May 29, 2007
Irvine, Calif. - The Big West Conference office announce this afternoon that Cal State Fullerton junior Clark Hardman was named to the Easton Big West All-Conference First Team for the second time in his career and joined three other Titans on this year's all-league honor roll.
Hardman, who last earned first-team recognition in 2004, joins junior's Wes Roemer and Jeff Kaplan (Second-Team), and senior John Curtis (Honorable Mention) on the annual list.
Hardman has put up career-high numbers in his third season with the Titans playing in all but one game this year in centerfield. His .378 batting average is his personal best and leads the team, ranks third in the Big West and is within the top 100 in the country, while his 90 hits leads the league by six over Pacific's Joe Oliveira and UC Santa Barbara's Robbie Blauer. The Trabuco Canyon native has also posted career-highs in starts (55), at bats (238), runs (47), doubles (14), triples (4), home runs (3), RBI (41), on-base percentage (.421), and tied his career-high in stolen bases with eight.
Roemer's league-leading 129 strikeouts earned him a spot on the all-league list for the third time in his three-year career. Roemer finished the regular season with a 9-6 record and a Top 10-worthy ERA of 3.51 issuing just 21 walks in 118 innings pitched. The Glendora native's 2007 second-team selection joins his 2005 Freshman Pitcher of the Year, 2006 Pitcher of the Year and First Team honors issued by the Irvine-based conference office. Roemer has struck out 10-or-more batters on five occasions this season including a career-high 13-strikeout performance on may 4 versus UC Santa Barbara. As of last week he ranked 10th in the nation in strikeouts.
Kaplan has been the most consistent starter for the Titans in 2007 and his 10-3 tied him with Scott Gorgen (UC Irvine) and James Simmons (UC Riverside) with the leagues second-most number of victories. He ranks in the leagues Top 10 in ERA (3.36, 7th), strikeouts (69, 8th), opposing batter's batting average (.241, 4th), innings pitched (104.1, 6th), and pick-offs (5, 2nd). The Dana Point native's best performance came on Feb. 17 when he struck out a career-high 11 in a complete-game shutout over Arizona.
The veteran Curtis makes his second appearance the league's list of all conference accolades. So far this season, the senior has set career-highs in most offensive categories including batting average (.282), hits (50), doubles (17), home runs (4) and RBI (39). The left-handed hitting catcher waited just over 420 at bats to hit his first-career home run, belting the round-tripper on Feb. 20, at Tony Gwynn Stadium, home of this weekend's Regional hosted by the No. 8 national seed University of San Diego.
The only other time Cal State Fullerton had just one player on the first-team was back in 1988 when catcher Brent Mayne was the lone Titan selected. That year the Titans finished tied for third in the nation and had a 2-2 showing in Omaha, Neb. at the College World Series.
Cal State Fullerton is set to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers in Game 1 of the 2007 NCAA Regional beginning at 4 p.m. PDT.
Complete Easton Big West All-Contference Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader