#10 CAL STATE FULLERTON at UC RIVERSIDE
MARCH 31-APRIL 2 • RIVERSIDE, CALIF.
| FULLERTON, Calif.--- Cal State Fullerton's quest of a third straight Big West Conference championship officially begins this weekend, as it opens up league play at UC Riverside beginning on Friday at 6 pm out at the Riverside Sports Complex. Saturday's game will also be at 6 pm PT, while Sunday's series finale begins at 1 pm PT.
THE GAMES (Times PT)
1 | Friday, March 31 (6 p.m.) | Riverside, Calif. (Riverside Sports Complex) | Live Stats | Audio
2 | Saturday, April 1 (6 p.m.) | Riverside, Calif. (Riverside Sports Complex) | Live Stats | Audio
3 | Sunday, April 2 (1 p.m.) | Riverside, Calif. (Riverside Sports Complex) | Live Stats | Audio
THE PITCHERS
FRIDAY
CSF, RHP Connor Seabold (2-3, 3.00 ERA) - at UCR, RHP Alex Fagalde (4-0, 1.80 ERA)
CSF, RHP Gavin Velasquez (2-0, 2.87 ERA) - at UCR, RHP Ryan Lillie (0-2, 4.32 ERA)
CSF, RHP John Gavin (3-0, 1.31 ERA)- at UCR, RHP Rickey Delgado (0-0, 4.88 ERA)
THE SERIES
CSF vs. UC RIVERSIDE • ALL-TIME SERIES
First Year Played/Last Year Played: 1978/2016
Overall Record: 41-21
Current Streak: Won 6
Overall Conference (Big West) Record: 27-18
Home Record: 24-8
Road Record: 15-14
Neutral Record: 0-0
Longest Winning Streak: 8 games, 2 times (03/28/09 to present)
Longest Losing Streak: 4 games (05/12/02 to 05/04/03)
Extra Innings: 2-3
Most Runs Scored in a Game: 19 runs (05/02/15)
Most Runs Scored by Opponent: 13 runs (05/02/03)
Largest Margin of Victory: 19 runs (05/02/15)
Largest Margin of Defeat: 10 runs (05/02/03)
THE NOTES
To say this guy does it all offensively for Fullerton is an understatement. Bryant leads the team in average (.342), slugging percentage (.544), on base percentage (.458), runs scored (16), hits (27), RBI (17), Doubles (10), home runs (2), total bases (43), walks (13) games played (24), and games started (24). The junior has collected at least one hit in 19 of his last 23 contests. Bryant ranks second in the Big West in doubles and doubles per game (0.42)
PESKY PERSINGER
Dillon Persinger has been of those guys you hate to play against, but would love to have on your team. Persinger has reached base via HBP a team-leading five times this season, which ranks sixth in the conference. He also leads the Big West in stolen bases (8) and steals per game (0.36). He's swiping bags at an 80 percent clip this season, stealing 8-of-10 bases this year. He's also reached base in seven straight games.
Cal State Fullerton played its highest ranked team of the season on March 15, defeating then-ranked No. 12 Arizona 4-0. The win over the national runners up was its highest ranked victory since defeating No. 6 Louisville on June 8, 2015 in Super Regional play.
A STREAK MEANT FOR STOPPING
Fullerton has dropped a season-high four straight games. The Titans haven't lost five games in a row since dropping six consecutive games from April 12-19, 2014.
GOOD THINGS HAPPENING AT GOODWIN
The Titans have won seven straight home games. The seven-game home win streak is the most since Fullerton won nine straight home games from April 1 – April 23, 2016. Fullerton's pitching staff owns a 1.64 ERA in home games as opposed to a 3.92 ERA on the road.
The Titans have four shutout victories on the year thus far. They had four all of last year.
