FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HEAD COACH RICK VANDERHOOK PREVIEWS THE 2016 BASEBALL SEASON

February 15, 2016

FULLERTON, Calif. - Opening week is officially here with Cal State Fullerton set to open the 2016 season on the road beginning Friday at Stanford.

FullertonTitans.com met up with Titans fifth-year skipper Rick Vanderhook to get his thoughts on the upcoming season.

FullertonTitans.com: The team made its 17th appearance in the NCAA College World Series last season and put an end to a five-year absence from Omaha. What did that mean for the program to get back to the College World Series last year?

Rick Vanderhook: We don't look at Omaha as anything except the finish line. Honestly, only one team gets to pass the finish line at the end, everyone else stops before they get there. I thought we learned a little bit getting there. The super regional was a step forward for us. We got to that point twice in four years and to finally get over that barrier; I think it's something that you learn and that's what teaches guys to play in those enviornments and what it's like. But last year was a good year, above average and solid. We accomplished some things we wanted to accomplish and we came up short on one we wanted to but so did everybody else not named the University of Virginia.

FT: It was a big step last year for the squad to get to Omaha. Obviously the team came up a few steps short of the ultimate goal but as you said so did everyone else not named Virginia. What were some of the takeaways from the staff on what worked and what the tea needed to improve on in the offseason?

RV: We've worked hard on getting stronger. We've worked really hard on a weight gain program and a strength program. I think right now our bodies are good but the biggest thing that we have is to maintain that throughout the whole season. I thought by the end of the year we were a little frail. Thought we were tough enough but I don't think that we were strong enough and, not that you have to be strong and giant, but you have to maintain your strength and I think that we lost a lot of weight last year and did some things so we've tried to take a couple of different avenues to help us maintain that this year and we'll find out in a couple of months on how we're dealing with that.

FT: This is probably the oldest team you've had since you started as head coach here in 2012. How has that helped with the preparation in the offseason. How have the older guys responded with mentoring the young guys and being examples to them of how to approach their preparation for the season?

RV: We are older. We're definitely older as guys that have been in the program for awhile, guys that came back after playing last year. WE'll go into the opening weekend not quite as old because our starting shortstop and our starting second baseman won't play. So we'll be young there, we'll have at least one freshman in the middle and it's between two freshmen and a sophomore to play two positions. I feel that they'll be capable of doing what they're supposed to do. They've slowed things down in the spring here a little bit but it's still a pretty big step to take, to go out to The Farm, where Fullerton hasn't played in a while. So it's not something that anybody knows because I don't think we've got a guy that's played a; ;game there aside from coach Baum and myself and coach Altobelli who played against them for four years. It's going to be different but the old guys have provided good leadership and they have taken possession of the team and now we just have to see how long it takes these guy to jell. We've got a pretty new starting rotation going into the weekend and we've also got some experience. We have some newness to it and the bullpen is going to be newer, the closer will be new but we've dealt with that for four years with four different guys closing and they've all done well and now it's Hockin's turn and we'll see what we get from there.

FT: The rotation obviously has a new look as you said and you don't just replace guys like Thomas Eshelman and Justin Garza. But you've got two guys that got a lot of experience as freshmen and were in some big games. How do you see the rotation shaping up this season?

RV: John Gavin's taken a step forward. He's in real good shape and is carrying it well. He's stronger and more physical. He's more experienced and his thing is he almost gets too competitive. Connor has had some bumps in the road; he got hit by a line drive. He got bronchitis last week so that set him back for a little bit. But he was back throwing hard recently. Between Colton Eastman and Blake Quinn, I think those four guys will round out our rotation to start the year. The middle relief is a little different but Miles Chambers is back and he's in shape and ready to go. Then we've got some unknown guys in there; Brett Conine, Gavin Velasquez, Dylan Prohoroff, Scott Serigstad. They're all new guys and then Maxwell Gibbs is a junior this year and he threw really well at the end of the year for us, pitching in all kinds of roles so we feel we have depth and we'll see where that depth takes us but we feel like we have a deeper staff and then it's just who is going to establish themselves in those starting spots.

FT: On the offesnive side of the lineup, most of your starters are returning with the exception of David Olmedo-Barrera. What are your expectations with the offense this year with a bunch of guys that have that experience of being in the lineup consistently?

