STANFORD, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton fought until the bitter end but ultimately came up one run short, 6-5, to No. 8 Stanford to get eliminated from the NCAA Regionals Sunday afternoon.
The Titans went 1-2 in the regional with losses to Texas A&M and No. 8 Stanford with a win over San Jose State.
Fullerton gave Stanford everything they could handle in an elimination game hosted at Stanford. The Titans jumped out to lead in the first inning on a single up the middle to score Zach Lew from second base.
The Titans extended their lead in the second inning on a solo home run by Cole Urman, his fourth of the season. Stanford came back to take the lead in the top of the third inning on a three-run home run by Tommy Troy.
Fullerton responded with two runs in the bottom half of the third to retake the lead. The Titans scored on a throwing error by Stanford, which would have been a productive out by Carter White on a sacrifice bunt to score the runner and tie the game. Moises Guzman then laid down another perfect sacrifice bunt to bring home Brendan Bobo.
The Cardinal tied the game in the fourth inning on a bases loaded walk. Trevor Hinkel did a great job for the Titans to limit the damage to just one run.
The Titans once again responded to retake the lead, this time on an RBI double by Nate Nankil to score Jack Haley from second base. Nankil had a great game at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a run, an RBI and two doubles.
Stanford took the lead in the sixth inning on a two-run home run by Temo Beccera.
Fullerton had its chances to tie the game in the eighth and ninth inning with a runner in scoring position. Both innings ended on a strikeout looking.
In just his second season as head coach, Jason Dietrich took the Titans back to the postseason for the first time since 2018. Prior to the season, the Titans were picked to finish fifth in the Big West Coaches Poll.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Jason Dietrich
Opening statement
"Obviously it's never fun when the season ends, but at the end of the day I feel that our guys gave their best effort in this regional. This year we played Stanford four times and we had four unbelievable games with these guys. We just came up short today. But the effort was there, so I'm extremely proud of these guys for the whole year. They've done so much. We're excited for what the future entails but I'm very thankful for everything this year."
On what he told the team after the game
"I thanked all the older guys for everything they've invested in the program. Obviously this is my second year, there's guys that have been here four or five years so I just wanted to thank the older guys for everything they did. I wanted to thank the entire team for everything they put in this year, they've invested a lot and they've worked hard. I can't thank them enough for everything they've done, they should be proud of themselves. They've shown that this is what Titans Baseball is about. We gotta use this as motivation and continuously grow and get better."
On what the key is to building a competitive program at Cal State Fullerton
I think Fullerton has been built off the fundamentals, blue collar approach. We stick to that, we believe in that as coaches. Finding the student-athletes that believe in that same vision. Obviously you need some talented players but you also get some players that are hard-nose baseball guys that we can develop and get better. But that's kind of what Fullerton has been about. We don't always get the blue-chip player. We get the guys that love the game of baseball and want to develop and get better and always continuously grow. That's what we're always going to continue to do, is believe in each other and do the little things right. That's one thing that we've worked hard to do is build a culture of accountability and playing for each other.
On coming up one run short against Stanford
"Our guys put some quality at-bats together. At the end of the day we had opportunities and in the postseason you have to take advantage of opportunities. It's not a lack of effort or want or wanting to be in those moments, they did. We just didn't execute. When you don't execute in those moments it's the difference between winning and losing. We put ourselves in a position to tie or go ahead and we just didn't come through."
Right-fielder Nate Nankil
On what he's seen change and the transition of the program
"Last year I don't think we were really together as a team, we didn't really trust each other. I think this year was a big difference. We trust in each other and we bought in. We brought in a bunch of new guys and we really blended together, we got that team chemistry from the beginning. The coaches did a great job. I think this team was a really special team."
WATCH THE TITANS ON ESPN+
Titans fans can now watch home contests exclusively on ESPN+. Cal State Fullerton has built a top-tier production studio to give the viewers an ESPN quality production for Titan Athletics. Additionally, all schools in the Big West Conference are committed to producing ESPN quality streams which will allow fans to watch the Titans on ESPN+ for all road conference games.
FOLLOW THE TITANS!
Fans can keep up with the latest in Titan Athletics by following us on Facebook (Facebook/FullertonTitans), Twitter (@FullertonTitans) Instagram (FullertonTitans). In addition, the baseball team has established its own Twitter (FullertonBSB) and Instagram accounts (fullertonbsb).