BATTLE TESTED
As the Titans set to enter league play, Fullerton has already taken on some of the best teams college baseball has to offer. Fullerton has gone 6-1 vs. teams that made the NCAA Tournament last season (Gonzaga, Arizona, New Mexico). The Titans have also gone 5-4 against teams with RPIs ranked within the top 25, including going 2-1 against teams with top-10 RPIs.
Arizona 2
Houston 7
New Mexico 23
Long Beach State 11
The Titans currently lead the nation in walks allowed per nine innings, rank fourth in the nation in strikeout-to-walk radio, fifth in WHIP, eighth in fielding percentage and 13th in ERA.
Ruben Cardenas is on the mend and should be back on the diamond in about a week after dealing with a lower back injury. Colton Eastman still continues to be week-to-week, as he battles an elbow injury.
John Gavin has been more than just good to start 2017. He currently boasts the lowest ERA and most wins over any Titan starter, owning a 3-0 record with a 1.31 ERA in 34.1 innings pitched this season. Gavin was named Big West Pitcher of the Week and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's National Pitcher of the Week after pitching a career-high 8.0 innings against New Mexico 3/19. In his eight innings, the San Jose, Calif. native allowed just two hits, zero earned runs, zero walks and struck out a career-high 14 batters. The 14 strikeouts were the most any Titan had accumulated since Thomas Eshelman also collected 14 on May 30, 2015 vs. Arizona State. Overall, Gavin has tossed 17 consecutive innings of scoreless baseball. Gavin hasn't allowed a run in his last three appearances (17 innings).
CLUTCH CULLEN
Hunter Cullen has found new life of late and is fully taking advantage of his time in right field due to the Ruben Cardenas injury. He had a career night in Fullerton's 13-4 throttling of Arizona State back on March 8, as he collected a career-best four hits in five at bats, while scoring two runs and recording a double. Even more impressive is what he accomplished a few days later on March 11 vs. Gonzaga. The Newport Beach, Calif. native saved the day and won the game for the Titans, as he blasted a two-run triple into the right field corner with Fullerton trailing 3-2 in the eighth inning. The hit eventually stood as the game-winner. Cullen went 3-of-3 from the plate that night, while that triple was the first his career. He also picked up a career-tying high two RBI and two hits in Fullerton's win over #12 Arizona. Cullen is batting 11-of-22 (.500) from the dish with two outs this season. He's also managed to blast two home runs and collect five RBI over his last five games.
Timmy Richards currently has an on-base streak of 16 consecutive games, which is the longest of any Titan this season. He also boasts a six-game hit streak, which is tied for the second highest of any Titan so far this year. Taylor Bryant at one point had a 10-game hit streak. Dillon Persinger has reached base in seven straight games, while Sahid Valenzuela also owns a four-game hit streak.
THE KID CAN PLAY
Freshman Sahid Valenzuela has made his impact felt from the very beginning. He leads the team in multi-hit games with seven after collecting a career-best four knocks at UCLA on Sunday. He's currently riding a four-game hit streak, while four of his last six games have been multi-hit performances, while he's collected 11 hits during that span. He's raised his average to .319, which ranks second on the team. He's the only freshman in the regular starting lineup for the Titans.
Fullerton has blasted six home runs in its last five ballgames. Before this five-game stretch, the Titans had hit just three home runs through the first 19 games of the season.
The Titans are 12-3 when scoring first this season, 6-1 when scoring in the first inning, while they're 10-1 when leading after the sixth frame, 12-2 when leading after seven and 15-1 when leading after eight. They're also 11-2 when holding their opponent to two runs or less.
PRODUCING LATE
While it's definitely good news when the Titans take an early lead, Fullerton has shown the ability to get the job done in the late stage of games this year. The Titans have outscored their opponents 12-3 in the seventh, 19-6 in the eighth and 5-3 in the ninth frame this season. They've outscored their opponent 36-12 in those three innings combined.
