
GWANGJU , Korea - Cal State Fullerton began the second day at the 2015 World University Games in a familiar place, the baseball field, and came away with a 5-1 victory in seven innings over France in a friendly contest.
Seven Titans pitchers combined to stifle the French offense, giving up just one hit in the sixth inning that resulted in the only run surrendered by the Fullerton pitching staff. Six of the seven Titans pitchers were freshmen, led off by Colton Eastman in the first frame. Josh Rios, Brett Conine, Erik Cha and Gavin Velazquez followed with no-hit efforts through the first five innings before France scored a run on a hit and a few walks from Blake Workman. Maxwell Gibbs rounded out the Titans pitching efforts with a scoreless seventh before the game was called due to a time restriction.
The Titans jumped ahead in the second innings as they plated three runs in the frame. Bryce Brooks opened the scoring with an RBI single to left-center and the Titans would tack on single runs in two of the next three innings to take a commanding lead that they did not relinquish.
Following the win, the Titans capped off the night with the opening ceremonies of the 2015 World University Games. More than 40,000 people packed the Gwanju Universiade Main Stadium to watch the ceremonies. The United States brought one of the largest delegations to the games and was one of the last countries introduced.
The night ended with the lighting of the Universiade torch, which signified the official start of the games. The torch traveled throughout the Republic of Korea for the last 28 days.
This weekend, the Titans will have practice at Mudeung Baseball Stadium on Saturday and then practice at Kia Champions Field Sunday before beginning competition Monday against the Czech Republic.
The full schedule for round-robin play is listed below.
Monday, July 6 - USA vs. Czech Republic 1 a.m. PT/5 p.m. KT (Mudeung Stadium)
Tuesday, July 7 - USA vs. Mexico 8 p.m. PT (Monday night)/Noon KT (Kia Champions Field)
Wednesday, July 8 - USA vs. Chinese Taipei 8 p.m. PT (Tuesday night)/Noon KT (Kia Champions Field)
July 10-11 - Medal Rounds
**Broadcasting Note: None of the games during the round-robin portion will be televised or streamed. The medal rounds begin on Friday, July 10 and will be live streamed courtesy of FISU Livesport (http://www.livefisu.tv/home). There is still a possibility one of the Titans' games if not both will be picked up by ESPN for broadcast.