RV: Well I think Josh Vargas is, by far, the best hitter. He's stronger; he hit a home run in the Alumni Game so we're hoping he can give us a little bit of that. Scotty Hurst, I thought, was coming on really good last year before he got hurt with his back injury. I think those two guys will be two key cogs in the order. Bryant and Richards, when they come back, are both a year older and a year more experienced. They did very well in the fall and then we've got Jerrod Bravo, who just knows how to take good at bats for us. Dalton Blaser played really good for us down the stretch last year along with Tanner Pinkston, so we have some older guys in there. Then you throw Ruben Cardenas, a freshman who is extremely athletic and has done a good job. Tyler Stieb, who's been here for three years and has a chance to help. Turner Buis has really swung the bat well so we have a lot of options. We have probably 12 or 13 guys that we are going to play and that's not as many as you'd think. I think we're 15 guys deep and I think we have a good nucleus to be able to score runs.

FT: You mentioned the middle infield situation briefly. Timmy Richards will be out with a quad issue and Taylor Bryant has his hand injury. Who do you expect to fill in and get the reps there to start the year?

RV: Coby Kauhaahaa, Hank LoForte, Tristan Hildebrandt will be the three guys that will play there and we'll see. Definitely going to be the first weekend that we will see them. Taylor hasn't played at all so he's got to get the strength back in his wrist. Timmy Richards has had a quad that has been lingering for a while so we're just going to get it better. However long it takes is how long we'll wait. We don't want him in and out. Once he gets in, we want to leave him in and let him play. So those three guys will get most of the reps in those spots until Taylor and Timmy return and I think they'll be fine.

FT: What's your take on this freshman class coming in. What have you seen that you liked and who are some of the guys we should be on the lookout for.

RV: Ruben Cardenas, Kauhaahaa, Brett Conine, Colton Eastman, Gavin Velasquez has been really good since we got back for spring. I would say those guys are the leading candidates. They're all in the top-12 on offense and defense and Eastman and Conine are in the top six or seven pitchers so they'll complement themselves and there's ebbs and flows to it. They're going to take some lumps. We're not going to see another Garza and Eshelman situation, I don't think, but there's been a lot of freshmen that have helped out in this program and do what they're supposed to do. It's their turn to do that and there are guys that will help lead them along to make up for lack of experience and they will have the right attitude.

FT: The Big West lost a lot of talent across the board. How do you see the conference playing out and what's your evaluation of how the league will shape up?

RV: Everybody's pretty new. I think Long Beach State has a pretty experienced club coming back with Mathewson and Lundquist, two pretty good freshmen for them last year. Santa Barbara has got Shane Bieber, who is really good. I've watched him for two years and he's been one of the better pitchers in the league so I don't see why that would drop off. And they've got Andrew Calica coming back for another year  and he had a really good summer in the Cape. Honestly I haven't paid too much attention to the Big West right now, we've just focused on Stanford and when we're done there, we'll focus on Indiana and so on. Let's just wait until the dust settles a little bit and then we'll see what goes on.

FT: You mentioned the Cape League. Chad Hockin had a great summer over there. How do you think that experience will help this season?

RV: Well, actually, three of our guys had really good summers over there. Hockin had a good summer when we got back from Korea. Pitched well for coach Pickler. Tristan Hildebrandt played shortstop and played well. Blake Quinn pitched very well so I thought it was good for those guys to get the experience of it and for Tristan and Chad, who didn't get a ton of playing time for us last year for us, it was really good for them to learn to pitch at it and Quinn had a lot of starts. Actually, both of their teams played each other for the championship along with Chris Hudgins and Turner Buis, who went there late in the summer, so I think it's a good experience. The best thing, for me, is that their teams won. When you go out for summer ball, some guys make it about themselves; to learn how to win you have to win.

FT: Lastly, you mentioned at the Dinner With the Titans that the team is starting the season at Stanford and that's where 'we should be starting.' Why was it important to you to get that series with them restarted. What is it about that rivalry and that history there that is so important?

RV: From my first year, from 1983 to 2006, I think, we played Stanford every year on opening weekend so that's a long time. That being the opening series, there's a lot of guys that had experienced that and that was all they knew. For some reason, we stopped playing them and last year we got them back when we played in week two. I just think it's a natural, good rivalry. They are the Stanford Cardinal, and they're probably a little smarter than us but baseball is a thinking man's game and we've been pretty good at playing it here and going out and playing the game that way. I can remember playing against guys like Mike Mussina, Ed Sprague and all kinds of guys they've had go through there and you want to see how good you are and that's a good measuring stick to see how far you need to go. If you make mistakes they know how to exploit them so if you lose,  you at least learn why you lost and you can make those corrections.