The Titan pitching staff recorded a program record-low 2.22 ERA last season, and it's on its way to another special year, as the staff currently boats a 2.74 ERA. Fullerton has surrendered two runs or less on 13 separate occasions this season, including six of its last 10 contests.
HUDGINS NAMED TO JOHNNY BENCH AWARD WATCH LIST
Chris Hudgins is one of 85 catchers to be named to the initial Johnny Bench Award Watch List. The award handed out to the best college catcher in the nation for the 2017 season. The watch list will be narrowed down to the semifinalists, whom will be announced on May 17. Ballots will be sent to the national voting panel at the end of May for a vote to determine the three finalists. The finalists will be announced on June 5, while a final vote among the national committee will occur during the College World Series. All finalists will be brought to Wichita and the winner will be announced the 20th Annual Greater Wichita Sports Banquet on June 29th.
Seabold tossed 7.0 innings of shutout baseball in Fullerton's opening night 1-0 victory over #23 Stanford last Thursday to earn him Big West Pitcher of the Week honors this week. He scattered five hits, struck out one and walked just five batters. It marks the third time in his career Seabold has claimed conference pitcher of the week honors.
What happens in Vegas doesn't necessarily stay in Vegas. Fullerton's 5-0 win on Feb. 26 over UNLV marked the Titans' first road shutout over an opponent since blanking Hawai'i 4-0 back on May 15, 2015. That's a stat the Titans get to take all the way back to Fullerton.
Fullerton's victory of UNLV on Feb. 26 marked Rick Vanderhook 200th win as Cal State Fullerton's head coach. Vanderhook is 206-113 in his sixth seasons as the skipper for the Titans. Here's to another 200 more coach.
Cal State Fullerton head coach Rick Vanderhook has been named as an assistant coach on Team USA's Collegiate National Team coaching staff this summer. He's one of four assistants on the staff.
The Titans enter the seventh week of the 2017 campaign ranked in the top-25 of all six major preseason baseball polls.
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper: No. 14
USA TODAY Coaches Poll: No.15
NCBWA Poll: No. 14
Perfect Game: No. 13
D1Baseball: No. 10
RPI WATCH
Cal State Fullerton ranks 17th in the latest RPI, while UCLA is 121st
The Titans have won six of their last seven Big West Conference openers, while Fullerton has taken 19 straight league opening going back to 1997. The last Big West opener the Titans have lost was at UC Riverside to open the 2009 conference season.
After claiming their 21st Big West Conference title a year ago and their sixth in the last seven years, the Titans are the favorites to do it again in 2017, as Cal State Fullerton has been picked as the team to beat in the Big West Conference, according to the nine league coaches that voted on the Big West baseball preseason poll. Fullerton received a total of 76 points and eight of nine first place votes in the poll, while Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara tied for second, as each tallied 65 points.
2017 Coaches Poll Results
T2. Long Beach State - 65
4. Cal Poly - 55
5. UC Irvine (1) - 48
6. CSUN - 33
7. UC Riverside - 27
8. Hawai'i - 23
9. UC Davis - 13
( ) First-place vote
BEST IN THE WEST
Overall, Cal State Fullerton has posted a dominant 745-261-1 (.741) conference record over 42 seasons. Rick Vanderhook, the school's fifth Div. I head coach, has compiled a 90-29 Big West Conference record in his five seasons and has led Fullerton to the conference crown in four of his five seasons at the helm. The four conference titles for Vanderhook is the second most in school history, only behind Augie Garrido (14). Overall, the Titans have won 29 conference titles.
TITAN PRIDE NEVER GRADUATES
Cal State Fullerton held its annual Alumni Game back on Jan. 28th and it was the Alumni squad coming up with a 5-3 victory over the Titans. The win marked its first over the Titans since 2007, snapping what was an eight-game losing streak. However, the news isn't all bad for the Titans. The last time Fullerton dropped a contest to the Alumni, the team put together a magical season that ended up seeing the Titans in Omaha.
