Cal State Fullerton heads to Arizona for a Wednesday midweek contest this week followed by a three-game series at Texas Tech beginning on Friday night.
LOOK MA! I'M ON TV!
Cal State Fullerton's games on Friday and Sunday will be telecast on Fox Sports Southwest-Plus and be shown on Fox Sports Prime Ticket in the Los Angeles market. Check your local listings for the time and channel in your area.
CATCH ALL THE ACTION:
Fans can follow the action for all four of this week's road games. Wednesday's game at Arizona will have a live stats feed. All three weekend games will have live stats through GameTracker and also have an audio broadcast. A paid subscription is required for the audio broadcast. Links can all be found on FullertonTitans.com.
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Follow @BaseballTitans on Twitter for daily updates during the 2016 season. Fullerton baseball is also on Instagram, so make sure to follow the 2016 team all season @CSF_TitansBaseball.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN, THEN HOME SWEET HOME:
The Titans hit the road again this week for four games, but will be able to put the luggage away following this week. After Sunday's finale at Texas Tech, the Titans will play 16 of their next 18 games at home. In fact, the Titans will not leave the state of California for the rest of the season following the conclusion of this week's four-game trip.
POLL POSITION:
The Titans were ranked in three of the five major polls released this week, earning a No. 22 ranking from the NCBWA, No. 23 from D1Baseball.com and No. 29 by Collegiate Baseball. Fullerton was not ranked in Baseball America's top-25 poll for the second straight week and the Titans remain ranked No. 16 in the initial USA Today Coaches' Poll, which will have an updated rankings list going out on March 7.
CSF vs. ARIZONA • ALL-TIME SERIES
First Year Played/Last Year Played 1977/2010
Overall Record 63-34
Current Streak Lost 1
NCAA Regional Record 2-2
NCAA College World Series Record 1-0
Overall NCAA Postseason Record 3-2
Home Record 28-12
Road Record 34-21
Neutral Record 1-1
Longest Winning Streak 13 games (05/02/93 to 02/08/97)
Longest Losing Streak 3 games (02/12/77 to 05/28/78)
Extra Innings 2-2
Most Runs Scored in a Game 23 runs (02/06/97)
Most Runs Scored in a Game by Opponent 19 runs, 2 times (last on 02/20/92)
Largest Margin of Victory 17 runs (02/12/88)
Largest Margin of Defeat 14 runs (02/07/91)
ARIZONA NOTES:
The Titans make their first trip to Tucson since 2010, when they dropped two of three games to the Wildcats. Arizona is coming off a weekend at the inaugural Tony Gwynn Classic, hosted by San Diego and San Diego State. The Wildcats lost their first game of the tournament to Tulane but defeated Nebraska and San Diego State to close out the weekend. Arizona scored 28 runs in the three games.
Other Wildcats Notes:
• Arizona' played an exhibition game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields on Tuesday.
• Wednesday's game will be the Wildcats home opener after playing their first seven games of the season away from Hi Corbett Field.
• Arizona went 2-1 in the inaugural Tony Gwynn Classic. The Wildcats defeated Nebraska and San Diego State and fell to Tulane.
• Alfonso Rivas III was named Pac-12 Player of the Week on Tuesday. The freshman led the way for Arizona as he went 9-15 with seven RBI during the Tony Gwynn Classic. Rivas also chipped in a double and a home run on Saturday as he went 5-6 with four RBI. The freshman is batting .476 to start his Arizona career.
• Freshman catcher Cesar Salazar also had a good weekend as he went 6-11 with a double and two RBI. He bumped his batting average up to .316.
• JJ Matijevic extended his hitting streak to five games after going 6-13 this weekend.
• Cody Ramer, Zach Gibbons and Ryan Aguilar have reached base all seven games this year.
• Bobby Dalbec was solid on the mound in San Diego as he struck out five in 4.2 innings. He suffered his first loss of the season, but also earned his second win.
VERSUS THE PAC 12:
The Titans currently hold a 288-215-3 mark against teams from the Pacific-12 conference, with their most victories (65) coming against UCLA in 97 games. The Titans have also played Arizona 97 times, holding a 63-34 record. Fullerton has played Stanford on 102 (44-58) occasions and is one of just three teams in the conference to hold a winning record over the Titans all-time along with Arizona State (27-30) and Washington State (5-7).
CSF vs. TEXAS TECH • ALL-TIME SERIES
First Year Played/Last Year Played 2001/2015
Overall Record 4-1
Current Streak Won 4
NCAA Regional Record 1-1
Overall NCAA Postseason Record 1-1
Home Record 4-1
Road Record 0-0
Neutral Record 0-0
Longest Winning Streak 4 games (05/27/01 to present)
Longest Losing Streak NA
Extra Innings 0-0
Most Runs Scored in a Game 9 runs (05/27/01)
Most Runs Scored in a Game by Opponent 11 runs (05/27/01)
Largest Margin of Victory 7 runs (05/27/01)
Largest Margin of Defeat 6 runs (05/27/01)
TEXAS TECH NOTES:
The Titans have played the Red Raiders five times in program history, but this weekend will mark their first trip ever to Lubbock and Rip Griffin Park. Fullerton has won four straight games against Texas Tech, including a three-game sweep over the Red Raiders last season at Goodwin Field when Texas Tech was ranked No. 5 in the nation.
Other Red Raiders Notes:
• No. 23 Texas Tech hosts its first midweek series of the season beginning Tuesday night when New Mexico State arrives in Lubbock for a two-game set. The series is slated for 6:30 p.m. first pitch on Tuesday evening and then a 2 p.m. start on Wednesday.
• Texas Tech is coming off a 3-1 road trip last week with a midweek victory over Sam Houston State and then wins over No. 9 Houston and No. 6 Louisiana in the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic hosted at Minute Maid in Houston. The lone loss came to No. 18 Arkansas in Sunday's tournament finale.
• Texas Tech infielder Michael Davis was named to the Shriners College Classic All-Tournament Team after the sophomore hit .583 overall (7-for-12) with a double and two RBI. He also led the Red Raiders with a pair of stolen bases.
• Texas Tech will be facing New Mexico State for the fifth-consecutive season and the 62nd time in program history on Tuesday night. The Red Raiders are 44-17 all-time against the Aggies after winning each of the past seven contests.
• The Red Raiders have dominated the series against New Mexico State at home with a 33-6 all-time lead in games played in Lubbock. New Mexico State has not defeated Texas Tech on the road since the Aggies pulled off a 7-6 victory on March 27, 2012.
• Texas Tech's 6-2 start to its season marks the sixth time in the past seven years where the Red Raiders have won six of their first eight games.
• Entering the third week of the regular season, Texas Tech currently leads the Big 12 Conference in seven offensive categories: on-base percentage, at-bats, runs scored, hits, doubles, RBI and sacrifice flies.
• Erikson Lanning will make his second start of the season on Tuesday as the left-hander picked up the win in his collegiate debut against Milwaukee, tossing six shutout innings with only one hit allowed and four strikeouts.
• The Red Raiders enter this week ranked second nationally with 12 double plays turned through just eight games. Texas Tech is just one double play back of current NCAA leader, Georgia Tech.
• Texas Tech is currently in the midst of a 13-game stretch where the Red Raiders will play 10 games against ranked opponents.
VERSUS THE BIG 12:
The Titans currently hold a 51-39 all-time record against teams currently in the Big-12 Conference. They hold a 4-1 record against the Red Raiders. Fullerton's most success has come against Texas Christian, whom the Titans have a 15-7 record against. The Titans have a .500 record against Texas, and Oklahoma while they hold a losing record (3-6) against Oklahoma State, a team that eliminated the Titans from the postseason in 2014.
RICHARDS AND BRYANT STATUS:
Junior Timmy Richards made his first appearance of the 2016 season on Friday night against Indiana after missing the first three games of the season with a quad injury. Taylor Bryant came in as a defensive substitution for the second time this season in Sunday's win over Indiana and got his first at-bat of the season. He is expected to be available again off the bench and perhaps may make his first start of the season this week.
FORTUNE FAVORS THE BOLD:
Connor Seabold has been lights out pitching in relief for the Titans so far this season. He went four and 1/3 innings in relief of starter John Gavin on Saturday and retired all 13 batters he faced in a row, fanning seven of them. Seabold has tossed six and 1/3 innings in two relief appearances this season and allowed just one hit, no walks and struck out 11 of the 19 batters he's faced.
BRAVO!
Third baseman Jerrod Bravo helped lead the charge this past weekend in Fullerton's sweep over Indiana. Bravo led the team with a .444 batting average (4-for-9) and is currently riding a team-high four-game hitting streak going into Wednesday's game against Arizona.
HUDGINS DOES SOME YARD WORK:
Catcher Chris Hudgins hit his first career home run in Friday's win over Indiana, blasting a two-run shot to left field. He followed that up the next day with a solo home run to open the scoring in Saturday's 14-inning game against the Hoosiers. Hudgins became the first Titans player since Carlos Lopez in 2013 to hit home runs on consecutive days.
HILDEBRANDT PLAYING WELL ALL AROUND:
Tristan Hildebrandt had three more hits during the Indiana series sweep and also recorded his first multi-RBI game on Sunday with a two-run single in the 6-1 win over Indiana. Hildebrandt is currently hitting .300 and started all six games at second base this season. He is second on the team in batting average and has not committed an error in 28 chances, leading the team with 17 assists while also taking part in turning three double plays.
BULLPEN CONTINUES TO IMPRESS:
The Titans bullpen continued to shine against Indiana over the weekend. Relievers did not allow an earned run for the second straight series and turned in magnificent relief performances in Saturday's 14-inning contest. Connor Seabold started it with four and 1/3 innings of scoreless relief and then Chad Hockin went three scoreless innings. Freshman Brett Conine tossed two innings of scoreless relief and eventually got the victory, his first career win as a Titan. Overall, five pitchers made relief appearances against Indiana and none allowed a run, surrendering just two hits and two walks in 16 innings of relief.