Cal State Fullerton earned a 4-3 victory over the NC Dinos on Tuesday night. The contest marked the third straight year the two sides had gotten together for an exhibition game. The Titans now own a 2-1 lead in the all-time series, as they defeated the Dinos 8-7 in 2015 and lost a 10-1 decision in 2016.
Fullerton has won 30-plus games in each of its 42 seasons at the Div. I level and is tied for third in the nation when it comes to most consecutive 30-win campaigns. The only Titan team to win as few as 30 games was the 1989 squad skippered by Larry Cochell.
1. Arizona State 54
2. Miami, Fla. 46
3. Cal State Fullerton 42
3. Clemson 42
IT'S COOL TO STAY IN SCHOOL
Ten Titans on the current roster have been selected previously in the MLB First-Year Players draft. Newcomer Dillon Persinger has actually been selected twice, in 2015 by the Cleveland Indians (31st round) and in 2016 by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He decided to attend Cal State Fullerton instead.
Titans in the Draft (by round):
Tristan Hildebrandt 2014 16th round St. Louis Cardinals
Connor Seabold 2014 19th round Baltimore Orioles
Dillon Persinger 2014 17th round Los Angeles Dodgers
Colton Eastman 2015 20th round Minnesota Twins
Chris Hudgins 2014 35th round New York Yankees
Ruben Cardenas 2015 37th round Miami Marlins
John Gavin 2014 39th round Milwaukee Brewers
Timmy Richards 2013 40th round Miami Marlins
The Titans have had 61 former players ascend to the major leagues since their first products, Dan Whitmer and Tim Wallach, got there in 1980.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
In 2017, the Titans will face five teams that qualified for the 2016 NCAA Tournament in Gonzaga, Arizona, New Mexico, Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara. Both UCSB and Arizona advanced to the College World Series last year, while the Wildcats finished as the national runner-up in Omaha.
All three weekend starters of an overall pitching staff that set records last season are back in 2017. All-Conference performers Colton Eastman, Connor Seabold and John Gavin are expected to hold down the weekend rotation once again this season. The three combined to win 17 games for the Titans in 2016.
GOLDEN BOY
Sophomore right-handed hurler Colton Eastman has earned a spot on USA Baseball's 55-player preseason Golden Spikes Award watch list. The Golden Spikes Award is given out to the top amateur baseball player in the country for the 2017 season. Last year as a freshman, Eastman proved why deserves to be on this list, as he compiled an 8-3 record to go along with a 2.24 ERA with a freshman school-record equaling 100 strikeouts in 100.2 innings pitched. He racked up numerous honors last season, as he was named a Baseball America Freshman All-American, D1Baseball.com Freshman All-American, NCBWA Freshman All-American, the Louisville Slugger Freshman Pitcher of the Year, Louisville Slugger All-American Third Team member, the Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year and a member of the Big West All-Conference team.
Connor Seabold was named to the Big West All-Second Team a year ago after claiming two Big West Pitcher of the Week honors during the season and boasting an overall 7-6 record to go along with a 2.48 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 83.1 innings pitched. He's been named on Baseball America's Top-100 Prospects list coming into this season.
#TEAMCOBEN
Cal State Fullerton will dedicate the 2017 season to Coben Swanson. Eight year old Coben Swanson of Yorba Linda, Calif., is on the road to recovery from a Nov. 2015 diagnosis of T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), brain hemorrhage, craniectomy and cranioplasty. He is currently battling the side effects of chemotherapy and has been tested at Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) since his diagnosis. He is the son of Jon and Brittany Swanson, and big brother to sister, Saffryn (5). Through the help of Team IMPACT, the Titans have joined Coben in his fight against ALL and made him a permanent member of the Titan family. Throughout the 2017 season you'll see #TEAMCOBEN imprinted on the right side of the Titan batting helmets. Coben has part of his right skull removed last year to repair some damage as a part of his recovery.